UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — While the nominees have been determined, with national political conventions scheduled the next two weeks serving in large part to confirm the candidacies of Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, those conventions will be newsworthy, and journalism students from Penn State will be on site to chronicle what happens.
The College of Communications has partnered with the University of Maryland’s Capital News Service, the journalism program at Case Western Reserve University and with the McClatchy Company to secure credentials, provide students with hands-on opportunities covering major events and serve media consumers across the nation while covering the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week (July 18-21) and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next week (July 25-28).
The partnership among the three schools will provide students with a unique reporting and learning experience. Stories and photos they produce will be available to McClatchy-owned news organizations across the country, including the Centre Daily Times in State College.
The Penn State students will be working closely with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association (PNA) as well. The student-produced content will also be available to PNA members. The PNA is a nonprofit organization that supports journalism in the state. Students will collaborate to provide features, updates and sidebars for PNA news organizations for use on websites and in newspapers.
Students should find plenty of newsworthy activity, action and reaction at both conventions.
“I anticipated that the conventions would be like the last ones … PR shows,” said Russ Eshleman, head of the Department of Journalism at Penn State and a 15-year veteran of The Philadelphia Inquirer who will be traveling with the students to both cities. “As it moved along, it became a better story journalistically. For a reporter, it doesn’t get much better than seeing real emotion and conflict.”
In total, 10 Penn State students will be working at the conventions. Three will cover both events.
Rubbing shoulders with some of the best reporters in the world and witnessing how others cover the same stories will add to the unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Student reporters will be interviewing some of the country’s most passionate citizens, delegates and politicians while taking in the events and reporting the details for the world to see.
“Key values of this project are collaboration and communication. The students won’t be together the whole time, but they will be working together,” senior lecturer John Beale said. “The photography students will be looking for feature photos, but will also be seeking out photos to go along with the stories the others are writing. They need to be on the same page and communicate as things happen.”
Beale, who covered the 2004 Republican National Convention as a photographer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said the student reporters will need to be flexible and quick-thinking in order to successfully cover the high-energy events.
“The lead story is going to change a few times throughout the day,” he said. “The event itself isn’t the story. It really is unpredictable and it will certainly be a wonderful experience.”
Eshleman, Beale and other faculty members will be on hand to provide guidance and coordination, but students will have all of the reporting responsibility. Doctoral student Stephanie Orme will assist Eshleman in both cities, while Beale will work as the photo editor in Cleveland and senior lecturer Will Yurman will be the photo editor in Philadelphia.
“Faculty will be there for logistical purposes and laying down the ground rules for meeting times and safety precautions,” Eshleman said. “The students will take it from there.”
This is not the first time the College of Communications has taken advantage of nearby events with national relevance. In September 2015, students covered Pope Francis' visits to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. A dozen journalism students covered the weeklong papal visit for media partners with a variety of multimedia, print and video content.
In November 2015, the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism sent a group of communications students to cover the Penn State baseball team’s historic trip to Cuba. The trip was also a collaboration with the PNA.
“We always want to get our students involved in covering major events, especially when they happen so close to home, as is the case with the conventions,” Eshleman said. “It’s turning out to be such an exciting political year. It would be a shame for our journalism students to not be on the front lines.”
This is the fifth consecutive presidential election that Capital News Service has covered. The student-powered news organization is run by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Students from Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom are contributing to the CNS coverage as well.