Carlsbad High TV news examines immigration forum

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | Saturday, September 10, 2005 10:05 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- The TV news crew at Carlsbad High School turned its journalistic eye inward last week, examining the illegal immigration issue through State Sen. Bill Morrow's controversial town hall-style meeting, held on the school's campus Aug. 11.

Stepping out of its traditional role of covering softer feature stories, the award-winning student-run CHSTV news program tackled the controversial immigration issue in a report that aired Friday.

CHSTV, winner of four national high school Emmys, broadcast the two-minute segment on the meeting to more than 60,000 Adelphia Cable customers from Del Mar to Fallbrook. The program, which also aired in the school and on the Internet, can be viewed at www.chstv.com.

The two-minute clip was part of the school's seven-minute report of school announcements and features that air every weekday, according to the director of CHSTV, Doug Green, who teaches broadcasting at Carlsbad High and Valley Middle schools.

"That morning, I pulled in and saw the mainstream media lining up," Green said of his decision to cover the event. "CHSTV is the school's official news organization. We needed to be here. And we needed to cover this issue. It's perfect for us."

Green spun into action by calling Adam Bollinger, a 17-year-old senior who has worked with Green for seven years, first as a middle school student and then through his high school years, to help.

"It was a huge deal," Bollinger recalled Friday morning from the parking lot at Carlsbad High, where he and a cameraman rehearsed a live introduction to the report on illegal immigration. "It was something you're not going to see every day here at Carlsbad High. It's a story that needs to be told, and the issue's a natural for us."

The segment shows crowds of protesters that faced off outside the Carlsbad Community Arts Center on Aug. 11 as a slate of conservative speakers detailed the negative effects of illegal immigration on health care, education, and other issues to an audience of about 350 inside the theater. According a report released Friday by Carlsbad Police, 384 officers from Carlsbad and seven other jurisdictions provided security.

While reporter Adam Bollinger interviewed participants, images of hundreds of police in riot-gear showed the city's response to concern that the event could turn violent. Although students are trained to do all of the aspects of production ---- the planning, writing, interviewing, camera work, video and sound editing ---- Green thought it was best to man the camera during the volatile meeting. So teacher Green shot video while student Bollinger interviewed protesters on both sides of the police barricade.

"We've been grooming Adam for years," Green said of the athletic, easy-talking youth. "This was a perfect opportunity for him to cover a breaking news event."

Bollinger said he edited Green's 105 minutes of video down to a seamless two-minute segment of interviews, voice overs, fades and cuts. The editing took him about 2 1/2 hours, Bollinger said.

"I decided in middle school this is what I wanted to do," said Bollinger, who would like to study broadcast journalism at Chapman University or USC. "(This program) put me on the right path."

Bollinger said he wants his own talk show that would be a blend of the comedic Conan O'Brien and serious Larry King.

Of the dozen seniors who graduated last year, all enrolled in college, Green said. Seven students declared majors in broadcasting, journalism, film or communication at such schools as the L.A. Film School, Chapman University and Northern Arizona University.

Green said his students start their collegiate careers with years of experience and diverse skills, and quickly find themselves in leadership roles.

Addressing the teaching standards

Green, who also teaches English, said the broadcasting elective addresses all of the most important requirements of language arts.

"They read, they write, they speak, they interview and they become critical viewers," Green said. "It kind of spoils TV for them because they see how it's put together."

And they are trained in every aspect of broadcasting from on-camera reporting and anchoring to behind-the-scenes video and audio editing and computer graphics.

Responsible journalism

The news crew does not shy away from controversial issues, Green said, but they are careful in their exploration and presentation.

"Mr. Green has taught us about fair and balanced reporting," said student Colin Pierce.

Decisions on what to present and leave out are in some ways a product of upbringing, political and cultural experiences, and religious beliefs. Even the order in which he presents two opposing points of view can skew the report one way or another, Bollinger said.

Credits and confidence

Over the years, the CHSTV crew has interviewed CNN talk-show host Larry King and actors Robin Williams, Ryan Stiles and Tom Hanks, among others. They filmed a feature from pit row of a NASCAR race.

The training and experience that Alex Loucas and his classmates are getting have paid dividends in know-how and confidence.

"The world is at your fingertips," said Pierce, a senior. "Whatever you can think of, you can do. The only barrier is imagination.

"In seventh and eighth grade, I was the little kid who didn't know anything, didn't do anything and think anything except maybe to be a surfer. And then Mr. Green came and showed me how to edit and he showed me the world of possibility. He's a mentor."

Loucas also has high praise for the experience.

"It's just so easy to do," Loucas said, his arm sweeping toward the bank of computers a few feet away. "You can do professional video here.

"To do the things we've done, a lot of people will go their entire lives."

National kudos

Through the years, the CHSTV news team has garnered four national first-place awards and four honorable mentions, Green said.

"They've won the National Student Television Awards three years running," said Terry Williams, executive director of the Pacific West chapter of the National Academy of Arts and Television, calling CHSTV one of the "darlings of the national student broadcast community."

The Emmys, judged and awarded by the same organization and by the same processes as the TV Emmys, are "a nationally prestigious honor," Williams said. The submissions are judged nationally by teachers and TV industry professionals, she said.

"When you talk about what's going on in student television nationally, they say things like, 'Well, out there in San Diego they're doing ..."

Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at 760-901-4043 or pireland@nctimes.com.