Jackson State SJMS hosts first ever live election coverage [GALLERY]

Jackson State University’s School of Journalism and Media Studies (SJMS) hosted its first ever all-night live election coverage on Tuesday, Nov. 8. The coverage was broadcast on JSUTV (Comcast Channel 14) in collaboration with WJSU-FM, the Blue and White Flash campus newspaper, and TigerTV, a closed-circuit campus channel.

Led by SJMS Dean, Elayne H. Anthony, the coverage included interviews with JSU adjunct instructor and former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, JSU political science professor Byron D. Orey, Executive Director of the Institute of Government Otha Burton, Jackson State SGA President Kendall Bunch, and many more.

Live coverage of national and local races during Election Night 2016 began at 6:30 p.m. at Election Central inside the Mis

sissippi e-Center@JSU. Community participants were also invited to view the coverage and offer their opinions at a watch party inside the e-Center, with interviews conducted by student journalists.

“This is the first time that we have actually participated in the coverage of a national election. We had alumni, students and staff involved in this endeavor,” said Dr. Anthony.

On the main JSU campus, students with the Blue & White Flash campus newspaper conducted interviews on the election from the student perspective with Bunch and liberal and conservative student viewpoints.

“Our students have been telling me all day how much they learned from the practical application of what we teach in class. We used social media as well as traditional media to cover this event. We tweeted, posted to Facebook and we were trending most of the evening,” added Dr. Anthony.

D’Raey Fogg, a graduate student in the SJMS, who served as a reporter from the Student Center during the

election coverage, stated that his participation was a great learning experience.

“I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to conduct interviews and be a presence on television, especially for such an important event. This really made me want to look into reporting.  I feel I benefited from learning how the process works in media,” said Fogg. “I applaud SJMS for taking the initiative in putting on such an event and hopefully, this will groom the program to become skilled in getting prepared for major events of this caliber in the future.”

Bonita Harris, a Jackson resident who came out to watch the coverage at the eCenter, praised the efforts of the students, staff and faculty.

“If you weren’t at JSUTV watching up to the minute election coverage, you missed a treat! The interaction and knowledge transferred between the students, political pundits, faculty and the community was priceless! I left with a sense of pride in the development of our future news correspondents,” said Harris.

Over one hundred students gathered in the Student Center to watch as the results came in and also participated in other activities sponsored by the Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion.

“This was just a wonderful experience for us and I’m so pleased the we not only had the opportunity to talk about the election with our students, they were able to see how to cover such an event,” said Dr. Anthony.

L.A. Warren and Alexandria Galtney contributed to this story.

Photos by William H. Kelly III and Don Spann