Just For TV Teachers

It’s time for a end-of-October “gut-check.” Here are some topics I think we should be covering on our high school broadcasts. But are we?

1. ADD Attention deficit disorder. We have so many kids who are on medication for this, and so many who display the symptoms. It has a huge impact on classroom management, and ultimately on achievement. Does it matter to teens? It should, considering so many have it. It’s also considered an “easy excuse for failure” by some, and is often not taken seriously. Why do we see it more than ever these days, when it was never even heard of a few years ago? What causes it, or at least contributes to it?

2. FWB Friends with benefits. We’ve tried THREE times to cover this subject. Just last week a student told me it was common, but we have never gotten the “unique access” needed to tell this one properly. It is possible to cover this topic, but first-hand testimony means more than all the adult “experts” in the world on this story, where it is important to understand the thought process involved. Teens who have FWB are risking so much both physically and emotionally, but this one truly is a challenge.

3. Poor achievement by minority students. Look at test scores, graduation rates, just about any measurement of scholastic success. It’s a huge issue, one that might require an entire program to do it justice. It’s a dialogue we need to have, and it would be powerful if teens led that discussion with their peers.

4. Date abuse. We are trying this one on our next show. A lot of teen girls tolerate verbal and even physical abuse from their boyfriends. Some may not realize, due to the cycle of abuse they have experienced at home, that they are in a truly abusive relationship.

5. Poverty. If kids are poor, school and academics take a back seat. It’s a huge problem all over the nation. We covered this one in-depth in 2002. We could do the same story today, and we would be reporting that things have only gotten worse. What can teen news programs do about it? Shine the light on it, make people in the community see the problem, and supply information about the wonderful people and agencies that offer help everyday. It is important to understand that those in poverty do not know how to connect to those offering assistance. Here’s a chance to report and enlighten.

That’s just five tough, worthwhile topics I can think of–there are many more. If you have already covered them, good for you. Keep it up. While I understand the reason some schools focus on films, music videos, and other non-journalistic projects, we need more scholastic broadcasts going after the toughest, most challenging topics out there. It may not be easy, but it is worth it.

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Here’s a cool website: http://www.archive.org/index.php

It’s a “wayback machine” where you can look at archived webpages from years gone by. That’s right, if you want to see what was posted on your favorite website five or six years ago, or even last month, give it a try. You won’t find every day’s page and content, and some links are broken, but you can sure enjoy this peek into the past.

I found our website, www.htvmagazine.com, and saw that in November of 2000, we had six HTVers working election night for our local NBC affiliate. We also were working on stories about cadet cops, a teen pilot, a local coffee shop for teens, and the high school musical at Hillcrest.

Coming up with story ideas is always a challenge. Revisiting topics now and then is fine, I think, but we try to wait for at least four years to update feature stories. The “wayback machine” is giving us a chance to look back as far as 1999 to see if there are any nuggets we can turn into fresh stories now.

I’d write more, but I’ve got to get back to the past. Hang on, Mr. Peabody!

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Okay, bedtime approaches, but it’s been a while since I filed a purely random list of well, randomness, about primetime TV:

*The ole CW has tapped into the teen market again with “Gossip Girl.” I have not watched it. Probably won’t. Kind of doubt I’m the demographic they are after. But as one student excitedly told me today, “It’s like the ‘OC’ only it’s in New York, which is so much better.”

*Speaking of primetime TV, two shows have “Jumped the Shark,” in my opinion. (See www.jumptheshark.com if you want to know what that phrase means)

1. “Grey’s Anatomy” I actually think it jumped with the s-t-u-p-i-d, awkward Izzie/George relationship, but then we got to see Izzie revive a deer in a pick-up last week. Splash.

2. “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” Sorry, but you went from NBC to the USA Network. That’s like going from the big leagues to well, Pawtucket.

In a related shark-sighting, baseball’s Division Series were on TBS this year. That’s the cable station whose programming schedule usually reads like this: Sex and the City/Sex and the City/Miss Congeniality/Pretty Woman/Sex and the Congenial Pretty Woman In the City. So yes, it’s the logical place to put the baseball playoffs.

I watched the Emmy Awards a few weeks ago. The cool, hip, enlightened Hollywood actors and actresses, people who make a living using words, were so entertaining with those inspiring, profanity-sprinkled acceptance speeches. Here in the flyover states, many of us were not amused. I bet the FCC was happy for the ten-second delay. The Flying Nun never talked like that back at the convent.

Enough. Long live “Friday Night Lights” on NBC, the best show on television. There.

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There are a LOT of national contests for scholastic broadcasters these days. When I started “HTV Magazine” in 1989, there was nothing out there, but now there is. How do you decide which contests to enter? I think it is all about what you are after as a teacher.

Since we have SO many teachers just starting broadcast programs, and plenty of others who are just now getting to the point where they want to test the waters, here is a list of contest options I am famliar with, including a brief remark about each, based on my students’ experience with each.

