>> when you meet them, and get -- you get an impression. i met with one person in oklahoma after the oklahoma city bombings. there was a huge crowd out there. most of them were probably republicans if you want to generalize. this person had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. when he was done working the line, there were grandmothers climbing over people to reach out and touch him and shake his hand. we have yet to understand, no matter what you think of him politically, you feel a real strong charismatic feeling. .

they opened their house to us, they let us rearrange the furniture to set up cameras and lights. driving away, we both said, this was humbling. it is a privilege to have a job where people are willing to open up to you. they're the people that have done something, not us. >> and i will add to that. how many of you know mary beth tinker? the case with the bal -- black armband and vietnam? we did a panel together. during that panel discussion, she felt comfortable enough that she came out and introduced her

girlfriend. it was a very powerful moment. a lot of experiences like that that happened over the years do mean a lot. >> is a privilege. >> and a shameless plug for the student to work here. the arm band is in the first amendment gallery. >> i will add one more name to her list. . phil donahue. usually in the green room, i will tell our guests that they can feel free to ask questions in return, and i told him, i am not going to brief you on how to work an audience. most of what i say i will -- i learned from watching you on television. he came out, and what he did with the audience, i wish i had been able to take notes on.

we discussed the very difficult ethical -- you remember the program. tell us a bit about the next clip we're going to see. >> what we're going to see is an associated press photographer named richard grew -- richard drew telling the story of one of the most disturbing put far -- photographs published in the aftermath of 9/11. it is a photograph that, just out of respect for people's sensitivity, a few newspapers publish any more. i will won the audience that your about to see it again. this is richard telling the story of his photograph from 9/11. >> clearly this is disturbing subject matter.

this is one of the most gut- wrenching scenes we saw that day. >> this is a pastry chef. this was his last day on the job. they saw my photograph. he was going around, looking at all the posters that were put up of all the missing people. it occurred to him that he had seen my photograph in color. he thought that this person resembled this person that he had seen the poster from. he went and found the family, and found out that it was mr. hernandez, a pastry chef. it was his last day on the job. he got a job at a fifth avenue restaurant. he was there early in the morning to get ready for lunch, i guess. >> what is going through your

head? >> i get asked that a lot. he photographed the event that is going on when that person is falling. i was talking to a police officer and an ambulance worker. i was in that area for whatever survivors -- they were pointing that out. there is another one, there is another one. you just do the job. >> is on a pilot? >> exactly. >> you can't allow any emotion. >> it really hits you later on. >> which of the photograph on this program. does it ever go through your mind as you're shooting it? >> you cannot edit as you shoot it. you have to record. we record whether it is tv, stills, written word. we record history every day. without us being there record that history, it is like the tree falling in the forest.

it did not happen. you have to do it and show those photographs. >> talking about a very disturbing flow from 9/11. talk a little bit about the fact that we have talked about our students that are really the draw for our audience and the star of the show. we do not delude the topics. we're talking about the issues facing the country, we try to help them. they give a lot. they do their job. they step up to the plate and interpret. tell me about working a student audience and talking about the most serious issues of our time. >> it is a privilege to work with young people for a lot of reasons. you mentioned guess that what briefings that -- before they come on the programs. they would say, what level should i speak at? we encourage the opposite.

don't underestimate them. the one thing found about student audiences that was most refreshen any political talk show contest -- that was most refreshing in a political talk show context, students come at it and can be disarming. guests are caught off guard. the did not ask the question in a predictable way. it is a pure question, and often gets up your answer. >> is easy to get sucked into stereotypes of student. it is a pretty not stereotypical bunch. as someone that would go to the trouble to sign up for a week in washington to learn about sex and how the country works is an interesting crowd. i think it has brought a lot to the table, and for the tv program, too. >> we watched a generation of

kids get really engrossed in the presidential campaign starting in the fall of 2007. with all of the internet tools and social networking, we actually sought a jump in what they brought to the table here in the studio. >> absolutely. in two years when the presidential election was going on, it is incredible the amount of students that got involved. they are really up on the election. it was phenomenal to see. and hopefully, it will last beyond just the obama administration. >> this is so central to close up. we want to give people informed and involved in meaningful ways. there was something that ralph nader said to a group of students, he talked about your use of the internet and social

networking technologies. and that this is such a great opportunity for you because the age and stage or at, you're creative powers and energy will never be higher. do not waste it on what he turned internet narcissism. do something meaningful. i have been twittering during the program, and i have missed some of frank's questions. [laughter] things like, i have a -- i was at a party last night and i got so drunk. please come on, stop sending those messages. [laughter] it is a fine -- we try to find a way to do something meaningful, did not just amused ourselves to death.

