The Peak News Broadcast/Podacast Journalism Program (aka Professional Media Practicum) for junior and senior high school students is designed as a two-semester course (2nd semester optional), coupled with a professional-level internship placement at The Peak News and other local media organizations.  This program’s focus is to train a new generation of ethical journalists equipped with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills, as well as real-world experience and professional contacts in the local communications industry.  The first semester focuses on the basics of ethics and other academic studies as applied in various sub-categories of the Media profession, as well as practical training in the field. The second optional semester includes higher-level academic and vocational training, as well as the development and implementation by each student of a personal Podcasting program. Overall, we are providing our students with:

• Journalistic Ethics Training
• Media Vocational/Technical Training
• Internship/Vocational Opportunities

The Journalistic Ethics curriculum covers essential principles and practices necessary for ethical journalism:

• Crucial Nature of Journalism: Understanding the role of journalism in disseminating accurate and complete information within a free society.
• Passionate Storytelling: Exploring the “why” of journalism to discover what makes for great storytelling in general, as well as how to tap into the unique passion and skill sets of each individual reporter.
• Truth-Seeking and Reporting: Methods for seeking and accurately reporting the truth.
• Transparency and Accountability: Serving the community with transparency and accountability while minimizing harm to individuals in the reports.
• Independence and Conflict of Interest: Maintaining independence from personal biases and conflicts of interest, while still allowing for the individual style of the reporter.
• Law and Journalism: Constitutional and legal considerations in journalism, including freedom of the press and libel laws.
• Personal Responsibility: Emphasizing the journalist’s responsibility to uphold ethical standards, personally and of his community, as well as exposing unethical conduct within the media industry
• Diligence and Productivity: Developing a workstyle that allows productivity and personal success in the Media field for the long-term.

Our guide through Journalistic Ethics is the industry-respected 35-point “Code of Ethics”, first developed in 1960 by the international organization the Society of Professional Journalists.  Its four main tennets are:  Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently, and Be Accountable and Transparent.  You can download the SPJ Code in PDF here.

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) component focuses on practical skills in information gathering and storytelling across various media formats:

• Information Gathering: Techniques for gathering accurate and reliable information from diverse sources.
• Storytelling Modalities: How to tell and distribute compelling stories in written language, audio/voice, and video formats.
• Tools of the Trade: Equipment skills training for written language, audio/voice, and video formats.
• Assignments: Producing reports on the same news items in different formats to develop versatile reporting skills.

All of our students are provided with immediate placement in a real-world internship with The Peak News, with the opportunity to also intern at other local media outlets and production companies. Key aspects of our internship program include:

• Publishing Opportunities: Interns will publish news reports in various modalities (text, audio, video, and others) on The Peak News website.
• Broadcasting/Podcasting Opportunities: Exceptional work will be reported by the intern on our platform and in our programs.
• Employment Opportunities: Potential for part-time and “stringer” positions at The Peak News and on other projects as those opportunities become available.
• Cooperative Placements: Interns will be primarily placed at The Peak News to gain practical experience, as well as being placed in internships at broadcasters and production houses across our region.
• Concentration: The program requires that students learn and practice every aspect of the Media trade, but allows a level of concentration depending on student preference:
  • Journalism: Concentrated on news gathering and reporting.
  • Broadcasting/Tech: Concentrated on radio and audio/video podcast production.

The Peak News Broadcast Journalism CTE Program offers a comprehensive two-semester course designed to equip aspiring journalists (as well as those planning creative careers and that also utilize the powerful skills of professional journalists) with the skills and ethical grounding necessary to perform real journalism and lay the foundation for succeeding in today’s media and business landscape.

The curriculum includes:

• Duration: Two 12- module semesters + Graduation Ceremony/Celebration for each semester

• Class Hours:  One long day in-person day each week consisting of two 90-minute academic classes integrated with two 90-minute hands-on practical classes per week.   Local media guest speakers, as well as field trips, will be a regular part of the instruction.

• Internship Hours:  Each student receives an automatic internship at The Peak News, and will be expected to intern at least 3 hours per week throughout each semester, plus opportunities for additional voluntary internship hours.   Depending on the specific internship work being performed, students will be able to work their internships from home, “on the beat” throughout our local community, and at The Peak News production studio.   In the second semester, our students will also be eligible for outplacement internships into media outlets throughout the Pikes Peak region.

• Team-Building Projects/Homework: Students will work to recruit and lead a volunteer team to collaborate on various aspects of producing and promoting news reports, including their own podcast, ensuring a holistic real-world learning experience and a successfully launched business by the completion of the second semester. The finale of the course will be a Podcast Trade Show, both in-person and virtual, where each student will have a booth to present and promote his or her podcast to the student body and general public, to solicit for fans, sponsors, volunteers, and guests.

• Measuring Success: In order to gauge the impact of this program, incoming and outgoing personal assessments will be completed by each student to measure the change in both competency and engagement.  Final presentations and peer assessments will be utilized to evaluate students retention and ability to apply knowledge, as well as their improvement in the quality of their work over the course of the class and internship.  Reviews will be provided by those in direct oversight of their internship.  Another important metric will be the percentage of students who choose to continue their podcast after graducation, undertake another media internship and/or seek continued studies and/or employment in media after successful completion of the class.