Students from the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications produced a special edition of Nebraska Nightly on April 20 to recognize April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Seniors Macy Neumeister, Hailey Haar and Aaron Mittlieder served as talent for the production, with students Collin Lopes, Stephen Hintz, Emma Thurston, Ana Chincoa, Paul Heires, Logan Eby, Lucas Sinnett, Maddie Fox and Jay Quemado assisting on the set and in the control room.
The Nebraska Nightly special edition featured profiles from survivors of sexual assault, stories from campuses across the state, statistical breakdowns and more. Students reached out to organizations such as the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department, the Center for Advocacy, Response and Education for information included in their stories.
The seven seniors planning the Nebraska Nightly special edition began preparing for the show in February as part of their senior capstone class, the News Lab. All contributed elements for the production. The show was intended to be ‘by students, for students’ to provide important information and raise awareness for this real-world issue.
“It was a lot of structure stuff at first: where are we doing it, is it live with an audience, what do we want the actual focus to be on, those kinds of questions. I think we really hit our groove when we settled on the ‘for students by students’ angle,” Lopes said.
The team explored multiple ways to share the information included in the broadcast and ultimately decided on dedicating a show to raising awareness for sexual assault in the month of April. The show incorporated student talents ranging from storytelling to post-production to live presentation.
“It was a pleasure to use our skills in broadcast production to shed light on sexual assault awareness month, and we are thankful for the CoJMC staff who supported us and gave us the resources to execute our vision,” Mittlieder said.
The student production team members began planning for the 30-minute production in January.
“It was fulfilling to see the final product we were able to produce after it seemed like it was just a great idea a few months ago. I’m proud of what we accomplished while still upholding our other responsibilities within the college,” Haar said.
The students were able to use the new Don and Lorena Meier studio for the production. The college celebrated the studio’s ribbon cutting on Nov. 17, 2022. The new technology and software have made productions like the April show more accessible for students.
“All the technology we have access to has made our productions so much easier,” Neumeister said. “It truly is amazing the things we can do in the new studio, and I believe some amazing projects just like ours are going to come out of it.”
Watch the show now on Nebraska Nightly’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agcJ4J5GYF8.