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Turning To Podcasts

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By MICHELE SAGER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 27, 2008

Updated: 02/25/2008 07:55 pm

NEW TAMPA - Looking for a less expensive alternative with more immediate results, Benito Middle School journalists have gone digital.

A school newspaper is no longer regularly distributed at Benito. Much like cave man etchings, the paper relic is studied by students but not duplicated.

When the journalism students want to deliver the news, they turn to podcasts.

"It just became too expensive to put out a newspaper," said journalism teacher Colleen Federman. "And this is the future."

Because the school doesn't have to pay for printing costs, the only expense is the initial cost for audio equipment and cameras. The editing software can be downloaded free.
Federman said the students publish one edition of the paper to experience putting a paper together but primarily focus on podcasts. The students conduct interviews, shoot video and edit the podcasts.

Finished podcasts are posted on the school's Web site, http://benito.mysdhc.org/. Subjects range from school lunch to bullying.
Federman said students can get stories posted quicker than a traditional paper can publish them. Students have posted about 20 podcasts since the beginning of the year. A single edition of a newspaper could take at least a month.

Most of the students say they prefer digital stories over print ones.

"They are more interesting to put together," said eighth-grader Brianne Keil. She was one of the students who created an antismoking podcast.

Instead of writing a story about the dangers of smoking, Brianne and her friends created a commercial that mixed images of illness and death with statistics about smoking. Students say the podcasts catch the attention of their schoolmates.

"People seem to really like them," said eighth-grader Monica Cazes. "I think they prefer things with music, pictures and video because that's what they see all the time on the Internet."

Reporter Michele Sager can be reached at (813) 865-4843 or msager@tampatrib.com.

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