Under this new plan, the Gainesville school will be one of five schools to host a multimedia newsroom supported by ABC News, where students will gather stories for a host of different news outlets, ranging from Good Morning America to mtvU.

According to ABC's press release, the student staffers working in the bureau will be paid by the network, including the bureau chief, all of whom will be selected by ABC News and a representative from the participating school. The staffers and bureau chief also get twice-yearly training sessions at ABC News headquarters in New York.

As a former j-school nerd myself, this sounds like an amazing opportunity for kids who will, presumably, not get paid a lot to chase stories for one of the biggest news organizations on the planet. If it works like they say it will, I bet other schools will be lining up to participate before too long.

Here's the press release: 

ABC News LAUNCHES ABC NEWS ON CAMPUS JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

News Division Partners with Five Top Journalism Schools Across The Country to Open College Digital Bureaus in September 2008 

            ABC News announced today the launch of ABC News on Campus, a partnership with five top journalism schools across the country to educate and mentor talented college students. The news division will create five on campus multimedia bureaus that will open in September 2008 and provide an opportunity for students to report on stories in their area and produce a wide array of content for ABC News’ various digital and broadcast platforms, including “Good Morning America,” “World News with Charles Gibson,” “Nightline,” ABC News NOW, ABCNEWS.com, mtvU, ABC News Radio, and NewsOne. 

            “These college digital bureaus will extend the newsgathering reach of ABC News throughout the country,” said ABC News’ President David Westin. “In addition, they will enable us to nurture bright young journalism students, giving them hands-on training from some of the most seasoned news professionals in the business and opportunities to see their work appear on ABC News’ platforms.”   

            Whether students are responding to breaking news or creating daily original content, the ABC News on Campus initiative will provide unique insight into what America's 33 million 18-25 year-olds are thinking. Student participants will primarily consist of upper-class undergraduate and graduate students who are selected by ABC News and the respective college. 

            ABC News Executive Producer of Special Programming and Development John Green will supervise and manage the program with Director of Executive Projects, Sandy Sidey and a team at ABC News headquarters in New York. Each bureau will receive extensive training including on-site mentoring with the student bureau chiefs and faculty liaisons at ABC News headquarters twice yearly.  Representatives from ABC News will also travel to all five campuses for ABC News information sessions. 

The 2008 ABC News on Campus College News Bureaus are:

·         Arizona State University- Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

·         Syracuse University - S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications

·         University of Florida - College of Journalism and Communications

·         University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication

·         University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism

            Each ABC News on Campus bureau will have a team of official ABC News paid student staffers including a bureau chief.  These positions will be vetted and supervised by a participating university-appointed faculty member and ABC News. In addition, any student will have the opportunity to contribute ideas and content as part of each university wide initiative. ABC News will provide an annual stipend for this core team of staff students to manage the bureau as well as state of the art digital technology including video cameras, computers, and edit software.

ABC News Media Relations: Paige Capossela (212) 456-7243