Journalism students report news for Boston.com

Christine Hayes ’14 and Alyssa Edes ’14 are getting a taste of what it’s like to work for a daily newspaper in Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director Jerry Lanson’s Metro News Service class. The Journalism students have been writing news stories this semester for Boston.com’s newly launched site Your Campus: Emerson.

Boston.com is the free news website of the Boston Globe, the largest daily newspaper in New England.

Your Campus, which is modeled after Boston.com’s hyperlocal Your Town sites, features links to bloggers, campus newspapers, and Twitter feeds, as well as coverage from Globe reporters and other contributors.

Lanson explained to Hayes and Edes and their classmates, “This is your chance to step up and work for a news organization that receives 6.5 million visitors a month.” Students are assigned beats, cover news stories and features, and work with Lanson—their editor and coach on revisions.

Hayes’ and Edes’ first news story was on faculty member Carole Simpson, a former ABC News anchor, as she found herself back in the spotlight with the recent presidential election. The Your Campus reporters shadowed Simpson for an entire day while she did an interview with CNN and taught her Road to the White House class. Simpson was the first African American woman to moderate a presidential debate.

“It’s been a great experience,” said Hayes. “I’m a junior and already have work published in a major daily.”

Lanson believes his Metro News Service class is a great opportunity for students to work as journalism professionals and build a portfolio. His role as an editor and coach is “to encourage, support, and make better.” He wants students to walk away from his class with “a sense of confidence in their skills as reporters working in a fast–moving multimedia world,” he explained.

Emerson is one of 15 schools with a Your Campus site.