Journalism Students report on Open09
Journalism students at UCLan reported live on Open 09, Preston’s first international creative and media industry conference.
Third year undergraduate broadcast students produced video coverage of the two day festival which attracted delegates from all over the UK as well as the United States.
Postgraduate newspaper journalism students reported for the web as well as producing two special editions which were distributed at the multi-venue conference.
As well as relying on traditional reporting methods students blogged, used “cover it live”, discovered posterous.com and audio boo.
“Open 09 was a really fantastic one-of-a-kind experience,” said postgraduate newspaper journalism student Rhianne Pope. It gave us the chance to work as real journalists with state-of-the-art equipment.”
Among those attending were BBC executive David Hayward, Jason Schupbach of the Massachussets Department of Business Development and Saint John Walker computer games manager of Skillset.
UClan senior journalism lecturer and project developer Paul Egglestone who masterminded the event praised the students. “They were all highly organised throughout and without their reporting from venues across the city there would have been no way of getting an overview of the depth and breadth of debate generated by the event. They were really our eyes and ears on the ground for two solid days David Hayward, editor of the BBC’s College of Journalism was particularly complementary, commenting on their diligence and professionalism.”
Open 09 attracted sponsorship from the BBC, T Mobile, North West Media and Sandbox, UCLan’s centre for digital and creative industries. The conference’s ultimate aim is to produce an influential manifesto designed to help Government shape future creative policy.
“It was a great experience for our students,” said Delwyn Swingewood MA/PGDip Newspaper Journalism.”
“Open 09 has further enhanced our reputation for journalism training by giving students the chance to cover such high profile events,” said Deborah Robinson, Course Leader BA Journalism.
