Students at the WVU Reed College of Media used the 2014 midterm elections as an opportunity to build their skills in covering both political campaigns and elections results.
As early as August, professors Alison Bass and Bob Britten teamed up with Derek Willis from the New York Times to teach students how to use public data to inform coverage of the US Senate race between Republican Shelley Moore Capito and Democrat Natalie Tennant. Willis, who is the College’s current innovator-in-residence, discusses the project in an article which appears in the Columbia Journalism Review.
Journalism senior Caroline Peters did a story on 18-year-old Sara Blair, a WVU freshman who ran for West Virginia House of Delegates, for her West Virginia Uncovered capstone. When Blair won the race, Andrea Mitchell reported the story on MSNBC, and she used some of Peters’ video.
In addition, three College of Media students traveled to New York City to intern for ABC News on election night. Graduate students Tyler Channell and Shishira Sreenivas, and journalism senior Tiet Tran worked alongside Andrew Springer, senior editor for social media at ABC News, using such social media tools as Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook to provide real-time coverage of the election.
Teaching Associate Professor Gina Dahlia, who accompanied the students to New York City, is the adviser and liaison between ABC News and the WVU Reed College of Media. Read about their experience and view a photo gallery online.