p -- >> people have to bear up and get to the end. this was an 18 year-old high school kid from chicago. it was a nice moment, it really was. during the past 13 years, the close-up foundation and the newseum created programming regarding the first amendment. our next clip highlights that. we had a show called "religion and the first amendment." >> it is another remarkable thing. the chief of the ac l.j. talked about freedom of religion, freedom from religion, and in a

first amendment context. >> my name is joe cavanaugh from michigan. i have a copy here of the congressional record from wednesday, march 16. i was wondering what your stance was on the fact that the house of representatives led off with a prayer that and it, most of all father, let us feel your love and care for us all. in jesus's name we pray, on men. should we be doing that in our congress when we do not want our laws established based on one religion? that jesus's name is appropriate to leave our house. >> i have a problem with it personally, yes. >> how many of you agree with joe and have a problem with that. raise your hands if you do not. >> let me ask a follow-up question. whatever problem with it if it just referred to our father and not to jesus? how many would have a problem

with that. how many think that would be ok. why? for those of you who voted the other way, what is the distinction. >> if someone has an opinion, we need to come to a microphone. >> go ahead. >> this is an issue where the supreme court has ruled the wrong way. from the perspective, this is government sponsorship or endorsement of a particular religious belief. most of you recognize that with respect to jesus to a specifically significant for christianity. but also, our father is something that connotes a particular religious belief, namely monotheism that believes that the deity is a male father figure than a female figure. there are many devout religious people in our country that

should not be made to feel they are not equally represented by our elected officials because they do not share that belief. >> thought this was interesting that so many said it it was o.k. it was just a reference to god. why is it that it seems okay? i think the answer is, i'm curious to see what they say about it. i think part of the answer is, that as part of how america describes itself. references to deity are in our founding documents. the document that severed our ties from great britain. >> america describes itself -- the poor of the pseudonym. one out of many -- e pluribus unum. >> certainly the newseum is the perfect place for the people who come here really feel free to express their beliefs in its fullness. >> they do.

another -- maybe not unique, but very special thing about "close- up," is that people will sit down and have a collegial discussion about their differing viewpoints on religious freedom. and the purpose of this show has never been to go to anyone into conversation or confrontation. it has rather better way to explain and engage students. >> is a point to make that we tell people, unlike commercial television, we have not invited the two of you on to light the fuse and watch you wrestle. we had a little bit of trouble with gun-control, because there is no compromise position there.

>> there are two keys to it. one discussion is that it is not a debate. i think they are embarrassed a little bit, if they are in the studio and they have a post that is egging them on and they have five minutes, we want some fireworks because we need ratings, they are going to go at it. the question is designed to make them argue. when you have an hour and you have a studio audience, we are encouraging them to interact with the student audience. i think you get this agreement that you clearly see there, but you do not get the name calling and the immature stuff? they have to raise the level for the students. >> most talking points are not scripted for an hour. the of got to be more candid. >> most of our time is spent encouraging the guest to interact with the students, which is fun, because the students make that possible with the questions they bring to the

microphone. >> what you get in this case, these are people who are making similar cases before the supreme court. it is a great opportunity for the students. >> it was very difficult when we got the spokespeople -- they are young, they can relate to the kids. but they were not given the freedom by their bosses to go off script. >> they just kept repeating the talking points without commercial interruption. >> if you want to find out what the parties are doing, you have to go right to a source. close-up has been doing television programs from the floor of the democratic and republican conventions since

1984. tell us a little bit about this clip from last year's convention. >> we actually do the show in the morning from the floor. there are a lot of other things they're planning for that evening. the bottom line is, expect the unexpected. let's take a look at some clips from last year. >> my name is diana. what are the major differences -- major leadership differences between senator obama and senator mccain? >> and my leadership differences, do you mean -- >> what are the differences between senator obama and senator mccain? >> i guess there are two areas. one is policy, and one is less tangible, what kind of leader do think they will be?

i think in terms of the issues, we happened to get into a little bit on that. with health care, senator obama has a plan, based on the existing plan, to have universal coverage that everyone can have access to health insurance. what senator mccain does -- is interesting, because this is not get a lot of attention. he actually dismantles the plan. if your health care through your employer now, this plan is to take that away and give people money. you go out and get your health care on your own, which is a very risky thing to do. we don't want to deal with insurance companies on our own without resources. ladies and gentlemen, -- egest kissed me on national television. my former boss. it he was the chair of the democratic party in the 2004 cycle, and the chairman of

hillary clinton's campaign. i would be nothing but for this woman. >> he finally recognize that. we are married. thank you, terry. >> there is not a government program that exists that is worth a dime if it does not serve you. the program serves you, you do not serve the program. and what we say is, let you be free to choose. but you take your money and put it in a private retirement account. if you want to stay and social security, you can. if you want to put your own money in your account that you manage, you should be free to do so. not that difficult, very simple. in the security you have will be what you are determined. you'll take the first percent of what you own and do that.

