NEW ORLEANS: Together with Gray Television, Loyola University New Orleans' School of Mass Communication (SMC) is creating a student laboratory on campus, a "Producer Incubator Lab," that will introduce producers from Gray Television stations around the nation to Loyola to help coach and educate aspiring producers, as well as deliver lectures on all aspects of production in the television broadcast industry.

For 10 weeks during the Spring 2019 semester, Gray Television will send one visiting professional per week to spend two days in classrooms and lab settings working with SMC journalism students.

"At Loyola University New Orleans, we are training the newsroom leaders of tomorrow," said Sonya Duhé, professor and director of the School of Mass Communication. "Through this partnership, we will continue to expand journalism students' view of what is possible and what is critical in the newsrooms of tomorrow so that they enter the workforce personally and professionally prepared to succeed."

The 10 professionals will be producers drawn from 10 different markets around the country. They will address all aspects of the production of a newscast, from story generation to vetting sources and streaming news.

The Producer Incubator program will be integrated into the Senior Capstone experience, a mandatory semester class in which senior journalism students draw on the skills gleaned throughout their college experience to produce a professional weekly live broadcast.

In the Digital Communications Lab at Loyola, journalism students work on HD cameras to record live and taped interviews and shepherd them to post-production in a state-of-the-art television production studio and installation room. Loyola now has added capability of multi-channels of Skype-enabled live shots with a professional, broadcast quality. Students will use the new equipment to train for broadcasting live shots and interviews.

"Our employees are very excited to introduce the latest tools and technologies in broadcasting and provide hands-on learning to the future leaders of the newsroom," said Mike Smith, director of talent recruitment and retention for Gray Television.

"We at Gray believe this will also be a rewarding experience for our employees as they get to interact on a very organic level with students studying new media and have a meaningful impact on the careers of aspiring producers. Gray TV is committed to developing the next generation of journalists."

"At Loyola University New Orleans, we are training the newsroom leaders of tomorrow," said Sonya Duhé, professor and director of the School of Mass Communication. "Through this partnership, we will continue to expand journalism students' view of what is possible and what is critical in the newsrooms of tomorrow so that they enter the workforce personally and professionally prepared to succeed."

"Producers are the heart of a television station, and we recognize that some of the most crucial parts of their development start in the classroom," Smith concluded. "We're excited to be training tomorrow's newsroom leaders."

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