Disclaimer: The author of this article is a student at the BYU School of Communications studying journalism.
The BYU Communications department newsroom underwent an extensive remodel over the summer, replacing the old set with updated technology, helping prepare students for what they may encounter when entering the industry.
The newsroom allows journalism and sports media students to gain experience in anchoring newscasts and other aspects of being live on TV.
Alan Neves, the lab production manager for the journalism and sports media sequence, said the department tries to update the newsroom about every 10 years to keep up with the latest technology.
“We, as a sequence, made the decision to put in a LED wall studio set. So, we don't just have the studio walls, we have a whole set combined with it," Neves said.
Neves explained that it allows the students to be more creative and gain an understanding of the equipment before they get to the industry. The goal is to provide them with a more immersive experience.
“We have an LED touchscreen monitor, new lighting that we're hanging down from the grids, and a little bit of infrastructure upgrading to allow us new house lights and a cable grid system in the ceiling that will allow us to facilitate this,” he said.
Neves explained that this updated technology is where the future of broadcasting is going.
Melissa Gibbs, the newsroom director, said that one thing the team is working on now is learning how to use the new setup.
Gibbs explained that the students and staff are "coming up with ideas on how ... we want to use the set and how can we most effectively use the tools and the technology that we have to tell impactful, powerful stories."
The new technology gives students the opportunity to try new things and experiment with what will and won't work, Gibbs explained.
“I think them recognizing that things don't always have to be done a certain way, and there's not one right way to do things and then thinking out how to do that is, super valuable," Gibbs said. "That's not something you can learn in a textbook."
The newsroom aims to give students a space to be expressive and think of different ways of sharing information with the audience. There is no longer the traditional broadcast set centered around a desk, but instead a space for experimenting with what a newscast can be like.
"With this set, we'll let it run for five years and see where we're at,” Professor Miles Romney, the current journalism and sports media sequence coordinator, said.
Professor Romney was part of the team behind the project.
He said the future of journalism could involve virtual reality or other types of immersive storytelling. The program seeks to be as up to date as possible and anticipates how technology will change in the coming years.
In addition to the newsroom’s updates, BYU campus is set to see many more updates in the coming months, including the new College of Fine Arts and Communications building.