There are no sports, celebrity gatherings, concerts or even riots to report during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring, 2020.

The world is quiet. 

Yet Jodean Brownlee, UNO lecturer and student advisor for the campus radio station, gave a message of encouragement for learning how to report in such a climate to a beginning journalism class over Zoom at the end of March. 

“You can learn new things right now,” she said. “You can be a good student. This will make us more creative.” 

To keep that focus of learning, Brownlee had several suggestions. One included downloading and learning new applications, such as the Adobe Suite Premier Rush app.  

“There are so many apps to use. Try new apps and new ways,” she said. 

Along with new apps, she gave some practical tips of taking video on the landscape setting to fully show other people’s stories; and to help others not lose their sense of place. 

She also recommended starting video blogs as a way to document the events and emotions of the times. Although there are both pros and cons of letting emotions show during trying times, she said that others in the future will be looking at our reactions.  

Brownlee also acknowledged how these are scary times for all; and encouraged the students to find the truth in reporting during times such as this. 

Facts can get easily mis-interpreted, and the truth can easily be convoluted in one’s mind, she said. With so much information swirling around, the truth can easily be lost.

This happened to her recently; where she read and believed some wrong facts concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.  The false news made her very nervous; and it prompted her to find the truth.

“I implore people to look at the web sites that are the original source,” she said. 

While these times are not easy, there are still opportunities to learn. And learning new programs, new tricks of the trade, learning to search for the truth will only help budding students. 

“The more things you can do in this industry, the more stable your job will be,” she said. 

For more information, contact Ms. Brownlee at: jbrownlee@unomaha.edu

Jennifer Knight. 360 words