MoWest hosts first Cronkite Film Festival for Jouranlism students

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- Missouri Western State University's Communication Department launched the Cronkite Film Festival to highlight the creativity and depth of their newscasts.

The festival honors St. Joseph-born journalism legend Walter Cronkite, whose legacy inspires students. Located beside the university's memorial museum, the festival connects attendees to the art behind the journalism students' work at MoWest.

"Journalism to me means depth," said Applied Communication and Journalism Major Eric Weightman. "I think a lot of people, when it comes to journalism, don't properly understand the amount of research in a work that a lot of people have to do."

Some local students believe they need to attend distant colleges to get a quality education in certain fields, such as journalism. Yet, others stay nearby at Missouri Western and recognize the Department of Communication's Griffon Media as a valuable opportunity.

"I think people, when they think of the news, might just think of the routine 5:00 program. But we try to experiment with new things every day," said Executive Producer of Griffon Media's broadcast and current student, Aaron Hammer, who is from St. Joseph. "Every broadcast is something different. Every video is something different. And we're all learning and growing."

The festival aims to introduce Griffon Media's work to new audiences, connecting with both the campus and local community to demonstrate student journalism talents, according to Editor in Chief Kendall Warren.

"It's really awesome because we have our broadcast every Friday, but not a lot of people watch that. So I think this gets the work we're doing out to a bigger audience. So I think it just spreads more awareness of what we actually do in Griffon Media and just the department in general."

The event started at 6:30 pm in Spratt 101 at Leah Spratt Hall and featured episodes of Griffon Media's newscasts, documentaries, short films, and student works from the program.

For more information on Griffon Media and what they offer at MoWest, click here.