FALL 2021 Editor-in-Chief Application Name: Twesha Dikshit Current Address: E-mail: City City State Major: Journalism, Cinema & Media StudiesCumulative GPA: Birthdate: USC ID# (10 digit): Current USC Activities: Associate Managing Editor at the Daily Trojan, Campus Vision producer at Trojan Vision Expected Fall 2021 Activities: Producer at Trojan Vision Previous experience in journalism, publications, or other relevant activities: (Give year, title, responsibilities, and school/ company. If you have a current resume, please attach it to this application.) What is your career objective and in what ways would the DAILY TROJAN Newspaper editorship contribute to it? Please state briefly what changes and improvements you would like to see made this coming fall. (attach additional pages, if necessary) Twesha Dikshit EDUCATION University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (Expected May 2022) Cumulative GPA: Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism B.A. in Journalism USC School of Cinematic Arts SKILLS B.A. in Cinema and Media Studies Language- Native proficiency in English and Hindi EXPERIENCE Basic knowledge of Punjabi. The Daily Trojan, USC- Associate Managing Editor Technical- DECEMBER 2020 – PRESENT Microsoft Office Suite (word, • Helped oversee daily production and come up with ways to report on power point, excel) and stories and make our content engaging and accessible to audiences. • Responsible for editing multiple stories from news, opinion, arts & WordPress entertainment and sports sections throughout the day, strategizing Social media platforms multimedia storytelling and overseeing newspaper layout via Adobe (Facebook, Instagram, InDesign. Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn) News Assignments Editor DECEMBER 2019 – DECEMBER 2020 Adobe suite (Premiere, • Oversee more than 30 writers and help with pitches, editing, writing Audition, Photoshop, breaking news and layout of the newspaper. InDesign) • Interview students, professors and other community members for the Recording footage and video/ articles, pitch story ideas, transcribe interviews and cover last minute sound editing events. Trojan Vision, USC- Producer (Campus Vision) Photography DECEMBER 2020- PRESENT Broadcast Producer (Delish) Basic coding in HTML, CSS, AUGUST 2019- APRIL 2020 Javascript. • Adapted to the online format to continue producing and editing Administrative- Trained in content for virtual version of the campus television station. print, broadcast and online • Worked in the studio with the master control, assigned crew positions reporting and ensured smooth production and consistent communication during live broadcast. Avid reader and researcher Katch Media, Los Angeles (Remote internship)- Media Genome Analyst Copy editing JULY 2020 – DECEMBER 2020 • Analyze films for a media startup that aims to provide accurate AP Style recommendations and is inspired from Pandora’s Genome project. RELEVANT COURSE WORK- • Watch 5-7 films a week and then code them according to the genome requirements. Coding for storytelling • Lead discussion groups on International cinema and Screenwriting for Intro to Screenwriting over 90 interns from film schools across the U.S. and different parts Television production of the world. Practicum in Film/ Annenberg Media, USC— South L.A. editor Television criticism JANUARY 2020 - MAY 2020 Intro to investigative and • Work with writers doing their shifts to come up with story ideas, edit data journalism stories and help out with community reporting. Magazine production Live Multimedia Journalist Rewriting History: JANUARY 2019 – MAY 2Q20 Reporting Rome • Produced broadcast content for both the Annenberg TV news channel and radio news. HONORS- • Recorded footage, conducted interviews, wrote scripts and edited Annenberg Dean’s List clips for the live broadcast along with hosting my own radio content. SCA Dean’s List Twesha Dikshit Previous experience in journalism, publications, or other relevant activities: (Give year, title, responsibilities, and school/ company. If you have a current resume, please attach it to this application.) I joined the Daily Trojan as a news and lifestyle writer during my sophomore year in Fall 2019 before becoming an assistant news editor mid-semester. In Spring 2020, I became the news assignments editor and continued the role for Fall 2020. Currently, I serve as an associate managing editor and overlook the news and photo sections. I worked for Annenberg Media as an ATVN volunteer in January 2019. I continued working in the newsroom as part of my JOUR 206 shifts in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020. I also served as the South L.A. editor during Spring 2020 and worked with students assigned for 206 shifts to report on USC’s surrounding community. I volunteered for Trojan Vision as a broadcast producer in Spring 2020 after taking the TV production class in Fall 2019. I currently work as a producer for the Campus Vision segment that involves interviewing different campus organizations. I worked as a reporter for Annenberg and PVAMU’s collaborative award-winning documentary “Two Paths, One