Channel 39 and FIU student journalists to produce new TV Morning Show and Web Site


MIAMI – Students at FIU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication returned to campus last week to a groundbreaking multimedia venture and educational opportunity: a class with coursework that will allow them to produce student-focused news segments, at the direction of their professors, that will be able to run on South Florida’s WSFL-TV 39 and its new companion website.

The Sun Sentinel and other print media will be integrated to form a unique 3-platform source for news information and entertainment. The new Morning Show is expected to premier on January 5, 2009 and will serve the Miami-Dade/Broward TV market.

Sue Kawalerski, news director for WSFL-TV 39 and the new Morning Show creator sees a great opportunity for both parties.

“This will not be your father’s Oldsmobile-of-a-newscast – it’ll be a show – emphasis on show – with news in it. Using the combined resources of a TV station, a highly interactive Website and Print Media, students will have an opportunity, as part of their education at FIU, to produce local and national news coverage, from their perspective – and we will be the place where everyone can see it. FIU has some fantastic students and we’re thrilled to have them contribute.”

Allan Richards, SJMC’s interim associate dean, who developed the SJMC’s multimedia program and who Kawalerski says was a driving force behind the endeavor, agrees. “We have a great opportunity to change and improve the face of journalism education. Many papers and television stations and websites are looking for ways to tap into that elusive young market – who better to create and provide that content for the younger demographics than the students who comprise it? This is about re-thinking and re-visioning media and the way we teach it.”

For more information, please contact Allan Richards, interim associate dean, at 305-919-5624, or via e-mail at richarda@fiu.edu. Visit the SJMC at http://jmc.fiu.edu.

— FIU–

About SJMC

The FIU School of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificate programs in advertising, journalism, public relations and television. With approximately 2,000 students, 81 percent minority, it is home to the nation’s first journalism master’s program taught entirely in Spanish, an internationally recognized advertising program in partnership with the Miami Ad School, and one of the top-ranked public relations programs in the nation. Editor and Publisher magazine says the SJMC “now takes the lead in training Hispanic journalists.” The school has become the go-to place for hosting top industry events, and alumni and faculty have won a number of prestigious awards, including a total of eight Pulitzer Prizes and several Silver Anvils, regional Emmys, Clarions, Clios, Addys, Tellys and Silver Microphones.

About FIU:

Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, FIU graduates more Hispanics than any other university in the country. Its 21 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University.” In 2006 FIU was authorized to establish a medical school, which will open in 2009. FIU’s College of Law recently received accreditation in the fastest time allowed by the American Bar Association.

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