Student video on the alcohol industry premieres May 20

UD students set up a studio shot for their documentary on the local alcohol industry.

5:01 p.m., May 18, 2004--In a market economy, a community combining forces to sell a product vital to its existence is good business. But, what if that product is a legal drug?

That’s the question 12 students in a course on "Broadcast News Documentary" asked as they collaborated on their class project, “Behind Bars: The Alcohol Industry in Newark,” a TV documentary about the scope and nature of the alcohol industry. The 35-minute, “60 Minutes” style program will be shown at 12:30 p.m., Thursday, May 20, in 103 Gore Hall.

This is the first “Broadcast News Documentary” course to be offered at UD. Ralph Begleiter, Rosenberg Professor of Communication and Distinguished Journalist in Residence and former CNN world affairs correspondent, created the class as a follow-up to “Broadcast News,” a course where students devote short periods of time to a variety of subjects throughout the semester during weekly half-hour newscasts aired on the Student Television Network (Channel 49 on UD’s cable system.)

The documentary course allows students to concentrate on one issue and explore it in depth, Begleiter said.

The “Behind Bars” documentary consists of five segments: “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” “Bartender,” “The Powers That Be,” “Industry” and “Contradictions.”

Beth Thompson, AS ’04, executive producer, said the project was an eye-opener. “I think we shocked ourselves while we were doing this. You get a totally different view of the bar scene through the lens of a camera. It’s amazing how much money is involved in the alcohol industry.”

In “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” the camera follows a student who, during the day, is a Dean’s List student who spends her time studying and working but at night becomes a party girl spending her time in bars.

The “Bartender” segment explores the life and work of those who serve students drinks. “It’s all about the cash. The quicker you pour, the more you make,” one bartender said. Some make $20 an hour in Newark. Amanda Ponko, AS ’04, a political science and international affairs major, worked on the “Bartender” segment. She said she is proud of the final product for both its production qualities and its message. “We learned a lot about the way this town and the industry operate. It’s never covered the way we covered it.”

In “The Powers That Be” segment, lawmakers, law enforcement agents and local bar owners talk about the laws that govern alcohol consumption, and the video documents how laws can be circumvented.

“Industry” underscores the size of the business in Newark and the impact of student trade. For example, according to the documentary, Yuengling sells 12 million bottles of beer per year in Delaware, and until UD received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and began a campaign with the city to curb binge drinking, Newark had the largest portion of Yuengling sales in the state. The students also found that a bottle of beer can cost 45 cents to produce, but that same bottle is sold for $3 or more.

The last segment, “Contradictions,” ties the previous four together by pointing out how students, bar workers, governmental and law enforcement agencies and the alcohol industry interact.

Photo courtesy of the Department of Communication

E-mail this article

To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here.