NORTHAMPTON — Cameras and stage lights face Jane Harrison-Millman as she sits in front of a live audience. Across from her sits Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro, responsible for leading the independent agency responsible for detecting fraud and abuse of public resources across the commonwealth. She takes a quick glance at her notes before posing another question to Shapiro.

“Earlier this year, you gave sharp criticism of the Cannabis Control Commission, calling it a ‘rudderless agency’ and going so far as to urge for receivership,” Harrison-Millman, 16, tells Shapiro. “What do you believe needs to happen for the commission, and how can other such entities run ethically and efficiently?”

It was one of several questions asked during an interview with Shapiro for The Transcript, Northampton High School’s weekly video news magazine. The Transcript is put together by students in Jeromie Whalen’s Communications in Media Production class, in collaboration with Northampton Open Media.

“Oftentimes when people are thinking about student news, they’re thinking about a green screen and talking about what’s for lunch,” Whalen said. “Our student journalists are much more about the impact of world events on their community at the school, but also the community of Northampton.”

With access to industry-grade software and equipment, students learn about various facets of digital production and management and have the ability to do go out into the city to do their own field reporting. Recent field reports by The Transcript include asking residents about Thanksgiving and rent prices in Northampton.

The segment with Shapiro came about after the news media program caught the attention of Carrie Kimball, the communications officer for the office of the inspector general, who reached out asking if they would be interested in speaking to Shapiro.

“He [Shapiro] does these trips all around the state,” Kimball said. “I was looking to see what is going on with the media out here, and I noticed they had a student program. So I thought it would be a little different, and interesting.”

Whalen’s students quickly went to work researching the role of the inspector general, looking into recent issues such as Shapiro’s previous statements about the Cannabis Control Commission, as well as looking at implications of the return of Donald Trump to the presidency, with Trump having dismissed several federal inspectors general during his first term in office.

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