High school students interested in journalism came to Greensboro today for the  15^th annual High School Media Day held at N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University.

The conference, sponsored by A&T’s Department of Journalism & Mass Communication and N.C. Scholastic Media Association at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication, drew 162 students and advisers.

The day began at 8 a.m. and ended after the lunch panel.

This report covers the lunch hour’s “Media in the Digital Age” panel, from noon to 1:20 p.m.

Panelists include:

Kymberli Hagelburg, the digital content director for the News & Record, news-record.com

Kim Smith, Ph.D, assistant professor and digital media specialist in A&T’s j-department

Cami Anthony, senior producer at WFMY News 2, digtriad.com

Scott Simkins, director of A&T’s Academy for Teaching and Learning, greeted students. “I realized I’ve done this before – but as a student,” he told them. He was editor of his high school newspaper in Minnesota.

Linda Florence Callahan, director of the program, introduced the panelists, then turned the mic over to them for self-introductions.

How has the industry changed?

Hagelburg, who was part of the Pulitzer-winning team that covered Hurricane Katrian for Knight Ridder, said the change in journalism came in 2005 with Katrina. She has also covered rock ‘n’ roll and worked for an alternative weekly in Cleveland.

“I got on the plane and got to Biloxi, Mississippi, maybe 36 hours after landfall when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast,” she said.

She brought a laptop and a cell phone with her. “It was rare to have a cell phone and it was rare to use a laptop for work and to pull things together on the fly in that way. We were still calling stories back to our newsroom and having people type them in.”

“What I saw change in Katrina was that people walked away from lines for food and water to pick up a newspaper.

The news team was reporting on air, for print and for the web, she said.

“People used the web to get the news, to get their safety information and that readership stayed after the disaster; it stayed at the same time the print newspapers were declining.”

Her role as just a print person changed in large part due to the sale of Knight Ridder. She said she learned every skill she could to deliver news electronically.

She encouraged students to learn every skill they can.

We can bring it to you electronically, tell you why in the newspaper, she said.

Put your phones down unless you’re Tweeting about us, Anthony said as she began her explanation of how journalism has changed.

Anthony, who is president of the Triad Association of Black Journalists, encouraged students to ask questions.  Anthony, a 2007 UNC graduate, said, “It’s crazy how much things have changed since I got into the biz.”

“Now the most important deadline is the website,” she said. “Take 2 seconds and update the web.”

You can Tweet about news as it happens, you can get it online and out there immediately, she said. “How many of you sit down at 5, 6 or 11 for the news?”

Maybe 20 hands went up. She shook her head.

“You can pull the news up on our mobile site or our website,” she said. “We know the importance of delivering the news to wherever you are and we know the importance of getting you what you need.”

Audience and community members can connect with journalists in ways never before possible.

Twitter and Skype interviews are used to gain immediate access to sources and get people on the newscasts. A Skype interview can be set up and done quickly. Five years ago, she said, arranging an interview would’ve taken a week.

“It changes how we do news, how we find sources.”

Smith, a professor in the J-department whose niche is digital media, began by encouraging the students to pick their phones back up and start covering the event.

Your smart phone is your mobile journalism tool, he said. He asked:

“How many of you have your cell phones? A Twitter account? Facebook? Skype? Instagram?

Is it obvious to you that media  has had a direct impact on your life?”

Smith explained the concept of media system dependency: you are addicted to media. He had students go 72 hours without using their cell phones and “it nearly killed them to write about it.”

What this is telling you is media is having a great impact and it’s going to have a greater impact, he said.

If you have a  smart phone and Internet access you can become reporters.

“I trained a group of students to use cell phones and some easy to access software to go cover the Democratic National Convention. We did voiceover packages, we did podcasts, we did text and graphics, mostly with a cell phone and laptop. This idea of journalism in the 21^st century, all of you potentially are already journalists if you just have a little training and this is also a way of empowering yourself to make this a business venture, become a blogger.”

You can be backpack journalists, he said.

“I have been Tweeting and videoing at #ncat,” Hagelburg said.

A sampling of the Q&A (Answers are paraphrased)

Source verification

KH: “You have the power and the freedom and the technology to be journalists now,” Hagelburg said. “Keep in mind that there is a responsibility when you broadcast.”

It’s becoming more difficult to verify sources’ identifications with Facebook and Twitter. “It presents a whole other layer of work for us.”

Community members trust us, she said. “The public’s going to look to you in the same lot: they trust us without us having done a heck of a lot to earn it.”

“We know that you can access things in a lot of different ways. You’re not just loyal to a television station or newspaper. You’re gonna look at the stuff when you want it, whenever you want it.”

KS: “Your generation uses the Internet and mobile media 7-8 hours a day and those were the 2010 figures. I have interviewed students who use it 12-14 hours a day. What are you doing with the other 20 hours in your life? 8 hours you have to sleep. Where do you put studying in? There is a serious problem about how much media you use and what you use it for.” How, when and why are the questions, he said.

CA: MMJ mobile journalists. “It’s all about bringing news to you where you want it.”

Morgan Hightower is an MMJ. She goes out, she shoots everything by herself. If there’s a liveshot, she’ll have a photojournalist. Otherwise she’s by herself. She shoots it, she edits it and a lot of times if there’s not signal or something goes wrong with her camera, she pulls out her iPhone. One thing our station’s been doing is having our reporters do just 30 second teases of what there stories are for the day and putting them online. They use their iPhones. And those have become one of the most popular things on the website.

“It’s changing the way we do everything. We get stories from our Facebook page.”

Anthony cited a recent example of how social media took a local story national. South Davidson High’s football coach died unexpectedly. Coach Mike Crowell was a huge Crimson Tide and Nick Saban fan. Someone launched a Twitter campaign to bring Saban to Denton during Alabama’s bye week. Saban didn’t come, but sent a letter to the family. The family read the letter at the game.

How do you verify information in this age of tech when anything can get out there?

KS: Require the source to provide you contact info and phone number; Google it; make sure it’s their opinion

KH: Trying to figure out how to tell reporters how to do this; Social media is a tool but you never let go of the assumption and caution you’d use in taking a quote from somebody not willing to give you their name.

How could apply journalism to the Army?

KS: military media option (stars & stripes, armed forces media)

Was it hard to get in front of people and ask questions?

KH: Shy in social settings but not when I’m doing it with a notebook in my hand

CA: In the newsroom

KS: Preparation is the key; don’t ever go to the interview without studying what you’re talking about and be willing to change your questions.

How do you prepare?
KH: The way media works now, you’re going go out the door not knowing sometimes; do as much prep as you can but don’t be worried about going on the fly

How do I get an internship?
CA: Be prepared for interviews, job interviews, stories. It gives you a leg up on your competition