Oklahoma Scholastic Media held its annual Fall Media Day at Oklahoma University on Nov. 2.  

The HCP yearbook staff got to travel to Norman for the day to learn how to improve their yearbook skills. 

Fall Media Day is an event that allows journalism students from around the state to attend different workshops and seminars. During these, students can listen to various professors lecture about numerous topics concerning journalism. 

There were many different seminars to choose from like “Hidden Bias in the Media,” “How to Make a Mini Documentary that Will Wow,” “How to Develop a Great Theme,” “Photography Composition – Intentional and Candid,” “Community Journalism: We Tell Stories of Shared Meanings,” and many more! 

Yearbook Staff Editor Tiziana Mongu was an attendee at the event. 

Mongu said she chose those three interviews. 

“I chose them based on what seemed like the most interesting and what I could learn the most information from.” 

The first seminar Mongu chose was “Dish and Discuss” with M. Scott Carter, The Chief Political Reporter for The Oklahoman.

He made many points like collaborating with your staff members and working collaborate with your staff members, and work with each other to create unique pages for your school yearbook. Have weekly meetings to discuss what staff members are struggling with and if there are ways to avoid the problems. The more you bring your staff together the better.  

The next seminar was “Photography Composition-Intentional and Candid” with Charles Cook, a certified journalism editor. 

The first thing is to be intentional with your photos – “What do I want on my page?” Try and be as candid as possible. For candid photos, you want to capture your subjects ‘actions,’ ‘reactions,’ ‘motions,’ and ‘emotions.’ Make sure to get the before, during, and after of any event. Good photos make the story, shot from a variety of different angles and backgrounds to take your reader to a new place. Fake it till you make it- move in the direction you want to go in and let the camera handle the rest.  

“This was my favorite because i felt like it gave me the best advice to improve my photography skills,” Mongu said. 

The last seminar Mongu chose was “You Want to Make a Difference? You Can with a Career in Public Media” with State Impacts Oklahoma managing editor, Logan Layden and KGOU reporter Hannah France. 

One of the careers mentioned in the seminar was reporting. As a reporter, you are not narrating the story, you go into the community and talk to the people who have been impacted by the story. Being a reporter allows you a lot of creative freedom, you can gain a lot of connections. While interviewing make it organic, avoid yes or no questions. Make a list of things you want to discuss and topics of discussion.  

Another career option in public media is working for National Public Radio. When working for a National Public Radio station, you can pitch local stories nationwide. You can stay local or go somewhere else.  

“Hearing those people talk about their experiences and how they got to where they were really stood out to me,” Mongu said. 

If you want to get into the journalism field, then attending Fall Media Day is a great place to start to get any inspiration or information!