Media Hub Connects Journalism Students With Professionals

UNC School of Media and Journalism Senior Associate Dean Charlie Tuggle only accepts the best into his Media Hub course.

“We hand pick out kids out of all of our various areas,” Tuggle said. “We have advertising and PR, we have radio and TV and we have writing, multimedia. We really wanted to bring those kids back together at the end.”

Tuggle said these students start out in the same introduction courses, but as they advance, they have less contact because they are in specialized courses.

Media Hub divides these students into teams of reporters that will take a deeper look into major issues, with the hope of pitching these stories to local news outlets.

“We know in the journalism world content is king,” he said. “The more content, the more diversified content you have, the better, so we’re hoping we can advance our professional partners as well.”

Tuggle said his students will create different versions of their stories that could be used for print, radio, television and the internet.

“I hope they see it as a win-win situation,” he said. “Our students get their material on professional media outlets, which is really good for their hiring possibilities down the road and it’s content.”

But Tuggle isn’t restricting himself to journalism students. Parth Majmudar is a senior chemistry and math major. He is the editor-in-chief of Carolina Scientific, a magazine that highlights faculty research.

“It’s funny because (Tuggle) asked for some writing samples and all I had was the article I had written for Carolina Scientific,” Majmudar said. “And then he asked if I had anything else and I had to send a research proposal, which was a little to technical, but honestly I didn’t have much besides lab reports.”

But despite his lack of experience, Tuggle saw enough in Majmudar to give him a spot in the class.

He said he enjoyed writing for Carolina Scientific so much that he is now deciding whether or not he wants to pursue a career in journalism.

“I definitely feel like I’m maybe a bit in over my head,” Majmudar said. “All of these people in this class are the best journalism students and they’ve been doing this for years and I’m just hoping I don’t mess it up. I guess I have to trust that Dr. T knows what he’s doing letting me in here.”

Media Hub Connects Journalism Students With Professionals

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