Election Kept UNO Communication Students Busy

University of Nebraska at Omaha professor Jeremy Lipschultz shares a behind-the-scenes account of the School of Communication's election night coverage in a story for the Huffington Post.

UNO sponsored a pair of DebateWatch events, which involved students meeting to live tweet quotes and comments, and hosted a lunchtime discussion with U.S. Senate candidate Bob Kerrey on the eve of the election.

"You cannot simulate this type of experience in a classroom exercise, but an engaged metropolitan university can offer such experiences to our students," Lipschultz writes. "A student reporter for our campus newspaper, the Gateway, had a front-row seat and filed a story on the event. A little more than a day later the paper was reporting on Kerrey's concession, in a Senate race that cost Democrats an important seat."

On election night, student reporters were sent to local campaign sites to cover victory and concession speeches and file stories on deadline.

In January, Lipschultz will mark his 24th year at UNO. Since 2004, his students have been televising and blogging on election night. In 2008, their coverage won a Northwest Broadcast News Association (NBNA) Award in Minneapolis.

"I've been Director of the School of Communication since 2004, so my job is to support and promote these efforts," Lipschultz said. "Mike Hilt and Chris Allen coordinate most of the election coverage."