Four DePaul Students Listed in Credits for Carol Marin’s Upcoming CNN Feature

When CNN airs a documentary Oct. 24 examining the influence of evangelical Christians in the United States, four DePaul students will watch the premiere together with a sense of pride and ownership. When the final credits roll, those students will be listed among the film’s production assistants, thanks to the DePaul Documentary Project (DDP) headed by award-winning journalist Carol Marin and her partner Don Moseley.

Benjamin Welsh, a recent DePaul communication graduate, plans to fly home from graduate school to watch with the crew. “I’m excited, but my level of excitement is nothing compared to that of my parents,” said Welsh, who is enrolled in the broadcast journalism program at the University of Missouri. “I helped out with the introductory research on the evangelical project and tried to save Carol and Don some hassles by organizing all the little things that go into such a large project,” he recalled. “They allowed me to do all sorts of things I was violently unqualified to do and were supportive through both my successes and failures.”

The DDP, launched in the fall of 2003, is the first professional documentary center within a Chicago university and is structured to train students in the art of broadcast journalism. When asked how many students have gone through the program to date, Marin and Moseley take a few seconds to ponder their answer. Although approximately five students have completed the year-long training program, even after the internship ends, students continue to spend time at the production studio, located on the third floor of the Schmitt Academic Center, 2320 N. Kenmore Ave.

“They don’t ever really leave,” said Marin. That’s not because the program offers little challenge for them, either. “We’re not looking for phone answerers,” explained Moseley. “Students get actual experience here.”

Not only do students learn the intricacies of pulling together a professional television news magazine piece firsthand, they pitch in by doing a fair share of research and fact checking. Marin has utilized interns’ assistance on her Chicago Sun-Times column, and the students have worked on news segments for WMAQ-TV, the local NBC affiliate, where Marin is a news correspondent. “They’ve witnessed us crashing a story that had to be turned around in a day, and they’ve seen how long-term projects pan out,” she said.

Students who conduct research for the kinds of investigative pieces churned out by Marin and Moseley learn, among many things, how to file Freedom of Information requests. “You can’t approach this work like a student,” explained Marin. “You can’t be timid on the phones, not when you need to find out how much Cicero is paying its outside lawyers and how much the city is putting up to defend John Burge,” the Chicago police commander accused of forcing confessions from crime suspects.

Colleen McBrien, a current intern in the DDP and managing editor of DePaulia, the university’s student newspaper, has been doing extensive telephone work for an upcoming news segment on Wisconsin and the presidential election. She says that even though she just started her internship in September, she’s already managed to hone her communication skills. “I’ve been interviewing people all over the state, looking at the state’s voting patterns for the 2000 presidential election, seeing how many times Kerry and Bush have each visited the state since August, as well as tabulating the number of times the respective candidates have aired paid television advertisements there,” she said.

Marin says that the one thing she consistently finds in DePaul students is a great work ethic. “A couple of them are holding down two jobs, carrying a full load of classes and doing this [internship].” Both Marin and Moseley say that working with college students has been invigorating for them. “I get a charge every time I set foot on campus,” said Moseley.

“There’s a freshness to it,” said Marin. “You can live inside your profession, but fresh eyes, humor and spirit offer something new. The students share information with us as well – maybe a New York Times article that they read and thought we’d be interested in. There are no passive recipients here. This program is really a two-way street.”

According to Welsh, when it comes to measuring reward, the scales are definitely tipped in favor of the students who complete the internship program. “If you’re a DePaul student who’s interested in being a journalist, there is no excuse for not applying,” he said. “It’s an excellent opportunity to get hands-on experience and to work under two masterful professionals.”

Karen Roloff, director of the internships for the communication department, believes the DPP internship to be the chance of a lifetime. “Where do you find the opportunity to work with award-winning professionals in this close environment?” she asked. “You’re not going to find it.”

The “CNN Presents” segment airing Oct. 24 is titled “Fight Over Faith” and examines the fight within Christianity that is splitting denominations and threatening divisiveness across denominations. It airs at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Central Time. Another DDP project involving several DePaul student interns is in the post-production stage. “Eye of the Storm,” according to Marin, addresses the issue of why a man would come to the priesthood at the height of controversy. A third documentary will feature the remarkable turn-around story of Manley Career Academy, a public school on Chicago’s West Side. Filmed exclusively in Chicago, the latter project has provided students extensive hands-on experience.

Marin and Moseley have been awarded two Peabody Awards, two National Emmys and a Grace Award from the American Women in Radio and Television, to name a few honors. The correspondent and production duo has worked collaboratively for more than 20 years. Their work has been featured on every national television magazine.

DePaul is the largest Catholic university in the nation and the largest private university in Chicago. Of the 10 largest private universities, all except DePaul are classified as research extensive universities, making DePaul the nation’s largest university with a primary mission of teaching and service.