STN Excellence Award: Submit your best show, get a written critique from professionals, and see how you stack up against the top programs in the nation. Upside: Critiques, no entry fee (but you must be an STN affiliate ($40 per year) Downside: Very tough competition, only one winner in each category (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.), no second place, third place, or HMs, named. Deadline: November 26, 2007 Winner announced at STN Convention

STN Film Festival: Submit up to three student-produced, ten-minutes-or-less original movies. Judges choose the best to be “official selections” of the Festival, and those are screened in front of a large audience on January 19 at the STN convention. Upside: No entry fee, but you must be an STN affiliate ($40 per year), a great venue for the screenings in the Grand Ballroom at the Disneyland Hotel, and a chance for students to exercise real creativity. Downside: No written feedback. Mail-in deadline is November 26

Five Freedoms PSA Contest: Sponsored by RTNDF, here is a chance to teach and promote the Five Freedoms. Upside: Cash awards ($1,000 for first place), categories for 15 and 30-second entries, and you can enter as many PSAs as you want. Downside: Selling students on the topic, no written feedback. Deadline: February 1, 2008 Submit via www.schooltube.com

National Student Television Award For Excellence: Sponsored by the National Television Academy, you can enter as much as you want. Judged by professionals, teachers and even students. Lots of regional awards, which then compete for the seven national awards. (Teachers call them student “Emmys,” but the Academy does not–that is what they call the college awards) Upside: Winners are flown to a nice ceremony where clips are shown, and students make acceptance speeches. Very prestigious award, something the general public “gets” because it comes from the Academy. Judges can provide comments, but not all of them do. Downside: You pay $25 per entry. The uploading process is not as simple as it should be (they should use Schooltube). Only seven categories, with nothing specifically for “Features,” which is what most students produce. So apples and oranges are sometimes competing in the same category. Upload deadline is February 22, 2008

Robert F. Kennedy High School Journalism Award: Honors just one segment a year. The contest is for stories about the disadvantaged in your local community, and what the community is doing about it. Stick to the “spirit of the contest” on this one. Upside: No entry fee. Winners flown to a wonderful ceremony in Washington D.C. in May. A chance to be honored alongside professionals from the major networks and newspapers, and to visit with Mrs. Kennedy and others who are familiar with your entry. Downside: No written feedback, and the ceremony does not feature clips. Only one entry per school. Mail-in deadline in February

STN Challenges: Enter teams of four in News-Feature and Sports categories. They receive a topic, and are challenged to produce a story in six days. This one is fun, and features maybe more true “educational moments” of any national contest. It provides a hard deadline, and a lot of positive pressure. Upside: Thorough written critiques by pros. A true challenge, dozens of teaching moments, teamwork, a sense of accomplishment just for meeting the deadline. Five entries receive recognition at the STN convention (first, second, third, two HMs). Downside: Not for the weak-spirited. Expect tons of obstacles, and lots of stress. Kids with little experience may hit the wall in this one. Other classes, regular school activities make it hard to meet the challenge. That’s why teams of four helps in this one. Contest dates change each year, but after the winter weather crippled some schools the last two years, expect this one to settle into October.

National Scholastic Press Association Broadcast Pacemaker Award:. This one honors the top overall shows submitted. It used to be the only contest out there for high school broadcasts. In recent years it has lost some of its punch due to other contests, but also due to some strange decisions by “mystery judges” forced to pick winners from a wide spectrum, with no clear standards. It has had all the flaws you would expect in a broadcast contest basically run by print people. Upside: Finalists are named, then the winners. It has prestige because the newspaper and yearbook Pacemakers have been around forever. The Broadcast Pacemaker began in 1996. Downside: No entry fee, but you must be an NSPA member to enter ($69). No critique, no feedback other than you win or your don’t. Nobody knows what they are looking for, all shows judged in one big category (daily shows vs. monthly, etc.). Deadline in June, submissions are mailed in

STN Nationals: A huge mail-in contest for STN affiliates-only, this one includes numerous catgories for broadcast journalism and creative productions such as music video and original short. It used to take place in the fall and spring. Now there is just one contest, in the spring, so it will be huge. Upside: All the catetogories, written critiques by professionals for each entry, awards given for first, second, third, and two HMs, providing more opportunities to receive recognition. There is really nothing like this on the scholastic landscape. Downside: STN is historically slow to publish winners, and to get awards delivered in this contest. Lots of entries, lots of competition. Limit of three entries per cateogory, per school, and each entry costs $10. Mail-in deadline is March 31.

Schooltube Students Choice Awards: A chance to upload entries from your school or home direct to www.schooltube.com. Viewers will rate clips, and based on ratings and total number of viewings, numerous winners will be named in December. There are 20 “channels” for just about any kind of video your kids produce. Upside: Schooltube’s safe environment (”student-produced/teacher-approved” videos only), all sorts of categories within the channels, a very user-friendly uploading process, no entry fee. Downside: It’s hard to know what kind of response this one will get, how many entries, and what kind of results you can expect. This is one of those contests that “is what it is,” with no written critiques, no real standards other than what the voters establish this first time around. It’s going to be a popularity contest, but a chance for students to have a voice.

One last thing that might be helpful to teachers is a list of which of those are the toughest to win. I don’t have all the inside info, but we have won awards in each of the contests above through the years (except for the new Schooltube contest), so maybe this will help.

I have started at the top, with the one I think is the toughest to win:

1. National Television Academy Award for Excellence (hundreds of entries, only seven national winners)
2. Robert F. Kennedy High School Journalism Award (over 100 entries, only one winner)
3. STN Excellence Award (high standards, tough competition, only one winner per category, but not a huge amount of entries)
4. STN Challenges (a difficult contest, but five schools in each category receive honors)
5. NSPA Broadcast Pacemaker (not a lot of entries, but they are all tossed into one broad category, judging standards are hard to grasp, not a lot of top broadcast schools participate, but it still has prestige)
6. STN Film Festival (usually eight or ten movies will be “official selections,” but after the top four or five, the quality drops, and total entries have been running around 40, though it is expected to increase)
7. RNTDF Five Freedoms PSA (historically there are not a lot of entries, and honors go to several in each category, with nice cash prizes)
8. STN Nationals (just got tougher with one “nationals” at the end of March instead of contests in both the spring and fall, but with lots of categories, and five awards in each, this a good contest for all schools to enter, including young programs)

Stay tuned. I will give you the rundown on the STN convention contests in a couple of weeks. Hope this has helped. One thing I do know from years of experience: If you don’t enter, you never win.

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