By Richard Watts
Last year, Illinois public radio broadcast more than 350 student stories – generated and mentored through the student news room at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The partnership dates back many decades but took a leap forward when the University hired it’s first “clinical” teaching professor, Chris Evans in the fall of 2020.
“There was a gap between what students could do and what IPM (Illinois public media) wanted to do,” Evans said. And he was hired to fill that gap, drawing on his experience as the student media advisor to the radio station at the University of Vermont.
The first step was to develop a student news room, Evans said, following a hybrid model that combines classroom, internship, professional and student-media practices. Students learn in a professional setting while still operating under the mentorship of faculty. Students register for credit in one of two audio reporting classes taught by Evans, an introductory and an upper level class. And delivering local content to Illinois Public radio is core to both classes. Content that is deeply appreciated by the station.
“We are in a news desert where several local newspapers have decimated their reporting staffs or closed altogether,” said Reginald Hardwick, the news director at IPM. “By having Professor Evans help the students write, gather audio and produce stories for our local newscasts, we have been able to greatly expand our local coverage.”
In the introductory section of the class, Evans spends more time on writing, editing, voicing for radio and the expectations are lower on students to produce stories. But in the upper level version, students are expected to publish between 8-10 pieces during the semester.
In the introductory class Evans spends the first half of the semester on developing their skills so they can edit and produce pieces and in the second half he throws them in. The advanced class starts producing stories right away but also have to do at least one complicated feature story with ambient sound from the site.
Students develop the story ideas and Evans edits and suggests changes.
At the same time Evans and Hardwick, of Illinois Public Radio are in touch so they know what stories are coming and can provide feedback on the ideas. IPM can also suggest stories. But about 80% of the story ideas are pitched and generated by the students and then mentored through by Evans. This added oversight is key for the media partner.
“It’s not enough just to have an internship program in a newsroom,” Hardwick said. “Professor Evans provides the teaching and mentoring consistently that’s needed to help develop journalists.”
Evans also appoints a few deputy producers each semester, students who help their less experienced colleagues, and get paid for it. “The best way to learn something is to teach others how to do it,” Evans said. About three students a semester are now getting paid about $750 for the semester.
“We see it as student focused and directed,” Evans said. “I step away as much as I can but I’m always the last person to see the work before it gets to IPM to ensure we meet quality standards.”
In Evans first year the news room increased students stories from an average of about six a year to more than 170. As the program hit its stride that number doubled to about 350 student stories in 2021-22.
Looking forward, Evans would like to see more faculty take advantage of the opportunity to have their student pieces on the radio.
For more information
Contact Chris Evans cre@illinois.edu
https://will.illinois.edu/studentnewsroom
https://will.illinois.edu/studentnewsroom/meettheteam
https://media.illinois.edu/illinois-student-newsroom-ipm-trains-students-alongside-professionals
