To public relations and political science senior Allison Novack, C-SPAN is the best of many worlds— a media outlet with a public service mission in government. When she was offered an internship with the network over the summer, she leapt at the opportunity.
“I have always wanted to mesh my interests together, and C-SPAN was the perfect place to do that,” she said. “It’s a great place to intern, because there are so many opportunities to learn and explore D.C.”
Novack was among the first to arrive when she heard her former employer was sending the C-SPAN Bus, an interactive, multimedia presentation center on wheels, to showcase resources and technology for UM students and faculty on Thursday. She hoped the bus would allow other students and faculty to better understand how C-SPAN helps its audience to understand government, she said.
The non-profit, non-partisan network was founded in 1979 by the cable industry to televise government proceedings and public affairs programming. C-SPAN operates three channels, multiple websites and a radio station, and provides a web-based archive of congressional proceedings and extensive programming on non-fiction books and history.
The bus visited UM to reach out to students like Novack, said Jennifer Curran, a marketing representative for C-SPAN. “We target universities because there are voting-aged students here,” she said. “Our goal is not to encourage them to vote, because that’s their decision, but rather to inform them about the candidates and issues.”
Campus visits also provide students with information on internships at one of the three C-SPAN channels, its radio station or in its marketing department, she said. Faculty and staff also learn about C-SPAN’s educational resources during the visit.
The bus will be stationed at Miami Book Fair International throughout the weekend. See inside the bus and learn more about internship opportunities and C-SPAN’s role in the community on the C-SPAN website.
