Students tapped to cover Olympics in London

December 13, 2011

Fifteen BU students will cover the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London as part of a unique professional partnership program offered by the College of Communication and the Boston University Study Abroad office. Starting this July, the participants will live in BU’s complex in London, study the history and politics of the Games, then complete internships as multimedia journalists. During the Games, BU’s Olympic interns will post video reports, podcasts, blogs and photographs to outlets including Boston.com, NPR’s WBUR radio, WBZ-TV, GoLocalProv.com and newspapers owned by Gatehouse Media.

“We were looking for self starters, with good story ideas and the ability to execute those ideas – we got 'em with our picks being mostly rising seniors and graduate students” said Prof. Susan Walker. Walker is a former TV news producer who will direct the program, assisted by production engineer Jake Kassen.

“Consider this the Olympic trial of journalism; covering a major international event, posting clips from a temporary multimedia newsroom set up in the historic South Kensington BU complex,” explained Walker. “We’re going to expand coverage of local Olympians and give students a portfolio of multimedia clips and the (hopefully) job-winning experience of covering an international event.” Watch for BU students’ coverage of the London Olympic Games July 27- August 12, 2012.