By: Tia Humphries
One week into adjusting to online classes and navigating our remote newsroom, Howard University's NewsVision team began brainstorming of how we can cover the news despite being in different locations.
Professor Thomas gave us the task of covering the impact of COVID-19 on our local communities and challenged us to create a five-minute roundtable news brief. We were given two days to write, record, and edit our news brief to have it ready by the next class meeting. As a team, we decided to focus on situations that were specific to our areas then end the news brief with tips on how to stay healthy and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
With two out of five of us restricted by state-enforced lockdowns, we had to utilize spaces in our homes to do stand-ups, rely on our cellphones as cameras, call upon our parents to be our photographers, and organize zoom interviews to bring our stories to life. We also had to remember to practice social distancing to protect ourselves and our sources. We assigned the roles of producer, copy editor, anchor, final editor, and post-production editor to ensure we efficiently completed our assignment by the deadline.
As the final editor, I was responsible for stitching everyone's stories into one to execute our roundtable toss flawlessly. During the editing process, I experienced challenges with varying audio levels, finding supporting graphics, and always running out of storage on my MacBook. However, with the help of an external hard drive, a supportive team, and the expertise of Professor Thomas, the news brief came together.
Our coverage stretched from New Jersey to California from North to South, including Florida, South Carolina, and Washington, DC. Our brief garnered praise from not only Howard University's Cathy Hughes School of Communication staff, but even Howard University's administration. The university posted our brief on all their social media accounts, causing our viewership to increase. Our submission has over 450 views and rising.
Journalists must be creative and resilient in times of opposition and crisis. This experience has taught us to never limit ourselves or our abilities to cover the news regardless of the situation. NewsVision is up for the challenge and will continue to cover COVID-19 for the remainder of the school year.