Many high school and college media centers across the nation are adapting a new work method known as the “SuperDesk”. Modeled along the lines of Florida’s Tampa Tribune multimedia newsroom, SuperDesk is a communication system that brings together the leaders of the campus television station, radio station, student news Web site and weekly student newspaper for a weekly planning and assignment meeting. Also in attendance are the beat directors who are responsible for stories in different areas of campus life such as sports, fine arts, cultural events, student activities and administration and academics.

Members of the SuperDesk team are expected to circulate story ideas in advance of the weekly planning and assignment meeting. Story ideas and angles are discussed before being assigned to beat directors who pass them along to reporters, photographers and page designers. Beat directors maintain regular contact with reporters and SuperDesk members about the status of each story in process.

Open and continuous interaction among SuperDesk members enables them to act quickly in the case of a breaking news story, to be prepared to gather and share information quickly, and move along platforms to give their community the fastest and most reliable coverage possible.

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SuperDesk functions successfully because at its base is a core of staffers continually being trained as cross-platform journalists through introductory courses in news writing, audio, video, and new media, including the Web. A student often prepares news on the same topic in more than one medium. By the time media production students are sophomores and juniors, they are able to produce news stories for any of the student media.

This cross-training, along with the requirement to specialize in one or two forms of media, prepares graduates who are versatile and able to move seamlessly into positions in multimedia newsrooms. They may be expected to work in all formats from day one on the job.