C-SPAN tour wraps up
The $1.2 million C-SPAN broadcast bus made its final stops to colleges and schools Tuesday in its “Primary Week” educational tour, visiting Trinity High School and Washington & Jefferson College.
C-SPAN community relations coordinator Sara Zou, left, helps students Kortney Kiskadden, 16, and Alexus Fleming, 17, preview election coverage in the media suite of the bus.
C-SPAN community relations coordinator Doug Hemmig talks about the free video archives on C-SPAN’s websites that allow students to excerpt clips for their own research.
Trinity High School and Washington & Jefferson College were the last two stops for C-SPAN’s $1.2 million broadcast bus in its “Primary Week” educational tour.
Though none of the high school students touring the bus’s media suite was registered to vote – or of age – the juniors and seniors still got an inside look on how to inform themselves through the nation’s only verified nonpartisan media organization.
“Comcast and cable networks are the sole funders of C-SPAN. We take no money from the government, so we can remain independent,” said community relations coordinator Sara Zou.
“C-SPAN is a great first or last stop for first-time voters because we provide nonpartisan coverage. It’s more than a 10-second sound bite. It’s complete coverage,” Zou said.
That gavel-to-gavel coverage is sometimes derided as boring, but marketing coordinator Doug Hemmig said the no-fluff broadcasts are central to keeping the organization distanced from having any position on candidates or happenings in Congress.
“It’s simple camera styles, no zoom, unedited coverage that gives you unfiltered material as it’s happening, whether it’s a debate, a town hall or action on the Senate floor,” Hemmig said.
C-SPAN, or the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, was created in 1979 as a public service media organization. The network’s three channels and one radio station pipe content over to its websites, which is archived. In the 23-year run of the bus tour, only in recent years have Zou and Hemmig had to pitch students on using C-SPAN’s websites as a research tool.
“There are 21,982 videos alone of President Obama speaking. You can search the videos, the transcripts, anything. And in the video players, there are built-in editors that allow you to snip out a clip you can use to cite in research. Journalists can use this, too,” Hemmig said.
“So if you ask a question at a rally or a debate, you can scour that archived footage and find it – maybe keep it for yourself as a virtual souvenir,” Hemmig said, “so this may not be an everyday news resource for you, but it’s a crucial one when you need it.”
The entire appeal, Hemmig said, is to provide news consumers unfiltered access to candidates and events.
“You draw your own conclusions. We don’t go back and analyze it, we don’t offer commentary after coverage. Don’t let a TV talking head tell you how to vote,” Hemmig said.