This story got buried in the holiday news black hole - an exchange of letters between Brian Lamb, founder of C-SPAN (see Read More) and new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
C-SPAN asked the new House Speaker to allow more flexibility in their TV coverage of the House, to allow cameras to pan the floor in addition to the focus on the rostrum. Pelosi turned down the request, just as Newt Gingrich did when he became Speaker and was declaring a new era of openness for the House. Wrong decision by Gingrich, and wrong again by Pelosi.
Pelosi cited the "decorum" of the House -- apparently Members are doing things on the floor that they're embarassed the staid C-SPAN will televise to the nation. Sounds like the same old arguments of House leaders who originally opposed televising the proceedings at all (as did the Senate and, still, the Supreme Court).
C-SPAN also asked that vote tallies be made available immediately. There is currently an inexplicable delay in publishing the vote tallies in the House - which are already semi-public in lights in the House chamber. Pelosi said they would look at the issue, but cited some potential problems with "accuracy" and technical feasibility. Not credible. Just do it, Speaker Pelosi.
December 14,2006
Hon. Nancy Pe1osi
Speaker-Designate
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Pelosi
After your party's November 16th leadership elections, you held a news conference in
which you pledged to lead a congress committed to openness. In that spirit and as you
and lour leadership team work through the many organizational decisions needed for the
110 Congress, we'd like to make two requests of you which we were unsuccessful in
pursuing with the incoming Republican majority twelve years ago:
. Allow House floor proceedings to be covered by C-SPA N cameras.
. Release individual House votes electronically immediately after voting periods
have closed
Independent media cameras have long been permitte.d in congressional committees, yet
for nearly 30 years, television cameras in the House chamber have operated under the
control of the Speaker. This compromise was crafted long ago to convince wary
members to allow congressional sessions to be televised, and in the ensuing years it has
become an anachronism that does a disservice to the institution and to the public. During
debate, congressional technicians are limited to taking static, head-on shots of the
representative who's speaking at the podium. Rules and established practices prevent
congressional cameras fr{}m taking individual reaction shots or from panning the
chamber, leaving viewers with an incomplete picture ofwhat's happening in the House of
Representatives.
For a dozen years or more, independent media cameras have been permitted in the House
chamber during joint sessions and joint meetings. We're asking you to take the next step
and open the regular House floor proceedings to C-SP AN cameras on a permanent basis.
We will commit to covering House debate in the same manner we televise congressional
hearings --fully, accurately, and with the unbiased production style on which we've built
our reputation for the past 28 years. We also pledge to make our floor coverage fully
available to accredited news media following established pool practices.
Immediate electronic access to voting records is also an important step in making the
House more open and accessible to the television viewing public. Votes have been
electronically recorded for decades. A visitor to the chamber can watch as they are
recorded in real-time on an electronic tally board. Yet, official public release of
individual votes is still delivered long after a vote has closed. Frequently, by the time
individual voting records are released by the Clerk, the House has moved on to other
issues. The net effect is that this important information is rarely included in C-SPAN's
live telecasts ofHouse floor proceedings. Members' votes are the most critical part of
Congress' public record. Help us present a complete picture ofCongress' work by
permitting immediate electronic release of individual votes.
Both of these proposals are made with one simple goal in mind -to allow a viewer of
C-SPAN's gavel-to-gavel coverage the same access to information as any citizen who's
watching the debate while sitting in the House gallery.
On March 19, 1979, when the House was televised for the first time, Representative Al
Gore made a speech on the floor that welcomed Congress to the television age. He
predicted that members would become so comfortable with the presence of television that
they would soon move to open the floor proceedings to coverage by the independent
media.
Under your leadership, Speaker-designate Pelosi, we hope that Al Gore's long ago
prediction will finally become reality. Please let us know what we can do to advance your
consideration of these two important requests.
