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June 16, 2016

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The Northeastern journalism students examined faulty ankle bracelets that the state was providing to alleged and convicted criminals. Courtesy photo

A team of North­eastern jour­nalism stu­dents con­tributed “sig­nif­i­cant” inves­tiga­tive reporting for a three-​​part series that took home a New Eng­land EmmyAward ear­lier this month. Stu­dents in Mike Beaudet’s inves­tiga­tive reporting course pro­duced two stories—in part­ner­ship with Fox 25—for a col­lec­tion of sto­ries that took home the Emmy in the Inves­tiga­tive Reporting cat­e­gory at an awards cer­e­mony ear­lier this month. Beaudet and Fox 25 received the award, and he said his stu­dents’ reporting was crit­ical to the inves­ti­ga­tions for these news stories. “This is a real thrill to be able to share this Emmy with my North­eastern jour­nalism stu­dents,” said Beaudet, pro­fessor of the prac­tice at North­eastern and a part-​​time reporter for WCVB. “The stu­dent con­tri­bu­tions were sig­nif­i­cant and made these inves­ti­ga­tions pos­sible. It really is expe­ri­en­tial learning at its best.”

For one story, stu­dents helped inves­ti­gate and high­light a problem with defec­tive ankle bracelets that led to the arrests of accused and con­victed crim­i­nals who were later found to be fol­lowing the rules.

“THE STU­DENT CON­TRI­BU­TIONS WERE SIG­NIF­I­CANT AND MADE THESE INVES­TI­GA­TIONS POS­SIBLE. IT REALLY IS EXPE­RI­EN­TIAL LEARNING AT ITS BEST.”
— MIKE BEAUDET, PRO­FESSOR AND REPORTER

The other story uncov­ered a set­tle­ment between the city of Boston and a man accused of assaulting a police officer, but in actu­ality the man was an alleged victim of police brutality.

“The stu­dents researched topics and angles, ana­lyzed data, tracked down sources, and helped pro­duce the final tele­vi­sion reports,” Beaudet said. “More impor­tantly, these inves­ti­ga­tions made an impact and caused public offi­cials to take action to right some wrongs.”

The Emmy recog­ni­tion is just the latest for North­eastern jour­nalism stu­dents. In April, news@Northeastern high­lighted the work of stu­dents Aren LeBrun, Natasha Chang, and Rachel Petri, who received college/​university awards from the National Academy of Tele­vi­sion Arts and Sci­ences. Those stu­dents also were hon­ored at this month’s Emmy event.

Stu­dents who worked on the Emmy-​​nominated sto­ries in Beaudet’s Inves­tiga­tive Reporting class were grad­uate stu­dents Audrey Adam, Julia Aparicio, Alexis Her­rera, Cameron Machell, and Jes­sica McWeeney, and under­grad­uate stu­dents Kelsey Bruun, Angel Feli­ciano, and Elijah Kaplan.