{"id":115437,"date":"2020-11-09T11:26:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T16:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=115437"},"modified":"2022-07-29T14:22:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T18:22:15","slug":"journalism-students-gain-valuable-election-coverage-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/journalism-students-gain-valuable-election-coverage-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism Students Gain Valuable Election Coverage Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
Presidential election night is considered the Super Bowl of journalism. Journalists are expected to deliver at the highest-level while under intense pressure in a rapidly changing environment.<\/p>\n
Sixteen journalism<\/a> students and 20 radio-television<\/a> students recently experienced the election rite of passage through a partnership with the Orlando Sentinel<\/em> on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n Orlando’s flagship newspaper has been operating without a newsroom since August and with a significantly reduced staff, genuinely in need of more reporters to properly cover this massive story. NSCM students came to the rescue and fanned out across Central Florida \u2014 filing dispatches at polling sites and election offices, monitoring social media, capturing photos and videos, and contributing to on-air reporting and broadcasts throughout the night.<\/p>\n \u201cUCF\u2019s student journalists played a critical role in the Orlando Sentinel<\/em>\u2019s 2020 Election Day coverage.\u201d –Julie Anderson \u201984 \u201989MA<\/strong>, editor-in-chief for the \u2018Orlando Sentinel<\/em>\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cUCF\u2019s student journalists played a critical role in the Orlando Sentinel<\/em>\u2019s 2020 Election Day coverage,\u201d says Julie Anderson \u201984 \u201989MA<\/strong>, Orlando<\/em> Sentinel<\/em>\u2019s editor-in-chief. \u201cTheir reporting from precincts all over our region about voters\u2019 perspectives gave flavor to the results that were coming in on Election Day. They also applied their social media and broadcasting skills to help us inform readers about the results coming in.<\/p>\n In turn, students gained hands-on experience working with a major news organization; garnered feedback from Sentinel <\/em>editors; earned the chance to land future internships and jobs; shared bylines, shirttail credits and broadcast credits; and \u2014 best of all \u2014 had the unique thrill and adrenaline rush of writing on deadline while covering one of the biggest stories of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned so much from simply being out on the field and watching how an election is covered. I think this type of learning skyrockets student journalists\u2019 abilities and education,\u201d says Natalia Jaramillo, a journalism major who reported from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office.<\/p>\n Some of the highlights for journalism majors include:<\/p>\n\n