Fellows at USC Annenberg's News21 completed a 10-week program on July 27, which took them from places as far away as Washington D.C. to as close as the Lake Shrine meditation garden and temple in Los Angeles to cover journalism stories that focus on spirituality.
Two stories have already been printed in the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Weekly, and there are plans to air recently finished news packages on PBS, National Public Radio and KCET's Life & Times.
"It really gives me great hope for the future of journalism because these students are learning to do it all," associate journalism professor and News21 coordinator Judy Muller said. "They still tell substantive stories, but they know how to do it in a variety of forms, and that's exactly what news directors are looking for right now."
Nick Street (M.A. print journalism '07; pictured) already has two pieces through the News21 program published: a July 25 Los Angeles Times article (more) about the healing power of meditation in schools; and a July 11 Los Angeles Weekly article (more) about veterans of the war in Iraq using Buddhist meditation to overcome posttraumatic stress disorder.
"It was an intense reporting experience," said Heather Downie (MA. print journalism, '07), who worked on News21 projects called the Magical Mystery Tour and Transformations. "Producing professional quality content, working with such a qualified team and seeing all of our projects on the Web was really fulfilling."
Students trained on the day-to-day rigors of broadcast reporting at USC Annenberg had the rare opportunity through News21 to focus and polish their packages.
"I've never spent so much time on individual pieces," said Lindsay Watts (M.A. broadcast journalism, '07), who was more accustomed to the daily packages needed as an anchor for the award-winning nightly newscast Annenberg Television News. "It was different having something to really spend some time on."
Muller said KCET's Life & Times plans to broadcast in August a story on the Magical Mystery Tour, and NPR plans to air a story on Positive Psychology and another onTranscendental Meditation in Schools.
News21 is a Carnegie-Knight initiative on journalism education involving five national research universities. The ways in which Americans seek spiritual enlightenment are as diverse as America itself. Millions of Americans consider themselves "spiritual, but not religious." USC reports on the various paths explored by these "seekers," and how those paths intersect with science, commerce, education and culture.
News21
News21 authors
Los Angeles Times article
Los Angeles Weekly article
