C-SPAN gives Poplar Bluff students a tour of media bus

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- More than 160 Poplar Bluff High School students had the opportunity Thursday to spend a little time in one of two buses used by C-SPAN to cover the 2008 presidential election.

The 45-foot-long vehicles have been used by the cable network since 1993 to cover a variety of stories nationwide. They have also visited schools and civic organizations over the last two years.

"This offered us a chance to learn about a nonbiased news network and meet some interesting people," said junior Jessie Downing, who planned to enter a C-SPAN video contest students learned about during their tour.

With winning videos to be shown on the news network, Downing said she would like to look at Second Amendment rights with her project.

"I think it is important for us to have access to firearms. If that is taken away, the bad guys are still going to have them," Downing said after the tour. "This would offer a chance to share my voice."

American government teacher Kim White said she hoped what the students learned about government will reinforce some of the classroom lessons. She also believes this opportunity gives her students a better understanding of how news is reported.

In addition to tours for high school students, C-SPAN representatives offered two teacher workshops to help educators learn more about how to integrate the network's free online resources into classroom work. The network has reached out to more than 52,000 students and 9,000 teachers over the years through buses like the one that visited Poplar Bluff.

"They went over the features of the C-SPAN website. They have a lot of primary resources there, lesson plans with articles," said Social Studies Department chair Gail Rosmarin.

C-SPAN is trying to increase students' media literacy and teach them to be mindful of what they are seeing and how it is presented, said network representative Rachel Katz.