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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (35669)	3/19/2004 6:47:02 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793896

I am surprised that Al Gore didn't claim he invented CSPAN. C-SPAN Gauged 25 Years After Start Network Has Given Public Wider Access to Congress By T.R. Reid Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 19, 2004; Page A21 Suppose you're the producer of a new TV series, and you're looking for a boffo opening scene to grip the attention of viewers and critics. What's the chance you would choose to start with a characteristically wooden oration by Al Gore on communication between American voters and their elected representatives? In fact, that very scene, of a young Rep. Gore (D-Tenn.) flickering across a few million TV screens 25 years ago today, launched one of the most innovative and successful ideas in television history: the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, or C-SPAN. In its first quarter-century, the Congress-and-policy network has turned into a daily staple for tens of millions of viewers, giving 85 percent of American homes the kind of access to Congress that used to be reserved for a small clique of Washington insiders. It has grown from a few hours of broadcasting from the House floor each day to three 24-hour channels -- with a fourth channel ready to start up instantly if the Supreme Court ever agrees to let the cameras in -- and 10 Web sites. C-SPAN has been copied around the world, and it has brought world politics to the United States. Millions of Americans tune in now to watch Prime Minister Tony Blair face his weekly grilling in the British Parliament. None of this involves government money. C-SPAN is funded by cable viewers, taking about 5 cents of each subscriber's monthly bill to meet its $40 million budget. "My argument was that this was a service the cable industry ought to provide," recalled Brian Lamb, the former Hill staff member and correspondent who founded the network and remains its best-known personality. "And the business folks said: 'What are you talking about? We'll never make a dime on this!' But there were people in the industry who thought it might be good PR, at a time when cable TV was a new product. And there were people who just wanted to provide a public service." As he notes, the history of televised access to Congress mirrored the earlier history of public access to the two chambers. From the first Congress in 1789, House sessions were open to the public, but the Senate did its work behind closed doors for the first few Congresses. Similarly, the House was more open in 1979 to the idea of extending its public gallery to every living room. With the help of California Democrat, Rep. Lionel Van Deerlin, a local anchorman-turned-politician, Lamb persuaded House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) to station fixed cameras at the back of the House and broadcast every minute the House was in session. O'Neill insisted there be no reporting and no cuts -- just the official proceedings. When programming began on March 19, 1979 -- Gore was the first member to speak that day -- only a few cable companies in a few scattered congressional districts carried C-SPAN. Because it was not broadcast in Washington -- except for a direct link to the White House -- C-SPAN was largely ignored by the political establishment. But the network's profile leapt in 1984 with the "Camscam" controversy, which demonstrated how powerful C-SPAN could be. A group of backbenchers in the minority party -- led by two virtual unknowns, Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) would troop to the House floor each afternoon, after all votes had been taken, to deliver long, caustic speeches denouncing the Democratic leadership. Usually, just two or three lawmakers were present for these harangues, but millions of Americans heard them on C-SPAN. This made national figures out of Gingrich and Lott, who went on to become House speaker and Senate majority leader, respectively. Concerned about the impact, O'Neill ordered the cameras to start panning the chamber, so viewers could see Gingrich was delivering his fiery oratory to rows of empty seats. That gambit -- "underhanded, sneaky and politically motivated," Lott complained -- prompted weeks of bitter partisan fighting. Things got so raucous in floor debate that O'Neill lost his temper and became the first speaker since 1797 to be officially reprimanded for personal attacks on fellow House members. Suddenly, C-SPAN was the talk of Washington. Cable companies in every state began carrying the channel. Senate leaders, jealous of the attention, let C-SPAN create a second network for gavel-to-gavel coverage of Senate proceedings. C-SPAN went on to add coverage of books, political and academic conferences and foreign parliaments. As the major networks began skimping on coverage of presidential campaigns, C-SPAN began broadcasting campaign events and conventions in its signature style -- no reporting, no editing. Because it has been so skillfully exploited by such fierce partisans as Gingrich, C-SPAN has been charged with adding to the stark polarization of American politics in recent years. But some observers think the opposite is true. "There are a lot of reasons for the political division, but C-SPAN has probably dampened the partisanship," said Stephen E. Frantzich, a political science professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. "Politicians who are too combative tend to pay for it. People like [Ohio's former Democratic representative James A.] Traficant and [California's former Republican representative] Bob Dornan lost support at home when their constituents saw them ranting and raving on the House floor." And that illustrates, Frantzich adds, the revolutionary impact of C-SPAN's first quarter-century. "It used to be that only the Beltway insiders knew what happened day-to-day in Congress," he said. "Now everybody can see it. And it's an old rule of politics that the public's business is usually done better if it's done in public." © 2004 The Washington Post Company