Every morning at Osbourn High School, a newscast with all of the announcements for the day is played to inform students about anything school-related. But where do these daily informative shows originate from? It turns out the students in the Broadcast Journalism class, taught by Ms. Miller, are the creators of each and every show! Although the Osbourn Today show is made every day, it is not live. The short reasoning for this was said by Ms. Miller, “The short version of that story is that announcements could be live, but the process of watching live was tricky for a lot of teachers, so we switched to pre-taping the show. We tape the show the same day you see it, so the information is always current!”

Each student in Broadcast Journalism has a different and important job or role they have to do for the bigger picture, whether it’s being the cameraman, controlling the teleprompters, or writing the scripts. Each student seemingly prefers a different role or job from the next. Some examples are Adriana Simpson, who believes she is best at being on camera. “I would say I am the best on camera because I practice every other day and get it done quickly.”

Meanwhile, Hibah Mirza prefers the teleprompter. “I like to do teleprompter because teleprompter is an easy job for me.”

Karen Gonzales likes both being on camera and using the teleprompter. “Either anchoring or holding the prompter, for anchoring, I can dress up to look cute for the camera; meanwhile, holding the prompter is also nice because I can help when someone else decides to be on camera.”

Last but not least, Allison Rodriguez enjoys editing the videos for the show. “I believe I am best at editing because I have a lot of experience with video editing in other classes, and I love making everything look visually pleasing and fun to look at!”

Creating the show is something that starts first thing each morning. According to Kira Ellis Williams, “We figure out what group will be doing what and who will be anchoring, and then we put together the script and test the microphone before going out to film.”

Allison goes more in-depth, explaining how the broadcast team operates, “First, we get a brief overview by Ms. Miller on what and how things will be done and what is new. Then, we organize into groups, depending on what sections we choose to work on. From there, we split up into different and decorative areas of the school and do our tasks, whether that is recording, holding up the teleprompter, or being on camera. Lastly, we walk back to class, and somebody starts editing as soon as the video is done.

Some students take time to provide feedback to the Broadcast Journalism class or to specific students. One case of this comes from Alexa Angulo, who was asked to speak more slowly. “They tell me to talk slower. I guess I talk faster on camera sometimes.”

While Lauren Dow-Healey explained how people recognize her and enjoy the show, “Yes, a lot of teachers and students always recognize me from the morning show and tell me that we do a great job.”

Broadcast Journalism may seem simple at first; however, it’s much more challenging once you know about it. Adriana advises students who may want to join Broadcast Journalism to “Make sure you have good attendance and are flexible when it comes to roles. Do not have a set idea of what role you will play because it depends on who is there and what they need help with. Also, having good time management is important.”

Similarly, Lauren says students “need to be prepared to participate and show up on time every day.” 

The Broadcast Journalism team each had their own unique reason as to why they joined Broadcast Journalism. For Cristian Aldana Medina it was because “I did Broadcast back in elementary school, and I like how the process goes when making a show.”

For Khiyah Pitkin it was simply because “it sounded very interesting to do.”

Lily Lucero said, “I decided to do Broadcast Journalism freshman year because it sounded like a fun concept and I wanted to be a part of the show. This year is my senior year, and I’m doing it again because I missed the fun of being on the show, and I wanted to go out with a bang for my last year.”

Overall, the Broadcast Journalism class is more unique and interesting than it may seem, as there are many things you can do in the class other than just being on camera.

Would you join Broadcast Journalism? Let us know why or why not in the comments!