Millennial-led News Organization Pilots Teaching Hospital for Young Journalist




With generous support from BMe, in partnership with OIC of America, Inc., Techbook Online Corporation® launched HYPE-JTM Beta.


(Howard Sullivan, son of the legendary Leon Sullivan, inks an agreement with Techbook Online Corporation CEO, Christopher "Flood the Drummer®" Norris, to launch an eight week pilot of HYPE-J, a TMZ-style, project-based learning model, designed to transform students into hyper-local journalist. Photo Credit: TBO Inc Stock - ©2013)

By TBO Staff



A handful of lucky Philadelphia students interested in journalism got an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this fall to research and produce the future of news alongside award-winning journalist Christopher Norris, as he piloted Techbook Online's new teaching hospital for young journalist, HYPE JTM, an original model developed to leverage smartphone technology to produce hyper-local content. Company executives tout the 8 week pilot for helping them create a long-term plan to pipeline local information - in real-time - to the newsroom for broader development and/or distribution.



"It's important to the growth and sustainability of Techbook Online Corporation and the communities we serve, that we proactively build a pipeline that supports new writers, reporters and free information," states Norris, who in 2013 led TBO Inc to become one of the largest millennial-led news organizations in the world, now publishing across platforms, reaching up to 100 million readers a month. "HYPE-J allowed us to see in real-time how students perceive the news industry, how view and tell stories and how our company can increase its value through student-led innovations. During the first two weeks of HYPE-JTM, a 15 year-old student from Science Leadership Academy, Soledad Alfaro-Allah, came to me with the idea to form a new genre, poetic journalism. Another student - working on a story about the lack of school counselors - developed a solution to the problem and will be working with the company to launch it in 2014. I was surprised with the level of engagement students had to the field, and that had a lot of that had to do with the loose structure we created. We strived to make it fun and interactive; we even bought in Pop-Pop Johnson, played by Rising Sons CEO, Alex Peay, to do some improv news broadcast for a production that we are working on. At Techbook Online Corporation, we recognize the future of journalism is in the hands of the citizens. Every day we are connecting communities through content and enabling and empowering the community leaders - through training and support - to build synergy, across cities, through storytelling."



CHECK OUT HYPE J


While no official date has been released by Techbook Online board of directors as to when the official year programming will begin, it has been hinted for an early first-quarter launch. In the meantime, check out the articles and videos published by HYPE-J students during the eight-week pilot launch: