An Opportunity The Size Of a Ram: Journalism and Video Students Attend Fresno City College Journalism Day

On Friday, March 20th, members of the Redwood Gigantea and of video had the honor of going to Fresno City College’s annual Journalism Day.

By: Fabian Anguiano

Filmmaker, Angelica Hernandez was one of the great media creators that were teaching at this convention.

Though Hernandez is a filmmaker, she first started in that field as a journalism student at Fresno State, where she took one of the advanced production classes in her degree field. She then realized that she really liked media production in general.

For what Hernandez’s best work is, she says it is yet to come, though she really enjoys, “Documentary I created for the big tell. It’s called to plant a garden, and it goes over a community garden in West Fresno, and how they’re growing regenerative farming practices in the shadow of a giant meat rendering facility. It’s factory farming versus regenerative farming.”

One of the things Ms. Hernandez presented at this convention was a program called CMAC, which is a non-profit membership-based organization that helps people connect with their community through media.

Hernandez first joined CMAC in, “2017 I believe, as a student at Fresno State. I found out that they had memberships. I joined, and then I just started using all their resources to make things, different projects, short films.”

She would then start working as a teaching artist, and when they saw that she was really passionate about filmmaking, she became a full-time employee.

Hernandez has grown as a filmmaker from a college student to now. “I definitely have become more confident. I think it’s hard to call yourself a filmmaker until you’ve made a couple of films. So definitely, when I first started out.”

Hernandez wished to inspire the kids she presented to today to get involved in community media and any form of media production, as stories are how we view the world and how we experience things around us.

Ms. Hernandez had more to say, “I love events like this. I think it’s really important to have, you know, journalism events for students. So even if some people are not interested in journalism or they’re not interested in journalism, or they’re not interested in video production, they can at least see what’s out there for them.”

Two-time Emmy award and Murrow Award-winning news anchor for CBS47 in Fresno, Brian Dorman did a live newsroom simulation, in which he gave a scenario and facts, and the students had to sum it up in something he could say on live television.

Dorman emphasized that Investigative journalism is not something that you just go into coming out of college; you start with it.

Investigative journalism is a, “Special skill set to be able to know how to put in a FOIA request and be able to ask those really tough questions and be able to advocate for people. So it’s kind of a specialized area within the field of journalism,” says Dorman.

This is something Dorman is really passionate about, as he really wants to give the voiceless a voice.

Dorman started working in a very small market in 2008, which is one of the very last, smallest TV stations in the country. He has worked in Alpena, Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Oklahoma, and now California, and each time, he has moved up within the marked system of broadcast journalism.

Mr. Dorman feels he has grown since he first began in this field by, “I think everybody gets better when they do repetitions of anything. Think about, you know, playing a board game, or think about going to work out at the gym. The more you do something, the better you get. So the more newscasts you do, the more stories you tell.”

Dorman’s favorite part of investigative journalism is being able to fight. Dorman believes that Journalism has the power to resolve issues, change state laws, and give the voiceless a voice.

Dorman believes that an investigative journalist can step in when someone feels hopeless and really make a difference.

Some of the money challenges of being an investigative journalist are, “Sometimes you put in a FOIA request, you don’t get a response, which is against the law. Sometimes, you know, you run into dangerous situations like I showed your class today, where you’re interviewing people that don’t want to be called out or put on the spot, and it can be dangerous,” says Dorman.

Dorman wishes to inspire the children he presented to at the event by saying, “I think there’s still such a desire to be a consumer, want to learn, and from a journalist, to be able to tell, and it’s also very important for checks and balances to be able to hold the powerful accountable.”

 Dorman believes it is important to have checks and balances when it comes to where money is going, where public funding is going to state laws being adhered to or followed. He believes this is very, very critical to get out to people.

The most valuable thing Brody Terry, ‘26, learned from the Journalism day was, “I would say different levels of media. Because I think for me, being doing camera work, doing video work, being a part of a media program, video program, specifically in residue of Henshaw and Ranger TV. It’s a very different atmosphere from the journalism side.”

Some of Terry’s favorite parts of the event were learning about the CMAC program, as for Terry, it was like being a kid in a candy store.

For Terry, this is a good option to resort to, and it is something he would appreciate in the moment, and something he would apply in the future.

Terry also had his least favorite moment of the trip, “we were doing basically like writing a news segment where somebody had done some vandalism.”

What Terry did not like about this activity was that he was actually schooled on it by Mr. Dorman himself, as something Terry and his group picked the thing that felt logical, though the opposite would end up being true.

Dorman would make an example of Terry and his group by, “He came up to our group, he looked at us, he looked me straight in the eye. He said, How would you feel if your brother said this. I’m like that, actually makes a lot of sense. Then he later told the class to use an example,” says Terry.

Brody had more to say, “It’s definitely an introduction to the early work environment of life.”

Freshman Abigail Zapata, ’29, had the opportunity to go to this promising event.

One of the most important things Zapata learned from the event is, “How important it is to understand that there’s multiple sides to a story. I feel like sometimes, whenever I’m writing my stories, I tend to only get one perspective, especially with being a sports writer.”

Zapata’a favorite part about the event was that she got a deeper dive of what it means to be a journalist, “We got to experience what it’s like to work with a really qualified newspaper. Being able to hear from a bunch of different voices that not only just work, not only just write, like the What’s that not only just write about” says Zapata.

Zapata learned that there is not a right, or wrong way to be a journalist.

Zapata will utilize all the things she learned from the event because, “They have been writing for a very long time, they’re very intelligent people, and I feel like all the stuff that they have gained, it’s we’re all like the information that I’ve gained just by being there” says Zapata.

Zapata finds this as important because taking a dive into what it takes to  write a good quality story is important.

The Redwood Gigantea’s advisor, Mr. Nick Miller, says that the most valuable thing he learned from the event is that, “I am not alone, advisors everywhere are overworked, underpaid, and trying to do the lord’s work when it comes to high school journalism,” says Miller.

What Miller wishes for his fellow journalists to learn from this event is that there is life after high school journalism, and that, “There are people out there in the world, no matter what everybody says about how media is changing and dying, and how newspapers aren’t worth it.”

What Miller and his crew of journalists saw at the event were people telling community-impacting stories, getting the truth out, and all you need for that is a pen .

Miller will implement the things he learned into his teaching, “That breaking news simulation was great. I learned about if you’ve got a deadline and a headline, what sources do you hit first to get the truth out. That was a good lesson,” says Miller.

Miller had more to say, “On the record, it was fun to see the group grow and take some video kids from Whitney and Redwood. That was kind of cool. I also think that central valley journalism needs events like that.”

Tags: clubs & lifestyles, fabian anguiano, fresno, Fresno City College, gigantea, journalism, Ranger TV, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, rhs, visalia ca