Studio 20 @ Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
The program seeks to draw together a diversely talented team of students who can produce excellent work that pushes the field forward and realizes some of the possibilities inherent in a multi-media, interactive and constantly evolving platform for journalism-- namely, the World Wide Web.
Studio classes provide a "hub" for organizing activity and a common space for inquiry and reflection around the program's various projects. Students are expected to be flexible and curious, generous in sharing skills, eager to pick up new knowledge and willing to adapt to what the project--and its deadlines--demand.
The curriculum has three parts: 1.) the traditional requirements of two basic reporting classes plus "the ethics of the web;" 2.) a core of three project-based classes called Studio I, II and III; and 3.) elective enrichment courses that allow students to pursue interests and work on initiatives of their own. In their third and final semester, students design their own projects with an appropriate media partner and try to create innovation--as well as a name--for themselves.
Each year Studio 20 will recruit a mix of writers, editors, videographers, audio journalists, programmers, designers and Web producers under the principle of "bring skills, share skills, learn new stuff." Recruiting will emphasize students comfortable in more than one medium and ready to tackle new challenges. One of our mottos is: "Everyone works on everything." Another: "acquire what the project requires."
In 2009-10, one of Studio 20's major partners was the New York Times. Working with editors at the Times, students and faculty designed and planned a hyperlocal news site for the East Village neighborhood in Manhattan. It launched in September, 2010: The Local East Village.
One of the innovations that came out of that project is The Virtual Assignment Desk, a WordPress plug-in. You can read more about it here.
In 2010-11 Studio20's major project was a collaboration with ProPublica, the investigative reporting non-profit. Students experimented with the genre of "the explainer," a form of journalism that provides essential background knowledge and brings clarity to complex issues in the news. Read more here and see the project site, Explainer.net.
In 2011-12, Studio 20's major project was a collaboration with The Guardian around a different approach to election coverage. You can read a summary from the Nieman Lab. Then see the project in action on the Guardian: here and here.
In December of 2010, NYU announced that the renowned Internet thinker Clay Shirky would be joining the Carter Institute and Studio 20, where he will teach courses and consult on projects.
Think you might be interested in applying? Email studio20.journalism@nyu.edu to let us know. Tell us about yourself and your background and how we can find you and your work on the web.
Here is Studio's 20's official page at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Institute of Journalism.
Here are the official instructions on how to apply. (The initial deadline is Jan. 10; we will accept applications after that but cannot guarantee space or financial aid. Please note that the GRE General Exam is required of all applicants. See our How to Apply page for more details.
Here is a map showing where we are located.
Follow professors Jay Rosen and Jason Samuels on Twitter, as well as Clay Shirky. And check back at this site for updates.
Check our latest attempt to put it all into words.
Studio 20 - New York University from The Local East Village on Vimeo.
Congrats to Studio 20’s Professor Jason Samuels who recently left BET to join CNN as a lead producer for CNN’s award-winning, long-form documentary unit ‘In America” - which strives to present untold stories in underreported communities. Professor Samuels’ first prime time documentary for CNN will air in the fall. Learn more about CNN’s “In America” here.
Studio 20 Professor Jason Samuels won a NAMIC Vision Award for Best Sports for ESPN’s “James Stewart: King of the Hill“ feature, which Samuels produced.
The NAMIC Awards honor multi-ethnicity in communication and recognize programming that has aired on television and digital platforms that is reflective of the depth and breadth of the lives, spirit, and contributions of people of color.
David Friedman, Senior Video Producer for msnbc.com talked with Studio 20 about his work and shooting video with a DSLR camera.
Professor Jason Samuels’ latest project for BET will air on Sunday at noon. This half-hour special - “Be counted: Black America and the 2010 Census” - is a compelling look at the importance of the 2010 census to urban communities.
Studio 20 Professor Jason Samuels picked up two first place awards from the New York Association of Black Journalists earlier this week.
His primetime special on BET on the death of Michael Jackson won the first place award in the TV Arts and Entertainment category. And his primetime documentary on BET on the dropout crisis in America’s public schools - “Heart of the City: Detroit’s Drop Our Factories” - won the first place award in the Education category.
Studio 20 Professor Jason Samuels is quoted in Wednesday’s New York Times about the impact of dramatic staff reductions at ABC news. From the article:
Jason Samuels, an associate professor of journalism at New York University and a former senior producer at ABC, said Tuesday’s move “makes sense,” but added, “ultimately the pressure to continue churning out network quality news with a pared-down staff is a recipe for burnout.”
Read the full story.
Studio 20 Professor Jason Samuels’ television experience includes working as senior producer at ABC News Digital.
The Online Journalism Review talked with him about his role and how producing newscasts for the web is different from producing for broadcast:
OJR: Could you give me one example where the storytelling underscores how different it is from the 6:30 broadcast?
Samuels: Sure, I’ll first go over just the nuts and bolts. It’s essentially a 15-minute, commercial-free show every day that we tape live with Charles Gibson as the anchor. The first two and half minutes are the meat-and-potato headlines—the traditional network news fare. The rest of the show has pieces that can be on the news of the day but they can also be like features.
As an example, though, correspondents usually go out to cover stories; they write a script, edit it and put it together for the broadcast. But I tell them to just shoot a video blog. So in today’s show, Miguel Marquez in Los Angeles was assigned to do a story for the broadcast about the new line of Bible-themed action figures that are going to be sold in Wal-Mart. So when you watch the broadcast tonight it’s going to be a traditional, well-crafted 1:30 to 2-minute piece. What we asked him to do is that when you are at Wal-Mart and you are reporting your piece for the broadcast, just stand there, hold up these action figures and just tell us about them. Don’t script anything perfectly just give us your own impression and your sense of what is the story. Miguel filed a video blog piece that is about a minute long for our webcast. It’s a little less formal, it’s a little more raw and I would argue in some ways it is a little more real.
It is less polished but I think younger people are willing to accept that and almost prefer that instead of showing what’s packaged so perfectly.
Now if there is a piece for the broadcast that we are interested in, we will put that on our webcast as well. For example there is a piece for broadcast tonight about a woman who has homeless kids taking photos of what they wish to aspire to. And it’s a wonderful piece that should be interesting no matter how old you are. We’ve put that into our webcast.
Another example. We did an interview for the webcast exclusively with Christopher Hitchens, on his book, “God is Not Great.” We sat him down in front of a camera and we had him basically talk about the themes in his books and we edited that down into an essay. That would never go on the evening news shows but for us it worked. It’s provocative and it’s different.
Check out the full interview.
Studio 20 is off to a roaring spring semester start. Professor Jason Samuels has started lining up guests, including Emmy Award-winning video producer for The Washington Post Travis Fox. “His distinctive web video and multimedia stories have been instrumental in establishing a new form of multimedia storytelling on the Internet,” said Samuels.
More Studio 20 news will be announced soon.
Studio 20 Professor Jason Samuels has been named the executive producer of the BET news’ live coverage of President Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address. In this role, Professor Samuels will oversee two hours of special live coverage which will air on BET, BET HD, and BET International, including live analysis and an in-depth look back at President Obama’s first year in office through the eyes of black America.
More details to come.
Studio 20 Professor Jason Samuels won a duPont Award for producing an hour-long segment on racial profiling - “A Pattern of Suspicion” - which aired on Dateline NBC in April 2004. Watch this excerpt from the PBS program ‘Without Fear or Favor. The Best in Broadcast Journalism,” to see an interview with Samuels.