Direction” that involved exploring 2020 through the lens of students at a PWI and HBCU. I am also currently part of a magazine production class to release two community zines in collaboration with L.A. Taco. What is your career objective and in what ways would the DAILY TROJAN Newspaper editorship contribute to it? While I am not entirely sure about my career plans after college, I hope to combine my passion for journalism and filmmaking into a career of storytelling. My interests lie in being a documentary filmmaker while continuing to work in print journalism as an international correspondent or covering beats such as food, lifestyle, art and entertainment. Being involved in the Daily Trojan has helped me grow tremendously both personally and professionally and taught me more than any of my journalism classes. Being EIC will help me develop leadership and decision skills that I believe are paramount to any career I pursue in the future. It will also help me become better at teamwork, communication, management and allow me to keep growing as both a writer and a leader. Please state briefly what chanGes and improvements you would like to see made this cominG fall. Hybrid production/ Transition to campus: As we transition a return to campus and daily production, I would like to explore ways we can continue hybrid production while maintaining the efficiency and community of an in-person newsroom. This would involve working to figure out our production schedule and access to newsroom while keeping everyone’s safety in mind. Since much of our current masthead has not been around for daily in-person production, I would like to make the transition as smooth as possible and host workshops in the summer for new editors. Communication/building a community Communication and building a community have been the two most challenging aspects of working virtually but they would be even more important returning to an in-person semester. I would like to continue holding weekly all-editor meetings to discuss collaboration between different sections as a way for editors to feel more connected to each other and the newsroom. Even with a hybrid model, I want to reinstate daily budget meetings for better communication. I want to prioritize finding a wellness & outreach team to plan events for editors to get to know each other outside their jobs and think of DT as more than a workplace. Encouraging staff and assistant editors to be more involved with the newsroom and come in to discuss their stories and edits would help foster a sense of community along with having more general and fun events for the staff and editors to get to know each other. Wellness Working closely with the wellness director, I would like to continue implementing some of the wellness initiatives we have taken in the past two semesters such as counselling and having a work schedule, so everyone doesn’t have to be coming into the newsroom or doing DT work daily. I would also like to incorporate different techniques such as meditation, walk, yoga and music breaks depending on what people prefer so they are taking time off from their screens. Digital reach/multimedia projects I would like to expand DT’s digital reach by undertaking more collaborative multimedia projects. This would involve working on long term projects involving data and investigative journalism as well as semester-long multimedia projects that include text, photo, interactivity, audio and other elements. Having more multimedia-editor meetings along with reworking some of the masthead positions would help with this. Professional development Helping editors and staff grow professionally is important as a student organization and I would organize this by having a speaker series and connecting with past DT and USC alumni to come talk to staff. Having resume and cover letter sessions along with editing each other’s applications and connecting with past alumni working in the same industry/company would help with professional development. Collaborating with different journalism organizations on campus such as AAJA, NAHJ and NABJ to host talks and socialize would also help with networking. Diversity/ recruitment Continuing the diversity initiatives and staff report that were established over the past two semesters, I would like to incorporate the data into recruitment over summer and build connections with different cultural organizations and student clubs. For months celebrating cultural and other identities such as Black History Month and LBGTQ+ History month, I would like to work ahead with editors to plan stories and features to run along with multimedia elements. To increase diversity in our sourcing and reporting, I will work closely with the D&I director to have a tracking system to see what communities and sources are included in our stories and who is overlooked. Aside from a mandatory orientation, I would also like to have a mandatory diversity training for staff, so they incorporate it in their reporting and address implicit biases. Having monthly diversity reports on the stories we ran would help us improve our coverage and realize where we are falling short.