MUNCIE, Ind. - If Ball State University has been in need of a little good news, it should look no further than NewsCenter 43. The live nightly newscast is one of the best in the country--and the work of Ball State University Department of Telecommunications students.

The International Radio and Television Society recently judged the program one of the top three student-produced newscasts in the country. The announcement was made at the national IRTS convention in Washington, D.C.

The two other finalists were the University of Miami and the University of Southern Illinois.

NewsCenter is a production of the student-run television station WCRH-TV, channel 57, a closed circuit campus broadcast.

Burris Laboratory School's cable channel 43 began rebroadcasting the program in the fall, increasing potential viewers by 36,000 households throughout Delaware county.

The arrangement also changed the nature of the news the students covered.

"We're doing Delaware County and Muncie stuff now, not just Ball State stuff," said WCRH faculty adviser Tim Pollard. "We did fraternity cookouts and announcements like that. Now's it's about city hall and what's going on in the state because we're being seen out there."

Students cover local issues such as Munsyana housing and a debate between mayoral candidates, which was simulcast on both channels.

"When we did election night, we were at the Hotel Roberts at Republican Party headquarters," he said. "We had a reporter there and did actual live shots for election coverage. The Muncie Star Press had their televisions set to our show. So we must be doing something right."

Students are also getting a chance to do something good for the community.

"Part of what I've seen in my two years in Muncie and from what I've gathered from other folks is that there's this town and gown division, where Ball State is in its own little world," he said. "And then there's Muncie. We need to tear that down. Our students are going out and covering news that's relevant to the community."

NewsCenter recently co-produced two town hall meetings with the public television station WIPB-TV, which were broadcast on Indiana Public Radio stations and WLBC-FM, a local, commercial radio station.

But NewsCenter personnel are also thinking globally these days. The station was chosen by Turner Learning Inc. as a CNN Student Bureau, which allows students to pitch story ideas to CNN editors for possible assignment.

Jon Shaner, a sophomore from Kalamazoo, Mich., was the first to strike gold with a story about Purdue University students going to Washington, D.C., to protest International Monetary Fund meetings. It ran on CNN and CNN.com.

Next up for NewsCenter is a CNN WebCam for "Webcasting" for CNN.com and participation on "Talk Back Live," an interactive talk show. Ball State will be only the third university to take part.

"CNN is extremely impressed with our students," Pollard said. "We had a CNN reporter here a while back who was very impressed that seven of eight of our newscasts are totally voluntary. One is a class. The other seven are if you show up, you do it."