Melissa Brown
Published: March 29, 2006
Where do you get the majority of your news? Do you rely primarily on the printed newspaper, or is the Internet your main newsgathering hub?
In this age of media evolution, more and more people are turning to the web for news and information, and PJC’s Corsair is right in step with the changing trends.
“A sign that our culture is different from past cultures is to see change in the way that we inform people of current events,” Corsair Multimedia Director Zeke Hazewinkel said. “There’s been a big surge towards electrical means of broadcast, but I think it would be beyond comprehension to ever see print being outmatched by other sources.”
PJC’s free press has been publishing a newspaper for more than 50 years and also offers an internet version of the Corsair, The eCorsair, which can be found at (www.ecorsair.com).
But that’s not all.
New to the website are multimedia articles that blend several different types of media – print, audio, photography, video, illustration – and “tell a story in a way that involves more than one of the senses,” Hazewinkel said.
“You can’t always tell a story [only] in print,” Corsair Adviser, Christina Drain, said. “It just doesn’t come across the same way.”
“We’re lucky at PJC because we have a broadcasting department, we have a multimedia department, so we have students that are already being trained on other parts of the campus.”
And that training is essential to the development of new broadcasting techniques.
“A lot of stuff I’ll learn in my classes just across campus I apply here at the Corsair the very next day,” Hazewinkel said. “It makes worlds of difference because I’m learning and applying [techniques] in a matter of 24 hours, and it’s really interesting to see what I’ve learned come to life.”
Podcasts are “another up and coming trend,” Drain said, and one that Corsair News Editor Moria Dailey is eagerly working to integrate into the Corsair’s repertoire.
“iPods have become incredibly fashionable as of late,” Dailey said, “and Apple came out with podcasts, which are radio programs that you record, upload to Itunes, and anyone with Itunes and an iPod – really anyone with a computer and internet access – can download and listen to.”
“[The podcast format] is really not set in stone yet,” Dailey continued, “but what we’re hoping for is a program that recaps the newspaper [and includes] student involvement.”
“We really have state-of-the-art editing equipment,” Hazewinkel said. “We have the capabilities of producing top notch, top quality productions.”
“And that’s where I think we as a community college really shine because we’re able to just go out and do this,” Drain commented. “Here at the Corsair it’s not a lab; [the staff is] actually working in the field so they’re able to take this information and run with it.”
And run with it they will.
If you haven’t already, check out the website and let us know what you think; email the staff with story ideas or suggestions for improvement. For more information about the podcast, contact Moria Dailey at moriad@gmail.com.