So what happens when a Canadian student wants to cover the United States presidential debate? You’d think that being north of the border without a travel budget would leave them out in the cold, right?

Not true! The Ryerson University student paper, The Ryersonian, grabbed a syndicated feed provided by Boston.com and the Boston Globe. Using their coverage as a baseline, The Ryersonian was able to add their own nuanced content, as well as report from the live video feed that many outlets were providing.

“As student reporters, most of us have little experience covering political events,” said Daniela Costa, the managing editor at The Ryersonian. “The syndicated feed gave us a look at how seasoned professionals do it.”

“I think our audience appreciated the added political insight as well. The syndicated feed brought in a level of political analysis that only those consistently covering a politics beat can provide,” said Costa.

By using ScribbleLive’s Syndication Marketplace, students can work with content that has been vetted by newspaper editors and reflect what they would be creating in the field. Like reading an article example before writing their own, it allows them a real-time look at what’s effective: this can include what to quote, what to photograph, what comments are effective and what polls drive the most votes.

It also benefits sites like The Ryersonian by allowing them to serve their communities with a larger array of coverage without exhausting budgets. It allows for journalism students to cover the things that matter while giving them the opportunity to grow into the newsmakers that will shape tomorrow.

If your school or student publication is interested in a donated license with ScribbleLive, contact Matt for details.