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Students hired to work for ABC covering Sago Mine disaster

Two WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism students were hired as freelance producers for Good Morning America and ABC and asked to coordinate coverage of the Sago Mine disaster for two days this week.

ABC News hired undergraduate broadcast student Justin Weaver and graduate student Ivy Smith Guiler to find and interview mine disaster victims’ family members and to provide the network information on the condition of the sole surviving miner, who was treated at West Virginia University’s Ruby Memorial Hospital.

Assistant Professor Bonnie Stewart accompanied Weaver to Upshur County and served as a faculty mentor. Stewart worked as an investigative reporter before coming to WVU this fall to teach public affairs reporting and other upper-level writing courses.

Stewart has been nationally and regionally recognized for her reporting. In 2001, she and a colleague earned a George Polk Award for metropolitan reporting and the National Society of Professional Journalists Award.

Weaver said the experience was invaluable. He helped coordinate interviews for the network and provided information to the New York City base concerning events and after effects of the mining disaster.

“The terrible mine tragedy that occurred in Tallmansville hit very close to home for me because my father is a coal miner and events such as this are always in the back of my mind. When I received a call from Good Morning America asking me to provide ground assistance, I was more than eager to participate, not only because I study journalism but I wanted to help tell the stories of this disaster correctly and respectfully.”

Weaver worked one-on-one with producers from Good Morning America and other ABC family members such as 20/20 and World News Tonight.

“I was able to test my knowledge and skills in this professional arena, ” he said. “I walked away from this event with fresh insight of the internal workings of a national network and this knowledge will assist me with my future endeavors in journalism.”

Guiler covered a press conference at Ruby Memorial Hospital for ABC, coordinated a camera crew and worked directly with producers from New York.

“It showed me another side of broadcasting that I had never experienced and probably wouldn’t have gotten to experience this soon in my career,” Guiler said. “I also learned how to operate on 20 minutes of sleep in two days.”