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Student-produced series about North Carolina State Parks to air on UNC-TV

January 5, 2018

Three student-produced reports on North Carolina State Parks will appear on North Carolina Public Television in the month of January.

The reports were produced in Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Medical Journalism Tom Linden’s "MEJO 562: Environmental and Science Documentary Television" course in collaboration with UNC-TV, the statewide public television network.

“All three stories tell how North Carolina scientists and state park biologists are working together to preserve unique habitats and protect our state’s threatened animals and plants,” said Linden, director of the Hussman School’s master's program in media and communication.

The first piece — "Alligators as Neighbors" — discusses how residents and alligators are co-inhabiting the area in and around Lake Waccamaw in Columbus County. The report will air on SciTech Now North Carolina on the NC Channel (Spectrum channel 1276) on Monday, Jan. 8, at 9:30 p.m. and again on UNC-TV (Spectrum channel 1221) on Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Please check your cable provider for channel listings for various areas within the state. 

The second report — "Saving Bats" — tells how scientists are trying to understand why bats in northeastern North Carolina in Gates County are escaping the fungal disease that is killing bats in the central and southern United States. That report will air on SciTech Now North Carolina on the NC Channel on Monday, Jan. 15, at 9:30 p.m. and again on UNC-TV on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m.

In the third story, "Restorative Fire," students report how prescribed fires, so-called controlled burns, are restoring habitat for the longleaf pine and the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker at Carvers Creek State Park, north of Fayetteville. That story will air on SciTech Now North Carolina on the NC Channel on Monday, Jan. 22, at 9:30 p.m. and again on UNC-TV on Wednesday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m.

Story producers for the two reports were UNC undergraduate students Lucy Banny, Jed Higdon, Emma Karlok, Alex Kellogg and Tasmia Zaman and master’s student Mikaela Freundlich. Undergraduates Bronwyn Bishop, Lynn Tran and Higdon and master’s student Jeremiah Murphy wrote the scripts. UNC-TV videographer Bob Gunter shot and video edited the stories. Linden was executive producer for the series.