Fellows at USC Annenberg's division of News21 recently completed a variety of multimedia stories under a theme of "Southwestern Shifts: New Communities and New Realities," which explored the changing communities, economies and attitudes of the American West during a 10-week period.
News21 is an umbrella organization that showcases student projects from an alliance of 12 top journalism schools. News21 Fellows produced packages on issues such as water rights battles in Northern California, California Indian tribes kicking out their own members, and the perfect storm of recession, foreclosures, population slowdown and reliant tax base battering Las Vegas.
"This year we took News21 to a deeper level by concentrating on non-linear storytelling," said journalism professor Marc Cooper, co-director of News21 at USC Annenberg. "We are delighted to have produced a number of complex and rich packages, boldly highlighting the power of journalism 2.0."
News21 Fellow Deborah Stokol (M.A. Print Journalism '09), who produced a seven-section on "Pentecostals Ascendant in LA's Little Central America," said the program allows the Fellows to report a story deeply, which was a tremendous opportunity that led to rewarding results.
"This experience has given me a clearer idea of what I've wanted from slower reporting and writing and the excitement I've derived from longer form," Stokol said. "I love it. I'm so happy to have been able to immerse — and invest — myself in a story that demanded care and attention and lots of repeat visits to the same places and fuller conversations with eager people. It was rigorous, stressful and fun."
The News21 program started in 2006 with summer "incubators" at four schools, including USC Annenberg. It has since expanded to eight incubators and four contributing schools. It is a reporting project financed by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Said Cooper: "We hope our viewers are as satisfied as we are with this hard look at a changing and crisis-torn American West."
An Aug. 13 Education Week article featured the work of News21 Fellow Emily Henry (M.A. Journalism '09), who produced a series of videos and stories about the children of immigrants in California.
"(The series) doesn't talk only about how poverty and a lack of English proficiency can be barriers for children of immigrants to succeed in school," the article stated. "The series ... also tells about how the children of some farmworkers are extremely motivated to do well in school and have become professionals. Partly, they are motivated to perform well in school because they've witnessed the harsh reality of their parents' lives."
