MetaFilter posts tagged with cspan

Good news - it's Supreme Court Week.

IvoShandor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:02:15 -0800

Beginning Sunday, October 4 it's Supreme Court Week on C-SPAN! If you don't know much about the U.S. Supreme Court this looks like it will be a good opportunity to change that. The week starts off when C-SPAN airs its original documentary "The Supreme Court: Home to America's Highest Court" at 9 pm (EST) on Oct. 4. (There is a preview of it in the first link). C-SPAN already spends time covering the Supreme Court and the network is known for its advocacy of cameras in the courts. Later in the week there will be some other good programming including interviews with the justices over the weekend of October 9. The web site already has some video up including a bit on the impact of the newest justice, some words from that new member (and other members) and some great stuff on the SCOTUS building, so make sure to check out the virtual tour. CSPAN has some video at its SCOTUS Week YouTube page as well. C-SPAN likes sponsoring polls too, on September 24 they released (PDF) a Supreme Court poll (PDF), not really a C-SPAN rarity. (PDF) And don't forget, no public money pays for C-SPAN.

C-SPAN in its dirty thirties

IvoShandor — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:42:21 -0800

March 19, 1979 - The United States House of Representatives goes live on television for the first time in history. Footage from the House floor aired on a network created by a consortium of American cable companies. The first member of Congress to speak? Al Gore (Sorry, only seems to be available on Real Player. Embedded video, in case weird link fails). 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of C-SPAN. Since 1979, C-SPAN has broadcast over 19,000 hours of Congressional Committee hearings, 26,000 hours of U.S. House debate. A 2004 viewership survey estimated 42 percent of cable/satellite viewers, across various demographics, watched C-SPAN at least once or twice per week. (Report overview - PDF) In 2006, a Pew report put the number at 59 million "regular" or "sometimes" viewers. (Full report - PDF) C-SPAN was founded by Brian P. Lamb, a naval veteran who was a social aide to Lyndon Johnson and worked for Richard Nixon. In 1986, the U.S. Senate joined the live TV fray when C-SPAN2 began broadcasting. C-SPAN3 began offering further public affairs programming in 1997. None of non-profit C-SPAN networks receive government funding of any kind. The C-SPAN of 2009 reaches 97 million households, a far cry from the 3.5 million households it reached on its inception. C-SPAN and its sister networks have quietly contributed to the political discourse through it's coverage of the House, its advocacy for cameras in the courts, and its many series, such as Book TV and Washington Journal. Much of their video material is available on the web, archived, or streaming. In February 2009 the network released its Second Historians Presidential Leadership Survey, which garnered some noise in the media. There is also evidence that C-SPAN's viewers are more active citizens than their non-C-SPAN viewing neighbors. Although, the network and its programming have sometimes been criticized for conservative bias. Happy late birthday to C-SPAN!

Scott Ritter Waging Peace

McLir — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:23:51 -0800

Scott Ritter on Book TV: "Opposing this war is the easiest thing in the world to do, because it's the right thing to do. And yet, the anti-war movement can't get it's act together. That's why I wrote this book. The anti-war movement thinks that a strategy is holding a demonstration on a street corner, holding hands, lighting candles and singing Kumbia... No, that's not a strategy. That may qualify as a tactic. But a tactic divorced from strategy is just the 'noise before defeat.' ...That's why when I say, 'Waging Peace: The Art of War for the anti-war movement,' I use that terminology. I know there are some people in the anti-war movement that are against it. They say, 'There's no way we can support something like that.' Well then you will continue to get your butts kicked." [Previously]

Truthiness to Power

Surfurrus — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 00:05:47 -0800

Steven Colbert (TruthyMan!) headlines the White House Correspondents Dinner -- and Bush is not amused. Will there be fallout? C-Span focused on Bush expression (lack of) during the slamming ... (link to story with video).

Jon Stewart on cspan

Lex Tangible — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 18:06:07 -0800

Jon Stewart on cspan. He is everywhere these days. Can he out media whore the media? He seems to relish taking them on.

what what what?

amberglow — Sun, 25 Jul 2004 12:16:33 -0800

Blackwashing --So I tuned into C-SPAN with interest to hear what a leading voice in the black conservative movement had to say. But then a funny thing happened: the African-American spokesperson for Project 21 caught a flat on the way to the studio, and the group's director had to fill in. And he was white. CSPAN video here (real)--bizarre

I'm Mad As Hell

Domain Master 666 — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 06:33:20 -0800

Why is C-Span downplaying the 9/11 Hearings? I don't even get C-Span 3 with my cable company. Is this a pattern?

crasspastor — Sat, 17 Aug 2002 12:15:37 -0800

The Bush regime is completely called out. (NYTimes) "If the White House wanted anyone to listen, it would not have staged eight separate panels simultaneously on a Tuesday morning in the dog days of August, assuring that complete coverage would be available only on C-Span."

theplayethic — Mon, 08 Apr 2002 12:37:56 -0800

Major muckraking - Greg Palast on C-Span. God I love C-Span, sitting here in the UK with a broadband connection, going thru the archive. You'd never see an anti-corporate author given a polite 50 minutes to explain his book in Britain. I'm only wondering when the Homeland Security hawks will get round to rapping the knuckles of Mr. Lamb's outstanding operation.

crasspastor — Fri, 30 Mar 2001 14:13:04 -0800

Bush's bumbling last press conference You'll have to scroll down, but when asked by "Major" (I don't know who he reports for) what the president's thoughts were on the division within Bush's own party about oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bush rambled around with his typical ignorance and "just-so" explanations. Also head on over to Cspan and watch it for yourself (The portion starts about 16:50). Thing that got me was his skirting of actually calling it The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, instead choosing numerous times to call it the benign and popularly meaningless "ANWR".