HELENA — This week is the sixth annual News Literacy Week. Scripps News, MTN’s parent company, is partnering with the News Literacy Project for the event. Audio and visuals are crucial to accurate reporting, but the KTVH newsroom is not the only place to instill those skills in Lewis and Clark County.
Media Arts in Public Schools or MAPS began 21 years ago and has three studios in Lewis and Clark County, Fort Belknap, and Ravalli County.
Kathy Rose Carrette is the Lewis and Clark County site director for Media Arts in Public Schools and says, “How MAPS and news intersect is that we teach the kids to use the technology, the software, and the equipment that is used in the professional field.”
They hold multiple courses throughout the year to teach students media technology to prepare them for the future.
Derik McLellan, is a long-time MAPS student.
“In terms of MAPS I have been here for a while, and I have learned a lot over all the sessions that I have participated in so I have learned a lot about handling film equipment and doing interviews kind of like this one.”
The current session is all about sound and vision production and started this week with students getting hands-on audio experience.
Audio plays a crucial role in news by enhancing storytelling, creating a more immersive experience for listeners, conveying emotion and context through sound effects and interviews, improving accessibility for people with visual impairments
“These kids are learning the process of production so now I think when they see stuff on TV or on the news they already know how it is being made, and they can picture what is being done off-camera with the microphones and editing," Max Hey, an audio instructor with MAPS says.
I had the opportunity to share my reporting process with some of the students.
Humans process visual and audio information much faster than text, so we talked back in forth about how they can enhance their storytelling this session.
Rose Carrette says, “With that too we teach them a respect for the craft and the amount of work that goes into it and that makes them better citizens. They understand how difficult it is to practice good journalism.”
MAPS is prepping its students for the future and creating a community while doing it. Throughout my time in their two-hour Thursday night class, I was inspired by their positive outlook on media.
Student, Aria Howell says, "I feel like news can bring people together in a way.”
If your student is interested in hands-on experience in the media arts you can visit the MAPS Media Institute website.
