Hofstra Students To Produce Live Election Night Broadcast

HEMPSTEAD, NY — Newsrooms across the country are preparing for Election Night. Hofstra University isn't just going to provide updated results and insight throughout the evening, they will give students the ultimate hands-on experience.

The school's "Hofstra Votes Live" will stream online (YouTube) and simulcast on the radio station WRHU.

Faculty adviser, Assistant Journalism Professor Nicole Clarity says the broadcast will involve up to 200 students.

"We bring together radio, television, film, journalism, media studies, public relations," Clarity told "Patch AM" on Wednesday. "We bring in some political science students because they have some great expertise to share with our students."

Clarity said the project, typically allotted for four hours, is collaborative among the students and they learn skills from each other.

"No matter where they are in their studies, they get to participate," she said.

But, "Hofstra Votes Live" now in its third year, allows veteran students to take a more supervisory role, "empowering our students to make these decisions on their own as if they're holding these roles in a regular newsroom," Clarity said.

Due to the massive undertaking, Clarity said they are producing "Hofstra Votes" every two years, although they are exploring ways of bringing it annually, "to have some sort of continuity."

One skill that the Election Night coverage affords students is learning to be unscripted and "how to make decisions on the fly, which is something you really need in the industry," Clarity said.

As part of Hofstra's effort, they expect to have at least two reporters at the candidate's headquarters.

It'll also feel like a professional outlet on Election Night with pizza pies.

"It's the newsroom staple," she joked.

Watch the full "Patch AM" interview below