About

What Is PNN?

Since 1994, the Penn News Network (PNN) has been gathering and reporting the news of Penn High School. The team airs PNN, the weekly news broadcast that brings Penn High School all the week’s news and announcements.

Our organization also publishes news to social media and digital signage in the halls of Penn High School. We cover stories that range from daily announcements to in-depth feature stories about what is happening in the Penn community. Reporters for PNN attend academic, sporting, and social events every week to keep the Penn student body up to date on what is going on around campus. You can find the work of PNN reporters on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (@pennnewsnetwork). PNN students compete in the annual J-Day competition hosted by Ball State University. Additionally, there is a film club that students can join if they want to work on PNN projects outside of school. 

If you are a student  interested in taking PNN classes, you can contact Mr. McNulty through the contact page or talk to your counselor about joining the class. You can use the same page if you would like to see a story covered or would like additional information about our organization.

Course # 0369 Radio & TV I

This is the introductory course of PNN. In this class students will develop journalism skills by analyzing different media forms and familiarizing themselves with PNN equipment. They’ll learn the different facets of production and apply them. These facets include (but aren’t limited to) writing stories for pnn.phmschools.org, producing news packages for the PNN show, archiving past PNN stories, updating the digital signage in the hallways, and adding events to the PNN community calendar. 

Then in the second-semester students will produce a faux show to learn more about what news production is like and to prepare them for Radio & TV II. After producing a faux show students will move into helping produce the weekly PNN show. This course is a prerequisite for Radio and TV II 

Course # 0371 Radio & TV II 

After taking the prerequisite course Radio and TV I, students can take the advanced course, Radio & TV II. In the class of PNN students will take all of their skills acquired in Radio and TV I and use them to produce a weekly news show. Each week this show will have a fully filled-out rundown (shown below) along with a fully written script and graphics for each segment. Then students will edit the show and publish it on YouTube by Friday so that it can be put into the student newsletter, Kingsmen Nation. 

Additionally, students in this class will write stories for our website, produce multimedia stories to be included in our show, manage our social media, update the digital signage that is in the hallways, promote school activities, and learn how to apply skills to a real-world setting. At this point, students have developed a close bond from being in class together and are a part of the “PNN family”.

Course # 0161 TV Broadcast Internship

In this class, students develop a complex understanding of PNN studio equipment and how to apply it in a real-world setting. First semester students evaluate their interests and how they might be able to use them to get an internship. Members of the class produce a variety of projects in the studio, and they take them from concept to completion. Students develop a portfolio of work that includes television productions, news segments, public service announcements, commercial spots, live broadcasts, and multimedia stories. They will also take parts of their portfolio and create a newsreel to publish on YouTube. Then the goal is that second-semester students participate in a professional internship with local Media companies or any companies looking for media personnel. This publications class lays the groundwork for further study in this field.