J-School will host Obama inauguration, documentary viewing

As election returns came in for historic 2008 presidential race, FAMU’s School of Journalism and Graphic Communication broadcasted up-to-the-minute reports for a national audience. This month, the J-School will continue its efforts to use current events as a learning opportunitiy for its students.

On Tuesday, January 20, the J-School will host a live viewing of the dramatic inauguration of the United States’ 44th President in Lee Hall Auditorium. It will also feature innovative student-produced documentaries about President-elect Barack Obama.

“This is history in the making,” said Dorothy Bland, FAMU journalism division director who also teaches more than 160 students in the journalism colloquium class. “Since President-elect Obama’s swearing-in ceremony will take place mid-day, we decided it would be good to make it a part of our lesson plan. We understand there’s high interest with FAMU students among the busloads of Tallahassee folk going to the Inauguration. We’re also excited that FAMU’s Marching 100 band is performing in the inaugural parade, which is scheduled to start about 2:30 p.m.”

“The inaugural events offer excellent learning opportunities for the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication as well as other disciplines,” said James Hawkins, dean of FAMU’s School of Journalism and Graphic Communication. “We have six journalism students who are covering various inaugural events on multiple media platforms in Washington, D.C., but everyone can’t make it to the nation’s capital so we decided it would be good to open Lee Hall Auditorium in Florida’s capital.”

Doors will remain open until 5 p.m. for individuals who want to share in this historic experience.

Four five-minute mini-documentaries, which were produced by FAMU broadcast journalism students, about Obama’s impact also will be shown starting at 11 a.m.

“The mini-docs showcase the variety of emotions of local citizens and students as Barack Obama won the presidency,” said FAMU Professor Kenneth Jones, who coordinates the broadcast sequence. “This semester we’ll continue to follow the Obama administration through various multimedia projects throughout his presidency including a new doc about President Obama and his impact on America.”

The next student documentary night will be on April 24 in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication Lecture Hall.

Jones also encourages the community to tune in to FAMU-TV 20 at 5 p.m. on January 20, to see the 20 at Five Newscast, which will include inauguration coverage and feature a new lineup of anchors for the semester. The new TV 20 anchors are broadcast students Xion Lester, Donnitra “Shiree” Gilbert, and Erica Anderson.

Broadcast students Brent Hatchett and Alicia Mitchell, who are part of the FAMU news team covering the inauguration in Washington, D.C., will appear on WTXL-TV 27 on Thursday, January 22.