Abstract:
Today's journalists are expected to be fluent in much more than print media. Professional journalists are expected to provide immediate posts and frequent updates to online media, as well as full-blown stories for print publications. Providing secondary publications students the opportunity to work in both media allows them to participate in these real-world experiences and gives them valuable skills that appeal to college journalism programs. As a publications adviser at Fishers High School, the researcher is expected to provide students the reality of journalism. This can be accomplished by offering print and online experiences on the school newspaper.
Research to begin a school website included a review of literature on developing online news sites, including the Poynter Institutes Eyetracker survey. A review of several high school newspaper online sites provided practical examples in what high school journalism programs are capable of. In addition, a three-day workshop on moving publications to the Web at Ball State provided the technical information necessary to create the site. A mock site was created and FHS newspaper student staff members began publishing to the website in September 2011.
