Meghan Lisson has all the normal responsibilities associated with being a Syracuse University senior – plus a paid reporting job for ABC. She’s one of five SU students working for the student-run ABC News Bureau opening next Wednesday in Newhouse II.

A senior broadcast journalism and political science major, Lisson will be able to attend her classes and then walk a few minutes to the basement of Newhouse II, where the tucked-away bureau awaits.

ABC News launched the program ‘ABC News on Campus’ and selected Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications out of 50 schools as one of the five participating institutions.

‘It shows the respect ABC has for the quality of the broadcast journalism program at Newhouse,’ said former Newhouse Dean David Rubin. ‘Second, it shows they respect the technological facilities we have, and it demonstrates the school’s close tie to the profession.’

The bureau will provide college students an opportunity to produce local news with a national application. Student content will appear online at abcnewsoncampus.com, and some stories may appear on ABC programs such as ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘Nightline.’

As the only campus bureau in the northeast, the team has the considerable task of covering and investigating trends across a vast geographic area.

‘If something big happens nationwide, they want us to find out how it’s affecting people in our demographic,’ Lisson said.

Lisson, who’s worked at CitrusTV, previously known as HillTV, said she’s excited to see her audience grow by millions of viewers.

‘ABC is giving us this incredible opportunity to get our work out there, to get people to see it and to make an impact beyond our school,’ she said.

Two faculty liaisons, Frank Currier and Randy Wenner, will act as mentors aiding the five student members of the bureau staff.

‘ABC has high ambitions, and the students are beginning to feel the pressure of network news reporters and the appetite in New York,’ Currier said. ‘They want to feed the beast.’

Currier said the opportunity is one of the most impressive experiences a student can have at college, and he sees it as a step forward for all college journalists.

‘It’s a chance for the millennial generation to have a voice and be part of the news gathering process,’ he said.

In addition to Currier’s and Wenner’s mentorship, ABC reporters will provide training and support from the NYC bureau.

‘It’s like having a daily life line to people who are doing what we ultimately would like to do out of college,’ said Jason Tarr, the bureau chief and a senior broadcast journalism, international relations and Spanish major. ‘They’re going to be major mentors for all of us.’

ABC also set the bureau up with computers, software and video cameras. ABC will pay each of the five student staffers ‘a couple thousand dollars’ for their work this year, Lisson said.

Another goal of the bureau is to make news interesting and accessible to students by producing content that reflects the interests of the college demographic.

‘I hope students will start to see their beliefs, issues and worries up on the screen,’ Tarr said. ‘And I hope they see students who look like them or who are from their school putting that stuff up.’

Students applied for the position by submitting two video stories and then interviewing with ABC executives on campus last spring. Lisson, Tarr and the other three bureau students attended a training session in early August with executives from ABC and professors.

Tarr said that while the students in the bureau hold the paid positions, he’s hoping many more get involved. Applications for next year’s staff, which requires students to stay on-campus over the summer, will be available in the spring.

‘This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,’ Tarr said. ‘It’s something that a lot of students across the country don’t have the fortune to do, and ABC has been wonderful to choose Syracuse.’

jmterrus@syr.edu

Published on September 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm