Students from Lashburn High School toured Pattison Media facilities in North Battleford (staff photo/Ian Roach).

By Ian Roach

STATION TOUR

Students experience radio and journalism at Pattison Media

Nov 19, 2022 | 5:00 AM

For the first time since before the pandemic, Pattison Media’s North Battleford radio stations and news portal battlefordsNOW.com hosted students for a station tour. Six senior students from Lashburn High School visited the station to learn about how radio operates along with news operations.

The students were from senior-level social studies and media studies classes, where they were learning about how to be critical thinkers in the way they consume and understand media.

Their teacher, Emily Lawson says the students are constantly absorbing news and information from a range of sources.

“They consume a lot of media, and part of what I’ve found about these courses is just making sure they understand that they’re constantly consuming it and should at least be aware that they have some work to do in how they see those messages and what they do with those messages and how they’re changed or influenced by those messages,” she said.

While at the station, the students had an opportunity to tour the live broadcast suites for all three radio stations as well as the audio production areas. They also had an opportunity to record a quick hello greeting that will air on Q-98 next week.

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After the station tour, the students spent time talking with newsroom staff about the editorial process and journalism ethics. The students looked at a recent media release and discussed the news value of the content and what parts of it seemed newsworthy to them.

A lot of the conversation focused on the editorial decisions about what gets covered for news as well as the language and word choice used in news reports that may or may not infer a bias.

For Grade 12 social studies student Calista Watt, it was a learning experience. “A lot more is put behind putting out the news stories, deciding what gets put out and what doesn’t, and what is more important.”

Some students wanted to know about the possible career paths for radio and journalism with some admitting while it is an interesting field, it may not be for them. Grade 11 student Sophie Schroeder said the number of people that work at a local station surprised her.

“There’s a lot more people employed at a radio station than I thought; there’s a lot of different jobs here than just being on air,” Schroeder said.

The tour of Pattison Media facilities in North Battleford is just one of the trips taken or planned by the classes during the course.

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ian.roach@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: ian.roach@pattisonmedia.com