Ball State Media Students Geared up For PyeongChang
A team of Ball State University students will leave Thursday to cover the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang as videographers and digital journalists. Through the school’s BSU at The Games program, which launched in 2012, five students will produce and contribute content for multiple media outlets, including Inside INdiana Business partner WTHR-TV in Indianapolis and publications in Utah, Colorado and Pennsylvania. For the first time, the Ball State participants will have full media access, which allows them to "get to do everything the professionals do," said senior Elizabeth Wyman.
BSU at The Games previously focused on lifestyle stories outside of competition because of previous credentialing constraints. In an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, junior Josh Shelton said the experience will allow him to get his hands dirty. "We’re going to be up in the mountains getting athlete interviews and interacting with everyone from Team USA, so that will be my main job." Shelton adds he will be bolstering WTHR’s coverage at different sites within the footprint of the events. "They’re only sending two people that will be working on news packages and they’ll be working in the coastal cluster."
"We’ve got lots of publications throughout the United States that maybe don’t have enough people to send to the games and we’re going to be there," Wyman told Inside INdiana Sports contributor Bill Benner, "so we’re going to be writing gamers, features, whatever they want."
The Winter Olympics from South Korea will officially kick off Friday with opening ceremonies. Content produced by Ball State students at Games in London, Rio de Janeiro and Sochi appeared in outlets including the Huffington Post, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune.