Behind the Scenes BNN Edition

(Story by senior communications major Chelsi Ham)
When you see the red light on in the hallway of the Crawford Communications second floor, you know that you are not to disturb! 

Bulldog News Now (BNN) is lead by communications instructors to give students a chance to learn how things really work in a TV studio, control room and newsroom.

Students can gain invaluable hands-on experience covering, shooting, editing and reporting the news.  Anchoring experience can be attained also, as well as exposure to the behind the scene jobs during a television newscast such as director, audio board, teleprompter and studio camera operators






I got a chance to go behind the scenes and meet the many instructors and students behind BNN. Students take on the positions mentioned earlier. All under the guidance of communications instructor Alicia Pryor, Justin Smith, and  Kelechi Benet. Each faculty member has extensive prior experience in broadcast journalism, production and/or video and film creation. 



Students are taught how to write great stories and turn them into a script that is ready to be reported. Our less camera shy students dress in their finest attire and report the news. But don't forget the person behind the screens monitoring every word they report, the teleprompter is just as important as the anchors.

The teleprompter operator must keep things running smoothly on the screen even when there are mistakes. While I visited I watched as the students and faculty encountered an issue but effortlessly kept rolling while the teleprompter went out during a recording.

Everyone knew how to keep their cool and still finish through the recording. An important lesson was to just keep rolling and they did just that. These group of students handled their roles professionally as if they've been doing this for years. BNN is a growing success with dedicated hard working students and faculty that come together every week to bring you the news.