Sonni Sharpe usually just clicks past the C-SPAN channel, but when the national news network shows up at her school in a bus the size of a train car — it’s hard to ignore.

“At our age, MTV is more important than watching what the Senate is doing,” she said.

Sharpe was one of about 100 Bunker Hill High School students who got to tour the mobile TV studio the network has used to provide coverage of the 2008 Primary.

The Bunker Hill junior said she has paid more attention to the primary election media coverage this year than ever before.  But she never imagined she’d get see exactly how it all comes together from a $1.3 million bus.

C-SPAN Marketing Representative Rodee Schneider said the intention of showing students the bus is to raise awareness of the different media outlets available, while providing a more in-depth look at their mobile studio.

“They are familiar with television networks, but not how it works,” Schneider said.  “This is a great lesson for them.”

Bunker Hill junior Stephanie Aaron said she was surprised to find an actual television studio set up inside the bus. Schneider talked to the students from one of two anchor seats, where hosts conduct interviews.  To his left and right were cameras projecting his image to the control room in the back of the bus as C-SPAN videos played on four TV monitors behind him.

“I thought it was just going to be a simple walk-through,” she said, commenting on the complexity of the set-up.

Bunker Hill staff members were equally amazed to see the C-SPAN bus parked outside their school’s entrance.

“I just had to come out and look for myself,” said Karen Ham, a school guidance counselor.  “I really can’t believe they are here.”

Her hope is that the bus will inspire more students to pursue careers in journalism.

Schneider showed the students how they cover issues differently than other news networks by comparing videos of the same speeches as they were broadcast by C-SPAN and other news stations. Each channel provided a unique perspective in covering the same events.  He pointed out that some stations show the speech and a related video on the screen at the same time, while their network broadcasts the speech itself without commentary.

“What’s important is we’re showing you your government in an unfiltered process,” Community Relations Representative Doug Hemmig told the students.

Aaron said she liked the unbiased approach.

“I just like how they are not making us feel one certain way about a candidate,” she said.

The bus also visited Lenoir-Rhyne College, in Hickory, on Wednesday afternoon.