Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication launched its premiere academic network partnership class with ABC News on Friday, in which students will cover the war in Afghanistan and publish multimedia content for the national news network’s website.

“I promise you there is no other class like this in the world in journalism,” said Mike Boettcher, an Emmy Award- and Peabody Award-winning journalist.

Students enrolled in Advanced Multimedia will work with Boettcher, ABC correspondent and OU visiting professor, who will be embedded in Afghanistan for the next year beginning Sept. 1. Boettcher, along with his son, Carlos, will follow a squad or platoon of troops, covering its experiences and sending multimedia content back to students to edit and to produce related stories on the home front.

On Friday, Mike briefed students enrolled in the class on the opportunities they will have this semester to produce international content.

“You’re going to take that material and make what will be the premiere website in the world for coverage of the war in Afghanistan, I promise you we’re going to do that,” Mike said. “It’s going to be an amazing experience.”

John Schmeltzer, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and professor, also will work with Advanced Multimedia students in class, helping them produce multimedia assignments that will also appear on Routes, an Oklahoma webzine that debuted last semester in the same class.

Mike and Schmeltzer said the content would focus on more personal storytelling to humanize the war in Afghanistan and reconnect the country with a war that has lasted for almost a decade.

“You’ll be going out and talking to the families of the soldiers who are out there and following them over the course of the semester,” Mike said.

Students will file content for abcnews.com, World News, Good Morning America, Nightline and ABC affiliates in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Nashville. Mike said that students’ content may eventually be available to BBC, an ABC partner.

Mara Nelson, journalism senior and Advanced Multimedia student, said Mike and Schmeltzer’s personal approach to covering the war is “10 times more compelling” than basic coverage.

Journalism senior Karen Hudson wasn’t expecting the class to have such far-reaching, impressionable reporting opportunities and is excited about the prospect of having her content presented on abcnews.com or a nightly news program.

“It’s really cool that our stuff could end up on abcnews.com,” Hudson said.

The Sarkeys Foundation is funding the project.