SHSTV and the Falcon newspaper have merged together as one program this year by creating a class where students can practice both print and broadcast journalism.
According to Falcon adviser Mike Tyler, he and former SHSTV adviser Tony Palma agreed at the end of last year to combine the two staffs in an effort to bolster the broadcast program.
“I had an excess of [new Falcon staffers], and Palma only had 11 staff members, of whom 10 were graduating seniors,” Tyler said. “So I reached out to Palma so that we could solve two problems at once.”
By combining the two programs, Tyler said more students can “join in on the journalism experience, but [the school] can also keep the weekly broadcasts.”
The two staffs now work in side-by-side rooms. The third-period Falcon staff currently consists of 43 students, but every six weeks, a different group of six- or seven first-year staffers will work on SHSTV in Room 304 and learn the basics of broadcast journalism. According to new SHSTV adviser Joel Tarbox, these students will learn how to create stories, film, edit, record broadcasts and upload them to YouTube.
“As of now, I like working with SHSTV,” said junior Mary Maccoun, one of the first-year Falcon staffers who is starting the school year working with SHSTV. “My first assignment was to film the Movie Night, and even though it is a struggle to learn how to use the equipment, I enjoy experiencing the different types of journalism.”
In addition to the rotating groups of Falcon staffers, the SHSTV staff has 11 “core members.” The staff includes returning member junior William Chen and several MAP students and freshmen who have previous broadcast journalism experience with Griffin News Network (GNN) at Redwood Middle School. Senior Rotem Shaked also serves as the bridge between the Falcon and SHSTV staffs as the head broadcast editor.
“The thing that was most heartening for me was to see the level of talent coming into [SHSTV], especially among the seniors who have been in MAP,” Tyler said. “It really helps to have people [who] can provide good leadership for the staff.” He was referring to seniors such as Shaked, Jennifer Chen, Sabrina Clark and Saro Acharya.
According to Tarbox, every Monday, the two staffs will have brief story discussions and tear-ups of previous broadcasts, in which they discuss what went well and what they should improve on for the next week. Tarbox and Tyler’s goal is to create more parallelism within stories in the Falcon and on SHSTV. In addition to the weekly Friday broadcasts, SHSTV will soon be uploading extra video segments on the Falcon website to generate more online views.
As of now, the program still needs more adjustments, which will require “learning on the fly,” but according to Tyler, these problems will only be solved with time.
“With the talent from the Falcon and SHSTV members, it is just a positive for everybody,” Tyler said. “If we continue to build it and get more core members, it could be really awesome.”
