On Election Day, Marshall University’s campus TV studio will be the hub for a nationwide broadcasting network of collegiate perspectives on the presidential race and concerns facing many first time voters.
The project, called Student News Live, will involve 24 hours of election reports coming in from universities across the United States. The students of Marshall’s W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications will anchor coverage including contributions from more than 70 universities and other national organizations.
School of Journalism director Dr. Rob Quicke is the project co-founder. He said the unprecedented multi-media effort puts his students at the heart of a unique generational perspective on the 2024 national vote.
“We are going to coordinate 24 hours of election coverage entirely by the students of this country,” Quicke said.
“We’re going to go coast to coast. Hundreds of students are going to be involved, and it’s going to give them an opportunity, a platform for their generation to have their voices heard and for people to understand what the issues are of importance to them.”
Other schools involved include Ohio State, Texas, Georgetown, New York University and others from the West Coast. The initiative, which runs from noon on November 5 until noon on November 6, has national support from PBS Newshour Student reporting Labs, iHeartRadio, NBCU Academy, The Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Association of LGTBQ+ Journalists and many more.
Marshall broadcast journalism student Emma Gallus will work as Student News Live studio manager and segment producer. She said there is not a more important student topic.
“I think it’s very crucial, because this is our future we’re playing with,” Gallus said. “It’s our rights, it’s our planet. And I think that if we’re not paying attention and we’re not fighting for what we want and what we need, that we’re just going to be kind of pushed off to the side.’
Quicke said the herculean planning effort of 24 straight reporting hours will be a real-world career launching pad for Marshall broadcast journalism students.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to get better real world experience than doing something like actually reporting on the election in real time, interviewing people, putting together packages, editing, writing stories,’ Quicke said. “That is the kind of thing they’ll be doing professionally. And they’re going to be doing it for real.”
Marshall journalism school faculty, staff and alumni, among other professionals, will offer support including mentorship, copyediting and food for the 24-hour broadcast marathon. Gallus said she hoped that Student News Live content, coming from students, about students’ national issues and concerns, would stimulate a better informed young voting block.
“I think that it will help them be better formed as citizens, and understand, this is how this works,” Gallus said. “This is what I can do. Especially if they can’t vote yet, they can see, okay, these are the topics that are important to me. If they are on the docket. I need to pay attention, and I need to do my own research and all of this, so I can form my own opinions.”
You can view Student News Live on the Student News Live website, on Marshall’s JMCTV YouTube Channel and on the WVPB YouTube Channel.