Knoxville News Sentinel Field Trip

Our Online Journalism class took a field trip last Tuesday to the Knoxville News Sentinel . I had no expectations going into the visit since I have sadly never visited the paper's office in my 15 years as a Knoxville resident.

As I pulled into the KNS parking lot, I was admittedly embarrassed of the thought that I was a UT journalism student and had no idea what my local paper had to offer. I walked in to the lobby where I luckily met Katie my classmate who was also running late. We were escorted upstairs by Jack Lail , a Managing Editor for the sentinel. Mr. Lail directs the editorial content on the News Sentinel's website. He was responsible for launching knoxnews.com in 1995 and GoVols.com in 1996.

Katie and I sauntered up the stairs. "Wow! It looks like the set of a movie," Katie and I both shrieked. We were immediately impressed with the professional look of a "real newsroom." I don't quite know what I expected, but the layout satisfied my ideas of what a newsroom should look like. It had the feel of the Daily Planet , a fictional newspaper on Superman that first sparked my interest in journalism.

We walked into a small conference room where our class was huddled around a table. I met three online producers (Katie Hall, Talid Magdy and Lauren Spuhler) working for the Sentinel and learned what each of them contributed to the paper. These producers keep knoxnews.com fresh with breaking news content and produce video, audio and multimedia packages. Their biggest advice for journalism students was to "dabble in every area possible and learn to work with different software." A proficiency in technical programs like i photo will set you apart from other journalism students.

The most interesting part of the News Sentinel field trip was listening to Jack Lail talk about his 30 years of experience working in journalism. Through the decades, technology has expanded the access and timeliness of news, but the basics of journalism Lail learned in college still apply today. It fascinated me that a veteran writer and a reporter fresh out of college (Hall) could collaborate skills and creativity to deliver breaking news to the public. The most important thing I took away from our field trip to the Knoxville News Sentinel was to continue improving as a journalist and gain experience where ever possible. The News Sentinel definitely matches up to other news websites. Their regional and national awards speak volumes of their news team and the competition they defeat in their market size.