HPU ‘All Access’ hosts election night live stream

By Faith Foushee, November 20, 2020

By Elise Coby

Organizations Editor

 

During the 2020 presidential election, High Point University’s student-run campus news show, “All Access,” hosted an election-night broadcast on Nov. 3 from 7 p.m. to midnight.

“HPU ‘All Access’ is a student-run and -produced news show,” according to the mission statement posted to the Instagram of HPU Vision, HPU’s communication club. “This gives students the ability to be talent for segments and get hands-on experience with the state-of-the-art studio equipment within HPU’s Nido R. Qubein School of Communication TV Studio.”

HPU student and “All Access” director Emmy Beck-Aden discussed the broadcast becoming a reality after planning the broadcast since the summer.

“We came up with the idea over the summer and have been working on it for a little over a month now,” Beck-Aden said. “It’s exciting to see everyone coming together to bring the sets to life. I’m working on a campaign here in North Carolina, so while I’ll be directing this broadcast, I will also be finding out if my candidate wins. It’s a really cool opportunity because High Point is one of the most competitive counties inside one of the most competitive states. Being able to take part in this broadcast for the only presidential election we will be in college for is really special.”

The broadcast called for much planning in terms of time, technical adjustments and adaptability to a set that’s twice the size of a normal show layout students are used to.

“Most of our weekly shows in the studio are about 30 minutes long, so planning and hosting a 5-hour event pushed us out of our comfort zones in an exciting and fun way,” Beck-Aden said. “The best word I use to describe what we’ve been going through is adaptability. At first, we didn’t know how we were logistically going to pull this broadcast off in terms of making sure we were prioritizing the health and safety of everyone involved, but the show went very smoothly. We were able to showcase a wide variety of segments from interviews and professional discussions to electoral map updates and more.”

Broadcast journalism major Lauryn Green discussed how preparations of the live stream allowed for a smooth running of the show.

“The live stream production was an extraordinary experience,” Green said. “Everybody was well-prepared, took their tasks seriously and just had fun with it. Despite the fact that we didn’t have all the results by the end of the night, I would say the show went exactly as we planned.”

The broadcast gave students an opportunity to experience hands-on production opportunities.

“All Access” Assistant Director Riley Manion discussed how the election broadcast gave him a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“Covering an election is something that I never thought would be possible,” Manion said. “Being an anchor for two hours and also being one of the people who planned it was such a rewarding experience. It was amazing to see how it successfully played out and to see how excited everyone was. It was different from what any of us are used to, but it really helped to show that, as college students, we are capable of putting on very successful productions.”

To ensure the smooth running of the broadcast, the working relationships between different academic departments became an intrinsic element to the building of the show. 

“My favorite part of this experience was facilitating collaboration between so many different individuals and groups,” Beck-Aden said. “Students from the School of Communication, political science department and more worked together to form a cast, crew, social media team and research department. Faculty and staff were eager to help us brainstorm logistics and promote the show.

Candidates and political leaders took the time to participate in exclusive interviews for our broadcast. We truly could not have created a show of this scale without the help of each and every one of these talented people, and, especially in the days leading up to the show, I loved getting to see all of the puzzle pieces finally come together.” “I loved participating in the election-night special, and there’s nowhere else I would rather have spent my time,” Green said.

Although stressful at times, the experience was fulfilling, as students presented their dedication and hard work.

“My favorite part was having the opportunity to open the entire show,” Manion said. “I, along with my co-anchor, were the first two people to be on camera, so it was both really exciting and nerve-wracking. As soon as the cameras started rolling, we just went with the flow, and we did really well. Watching it back and hearing from so many people about how great the broadcast was, was just so rewarding because the months of hard work finally paid off.”

For more information about “All Access,” students are encouraged to contact Beck-Aden at ebeckade@highpoint.edu.