Weekly ‘Centre Access’ podcast offers news summary, public meeting information

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A weekly podcast that offers a recap of Centre County news and provides a summary of local government meetings from across the county has launched, thanks to the efforts of Penn State communications students.

“Centre Access” shares six stories each week along with an update on public meetings from Centre Documenters, which is part of a nationwide network of citizens that works to enhance government transparency. Podcast episodes debut Saturday mornings.

The podcast strives to serve the roughly 158,000 residents of Centre County by providing information about the most important news of the week. The public meeting information is an essential part of the podcast, too.

“This podcast has been a long time coming. We knew we needed another way to reach county residents with public meeting information. But, let’s face it, most people aren’t going to listen each week to a podcast for that information alone,” said Maggie Messitt, the Norman Eberly Professor of Practice in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State. She also serves as director of the News Lab at Penn State.

“’Centre Access’ is truly a creation of this team and represents six months of study, ideation, development and practice,” Messitt said. “The students are thoughtful, dedicated and are holding one another accountable to get better each week. I’m just thrilled for them, but even more — I’m thrilled their work is now out there for Centre County residents.”

The podcast is produced by the News Lab at Penn State, recorded in the Bellisario Media Center on the University Park campus and supported by the Curt Chandler Storytelling Fund, the Arthur P. Miller Newsroom Fund, and the Hearst Foundations.

Along with serving county residents, the podcast provides valuable real-life experience for students.

Members of the inaugural production team for the podcast are Francisco Calvo (host, writer), Denzel Massaley (host, writer), Victoria Misuraca (writer) and Jennae Overton (writer).

“My experience in the News Lab, specifically with 'Centre Access,' has helped solidify the communication skills I’ve been fostering here at Penn State,” Massaley said. “It’s not often someone gets to pioneer a new media initiative. In fact, the experience aligns with my aspiration of pioneering my own news platform. I look forward to seeing how the podcast develops in the future, because I know it’ll only improve as time goes on.”

The student team conducts an initial editorial meeting each Monday and they follow breaking news throughout the week, specifically news that impacts Centre County residents, as they adjust their scripts.

At the same time, members of the Centre Documenters team compile the weekly roundup of that week’s public meetings. Podcast episodes are recorded Friday nights and a guest from the Documenters team offers meeting highlights.

“With Centre Access, we are really focused on news that impacts the community, not just Penn State,” Overton said. “This is my first time working on a podcast or doing audio journalism, so it has been a transformational experience. Not relying on graphics or videos to tell a story really does make me a better journalist.”

In the coming year, Messitt said the plan for “Centre Access” is to consider bonus episodes with audio feature stories, interviews and more.