Facilities

Reid Hall, which houses the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, provides a high-tech environment that prepares students for careers as journalists and specialists in strategic communication.

The building houses contemporary faculty offices and classrooms equipped with the latest in instructional technology. Wireless internet access points are located throughout the entire building.

The third floor is the hub of the department's video production operation, featuring an 18-position audio production and teaching laboratory alongside a 15-seat newsroom. Three dedicated high-end production workstations, an audio booth, and a television studio and control room round out the third floor.

Computer workstations in Reid Hall are equipped with the Adobe Creative Suite for audio, video and still image editing, as well as magazine layout and website design. Journalism students use the software to tell stories about the local community and communicate with the public. Strategic communication majors use the same tools to help local nonprofit groups polish their messages and reach their target audiences.

Students are taught to use Adobe Premiere Pro, Audition, Photoshop and Indesign to tell stories in a variety of formats, including photos, news packages, magazines, documentaries, podcasts, graphic elements and visual storytelling for the web.

The building features a broadcast studio set built by FX Design Group, an industry leading broadcast set and lighting design firm. The studio has three cameras with teleprompters, an interchangeable interview set and news desk, as well as a green screen for chroma key work.

Students report, write and produce The Rockbridge Report, an online news site and weekly live television newscast. On Tuesdays, students produce a live five-minute news update. On Thursdays, they create a full 30-minute newscast. Students are responsible for every aspect of the newscast, including serving as director and producer, and operating the teleprompter, video and graphics playout servers, audio board, camera shading and the video switcher.

Student-reporters go live from the scene using TVU Network's One backpack transmitter. This allows high-quality, low-latency video transmission from anywhere with a cellular signal back to Reid Hall's control room. In addition, the department purchased its second drone, a Dji Mavic 3 Pro, in the summer of 2023.

The department supplies students with Electronic News Gathering (ENG) kits based around JVC's GY-HM250U UHD camera. The kits also include wireless stick and lavalier microphones, small LED lights and a tripod. Students have access to audio recorders and DSLR cameras from an equipment pool maintained by the department's Manager of Technical Operations.