>> i want to take this time to thank you for joining us today. thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with us today. >> how come we don't have music? [laughter] >> i was standing 5 feet away and could not hear a word out of his mouth. god bless dick armey, he just kept plugging right ahead. >> while the super bowl is being played, it was chaotic. >> while we were building the newseum, we lost the use of our studio. we went out to virginia, and marcus talk a little bit about the project where every morning at dawn, you and a crew would walk into it at the studio and create the entire set before joe

came into warm-up the audience. the finished product was good. how did you do that? >> cd-i. >> i wish. we got thrown out of our studio. we got two weeks notice. [laughter] we were out in the cold. we went around to some local studios, just looking for somebody that had half a day and would be willing to host us. n.h. he said they could. -- mhz said they could. we got a lot of close-up set pieces, but they said, if you want to bring your own stuff, we have storage containers in the parking lot. we said, okay, fine.

we did not have any choice. we brought enough chairs for the audience and all of our set pieces. every morning, the crew would show up. it was like that answer and the cartoon carrying stuff into the studio -- it was like the chancants in the cartoon carryig sutff. -- stuff. >> the highlight of our final season was the new gingrich show. the outlet for liberalism and conservatism in the country. take a look at this fascinating discussion. >> the power of the media to carry messages from the party to the voter? >> i think the media, the traditional elite media -- where it became a surprise was if you go back to the '40's and '50's

and early '60s, this was an interesting phenomena. there was this belief you could go the journalism school and the value neutral. you could cover the news, the editorial page was over here, and you were different. that began to break down in the mid-1960s. it began to break down because younger reporters were anti vietnam. younger reporters were pro emigration and anti watergate. you get an entire judgmental personality that began to replace the so-called objectivity of the edward r. murrow generation. what has happened with the rise of fox and rush limbaugh, we've really gone back to a nineteenth century model. if you study abraham lincoln, every newspaper in america was partisan. if you were a republican, you subscribe to the republican newspaper, and vice versa.

the best way to capture the lincoln-douglas debates was to take the two sets of newspapers and bring them together as c- span did. he founded side cover the other in very interesting ways. we're moving back to that. i am expecting msn b.c. to be a rapidly left-wing channel. i'm sure james expects fox to be a left-wing channel. >> in most countries, it is the -- it is a different paper. that may be fine. this whole industry is changing by the day. the chicago tribune, the loss angeles times, the new york times was marketing its building. i think the speaker makes a point. when you are our age, -- right

now, the big change i see -- >> none of them think they're going to be our age. [laughter] >> you can go and never read a conservative thing. you can spend your entire life -- so many people use information the way that a drunk uses the lamppost. the use it for support and not elimination. people want validation. they do not want to be challenged. they want their views validated. i knew i was right. this guy says so. whoever it is you go to. i think it has to be that kind of challenge out there, too. >> those two guys, it was a pleasure being up there for an hour.

let's go to another student. >> my name is caitlin from nebraska. i was wondering, what you guys think is the greatest lesson that students can take up -- can take away from the close-up academy? >> to challenge yourself and critically think about all of the important issues of the day, but not to buy into your own biases. >> accept the role of citizens. jimmy carter said that when leaving office. he was going to a more important office, the more important -- the office of citizen. there is a role for everyone if they choose to play it. >> play our role or don't, but stayed informed. i know what is going on, and know how things work. you need to cast a wise vote. >> i will ask you to give short responses to, what is the

biggest thing that you personally are going to take away from your involvement with this program? >> i would say it has really been the involvement with the students on a weekly basis. it has a profound effect on your outlook and your life. >> i was going to say that, too. i will just say what a pleasure it has been being involved with the close-up foundation, and what a great fit it has been for us. that is my take away. >> professionally, you can have a career doing this kind of work you do not have to pander. you don't have to do things that enrich people's lives. the stuff that is intelligent and has value. the people we have had an opportunity to work with over the years has been a true

privilege. i will squeeze in a couple of things. i want to say this attack. we mentioned stephen jaeger. all the people on the early days, and the people at c-span. >> and the teachers. the teachers place at the critical, -- play such a critical role. thank you for your input. give yourself round of applause. [applause] thanks to the entire team in the control room. i think i can hear you in my year. and to our viewers, thank you for watching our programs over the years. we hope you enjoyed watching

oust half as much as we enjoyed bringing this program to you each week. with that, we say so long. [applause] >> good job. >> tomorrow on washington journal, a look at the unrest in iran and a feature of the government with jack goldstone of george mason university. and discussion on the economy, unemployment, and world financial markets. later, director and producer -- and talks about her film. that is live at 7:00 eastern a.m. on c-span. >> analyses been funded? >> publicly funded. >> des nations, maybe? >> government. >> taxes.