Students from Elon University’s Communication Fellows program toured a Central Florida newspaper and a television affiliate Jan. 15 as part of their Winter Term course, The Central Florida Experience.
Early in the morning, the students visited the Orlando Sentinel, a daily newspaper with a print circulation of more than 1 million. Students met with editor Mark Russell, who shared information about the publication and answered questions, and associate editor John Cutter and social media and mobile producer Lauren Krabbenhoft.
Students sat in on the newspaper’s budget meeting, where department representatives discussed what stories would appear in the next day’s print edition. Later, the students took a tour of the Orlando Sentinel newsroom and viewed the newspaper’s on-site printing press.
The students then traveled to WESH, an Orlando NBC affiliate. There, the Communication Fellows saw the live noon newscast from the control room and the television studio.
After the broadcast, the students met many WESH professionals, including news director Bob Longo. They were able to ask questions and gain insight into the major news outlet. The visit to WESH concluded with a brief tour of the newsroom.
— by Simone Jasper ’16