Broadcast Journalism

Broadcast journalism is my passion and my primary journalistic focus. I am attracted to the visual component of the medium as well as the challenge of creating a story. Videography allows me to have creative control over the entire production of the video including story ideas, filming, script writing, graphics, editing, and audio. I enjoy the process of synthesizing complex stories and ideas to create a video that is engaging and connects with the viewer. The stories that I create all center around my school and local community. The ability to use video deepens the viewer’s understanding of the story and brings to life the person being interviewed and the subject matter. For the last three years, I have been a News Director for RNE-TV Live, my school’s daily News Show. This position is a high-pressure job that requires a lot of time and effort. It involves coordinating with staff, preparing graphics, and having content ready for a live show four days a week. I routinely spend 15 to 20 hours a week focusing on broadcast. And, I love it!

This video was created for C-SPAN’s StudentCam video competition. The prompt for StudentCam 2024 was "In the next 20 years, what is the most important change that you would like to see in America? Detail a specific issue that is important to you and the evolution of related policies, laws, and actions that you want to see in the future." or "Over the past 20 years, what has been the most important change in America? Examine a specific law, event, or invention, explain its impact and why you consider it important." I identified Gerrymandering as an issue that has a large impact on the way that our government works, at both a state and national level. I interviewed the Legal Director of the ACLU, the Vice-President of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina, a constitutional law expert from the University of South Carolina, and a state representative to explore the issue and identify ways to improve voter representation. This story helped me learn how to better break down complicated issues and make complicated issues easily understandable for the viewer. This video won Third Prize in the high school East Division.

The State Superintendent of Education race in 2022 had two candidates that were campaigning on drastically different platforms. This video captures the candidates’ experiences, goals, and the support that they were receiving. I was able to attend the debate prep session for one of the candidates to capture B-roll for the video. This video was created to help educate my school community on the candidates that were running and inform them of the election date. The most challenging aspect of this video was that one of the candidates didn't respond to multiple requests for comment. This made it difficult to equally represent the points of view of both candidates.

 This video was created for C-SPAN’s StudentCam video competition. The prompt for StudentCam 2023 was to imagine "they were a newly elected member of Congress, and sharing the issue that would be their first priority to address, and why." I chose to focus on gun violence, because it is an issue that has heavily impacted my local community. At my school, multiple students have died from gun violence. I interviewed gun violence survivors, the local sheriff, a trauma/acute care surgeon, a state representative, and organizations that work to prevent gun violence to explore the problem and possible solutions. While creating this video, I lost my SD card at another event and had to re-film portions of the video. This definitely taught me the importance of uploading footage as soon as you finish filming, as well as persevering through issues. This video won Third Prize in the high school East Division.

The school board and superintendent of our district experienced a tense relationship, resulting in the superintendent leaving the district. This video captures the period of transition as I interviewed previous board members, the interim superintendent, and community leaders to get their perspective and explain the situation to my school community. This video was created during a strained period at the district level, and current board members would not comment on the story after multiple requests.

This was the first story that I produced by myself. As part of creating this story, I was supposed to identify a topic that was of interest to me and my fellow students. I love to read, and with the rise of book communities, I thought that bringing resources that the public library offers to the attention of my school community was a good way to help bridge the gap between the two topics. As part of this story, I interviewed my school librarian and a librarian from Richland Library to explore the genre of Young Adult Books and book recommendations. This story helped me to become more comfortable interviewing people, editing, and planning a video on my own.

Our school hosts a blood drive every semester, and a student in the community thought that it was unfair that homosexual males weren't allowed to donate blood. My advisor recommended the issue to me, and I spent several weeks better understanding the issue and forming an opinion based off of what I learned. My biggest challenge with creating this video was to talk in a conversational tone in front of the camera, because I am used to anchoring and speaking in a more formal manner in front of the camera. This video won 1st Place in Broadcast Commentary for SIPA's Best Visual Contest.

This video was created for C-SPAN’s StudentCam video competition. The prompt for StudentCam 2025 was "What issue is most important to you or your community? Examine your selected topic from multiple perspectives and assess what action(s) the president should take after Inauguration Day." For my final video in the competition, I wanted to explore a topic that has become increasingly important in my local community. I interview community members that have been impacted by a lack of community connection and understanding, as well as organizations and government officials that support efforts to help bring together and build community. This video won Second Prize in the high school East Division.

RNE-TV Live is a morning news show that airs live to the school four days a week. The content of the show is focused on issues and events in our school and surrounding community. Shows include reports on events happening at the school, such as sports, clubs, and activities. Live interviews, announcements, and broadcast videos are key components of the broadcast. Each show requires a minimum staff of ten to work on cameras, graphics, production, and programming. I started out working on cameras and behind the scenes, but discovered a love for anchoring my freshman year. Over the last three years, I have been a news director and focused my energy on maintaining high industry standards and training a dynamic news team. RNE-TV Live has received multiple awards during my time on the staff, including NSPA Pacemakers in 2022 and 2023, SIPA Best of Show Broadcast 1st place in 2022 and 2024, and STN Broadcast Excellence winner in 2023.

The anchor reel provides a variety of the types of clips including introductions, sign offs, breaking news, and transitions. The clips include solo and two-anchor shows. As an anchor, my goal is to connect with the audience on a deeper level while still being able to deliver the message efficiently. Different types of content require different anchoring styles. News-based segments require a more serious tone, while more entertaining sections are able to be lighter. My goal is to ensure that the flow of the anchoring is seamless and that the tone and usage of words emphasizes important information and content. My anchor reel placed third in the SIPA Best Visual Contest in 2023.

I began anchoring my freshman year, and this is the area that I first thrived in journalism. I quickly became adept in the cadence of speech that anchoring requires. As my progress and level of comfort flourished, I wanted to continue to learn more and get more involved. One challenge to this was the loss of a studio for school renovations my sophomore year. For the accompanying “In the Know” video, we worked out of a temporary space in the school’s media center.This presented the team with many challenges and opportunities, like set design. We changed the background several times and had a tree to broadcast in front of during the holidays. As an anchor in 2022 I received JEA Anchor Excellent Rating, and in 2023 I received SIPA Convention Best Anchor.

Every show of RNE-TV LIVE requires a significant amount of planning, input, and communication. Featured guests must be scheduled, news reels must be planned and written, information about school activities must be gathered, and public interest videos must be created to inform and engage the school community. I am responsible for making sure that all tasks relative to the show are delegated and planned for each day. The first show example was included in the video package for consideration for the National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Award. While I wasn’t directly responsible for producing the second show, I was extensively involved in its planning and was responsible for training the producers and other staff members and providing them feedback based off of this show. While working as a member of News Show, RNE-TV has won NSPA Pacemakers in 2022 and 2023, SIPA Best of Show Broadcast 1st place in 2022 and 2024, and STN Broadcast Excellence winner in 2023.