Asbury University’s journalism department will conduct its yearly election coverage next Tuesday night on Nov. 8.
Through a one-hour long live broadcast, a team mixing journalism, media communications and even theatre majors will come together and provide insight to local elections occurring across the country.
Acting as the executive producer is Prof. Rich Manieri, who just added another producing credit with the recent release of “Don’t Forget Us,” a Holocause documentary. He also acts as the faculty advisor for the Asbury Collegian, which is sponsoring the broadcast.
Manieri consistently advocates to his students, whether they are journalism students or not, to pay attention to all elections.
“Covering local elections is part of serving our community as a news organization,” he said. “It’s a privilege to be part of the process and a responsibility we take very seriously.”
Collegian staff members involved with this event include Executive Editor Alexandra Presta, Managing Editor Anna Lowe, Sports Editors Maddie Heineman and Christian Kotwitz, and Features Editor Addie Smith.
Heineman will act as the main student producer. Previously, she also worked Newswatch3, Asbury’s weekly news broadcast, Asbury A.M, a weekly talk show, and the Holocast documentary.
She said there’s a lot of work to be done for a broadcast like this one. “One hour is a lot of time to fill,” she said. “You have to plan ahead for something that essentially hasn’t happened yet, but at the same time, it’s so much fun because it’s a shared experience with your friends and coworkers. Especially because we’re covering an important thing like voting, which impacts us no matter what political side we’re on, it’s an honor to be a part of it.”
The event will broadcast live election results, but will also include premade packages covering topics such as inflation and budgeting.
Senior Hayley Anderson shared that even as a college student, inflation will affect her voting decision. “It most definitely will influence who I vote for just based on what we’ve been experiencing in the past four years,” she said.
The election coverage will begin on the evening of Nov. 8, with a link being sent out soon for streaming capabilities.
