Posted on 12/22/2006 9:52:21 PM PST by txradioguy
Article Launched: 12/22/2006 04:38:28 PM MST
WASHINGTON -- Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi cited the need to preserve the ''dignity and decorum'' of the House as she rejected a request Friday that C-SPAN operate its own cameras in covering the chamber.
The public service network has provided gavel-to-gavel television coverage of House proceedings since 1979. But the House leader has kept control of the cameras, with coverage generally limited to tight shots of the speaker or the podium.
The situation is similar in the Senate, which C-SPAN has televised since 1986.
C-SPAN's chairman and chief executive told Pelosi, D-Calif., that under this arrangement, cameras are prevented ''from taking individual reaction shots or from panning the chamber, leaving viewers with an incomplete picture of what's happening in the House of Representatives.''
http://www.elpasotimes.com/election/ci_4887745
HAR! Mrs. Control Freak versus full public view of the proceedings?
FYI Ping
Since when have Democrats been concerned about dignity and decorum?
I guess she doesn't want us to see her breaking arms.
I am not surprised, are you?
I was wondering the same thing
LOL!
Except for the laughable "digntiy and decorum" part, she has a point.
I could see the CSPAN types panning around trying to find a member snoozing, or making a face as Pelosi - or Hastert - speaks.
It would become a circus.
More of a circus, that is.
Since they decided they don't want the viewing public to wittness their full moonbattery on siaplay before the '08 Election.
I mean seriously...if all their open floor debates about MIHOP/LIHOP...The Downing Street Memo...Impeachnment and how they will consipire to confiscate more of our money isn't helpful to their chances two years from now.
What is she trying to hide?
You'd think the press would wise up and realize that they're only useful idiots. democrats NEVER want to conduct their "bidness" in full public view.
As I read it, nothing changes. Pelosi keeps the same control as Hastert did, and for the same reason...no-one wants to see their House member sleeping during the proceedings.
They don't really have to pan the crowd to make it a circus...
For some reason, there are groups of Congresscritters that will boo and hiss if they don't like what is being said...you can hear it...even if you don't know who is doing it..
I watch the House quite often...and I haven't ever felt that I haven't seen anything that important.
I WOULD like them to show the votes though..who voted how, on the screen so that we will know at the vote is going on.
In the Senate, we are told who is voting which way...but in the House we have to wait until it is posted on the internet sometimes hours later...
Really? I do.
Pelosi is doing what the Pubbies did, I think. I don't think this represents a change. But I could be wrong.
Many in the press are WILLING useful idiots
I can't think of even one who's not.
no-one wants to see their House member sleeping during the proceedings
Really? I do.
Think about it...Barney Frank snoring? Nadler popping Milk Duds? Kusinich picking his nose?
No thanks.
I want to see the dems. non-culture of corruption, or just maybe their screaming hissies in the corners.
Absolutely. I wish every voter could see them "working."
This sounds like what a dictator does, control of the press. It was just a short while ago that putin shut down the BBC station in russia during the polonium 210 poisoning incident. Pelosi is doing the same thing here, as they poison US with their whacko-agenda. I know, I know, the drive-by media is wall-to-wall unrepentent liberals, but shutting off C-SPAN is one more door closing on our freedoms. It will take a united effort to bounce this clown before she becomes dangerous, are we up to it?
A change ... No
Hypocrisy ... Yes
The outgoing congressional Republicans need to be recalled quickly to pass a bill giving C-SPAN statutory authority to broadcast from the House chamber. The dems would then need to wait until they could get a president's signature before passing another bill to undo it.
"This sounds like what a dictator does, control of the press."
You've got it.
Having observed House Chamber proceedings a few months ago, I can assure you there was no one sleeping in there. They just weren't there at all. Not more than four or five Congress critters at any one time in the chamber. We noted at the time this must be why C-SPAN cameras are only trained on the podium.
Mine was tongue-in-cheek, yours is the truth, though.
Yup, pelosi isn't ready for prime time, the incident with murtha proved that. Oh, the liberals will say : she's a "work in progress". Yeah, sure, like clinton was a "work in progress". Just an idle speculation : the dems ran a few conservative candidates, then promptly ignored them. What if enough of them got togeather with the republicans and voted in Steny Hoyer as speaker? How does voting for speaker actually work?
There ya go! Thanks for another reason!!
CSPAN longs for "GOTCHAS" to spice it up and increase viewership.
A dictator indeed. How is it Pelosi can take away a right that was without question granted to CSPAN 12 years ago when the GOP took over Congress?
Dennis Hastert should take the Floor when CSPAN is broadcasting and explain to American People that the Democrats are taking the First Amendment Rights Away from CSPAN and the American People.
How completely useless they will be.
I'm with you!
HELP!!!! I need some advice in case I meet her Royal Highness Nance Pelosi, do women curtsy and men bow to her?
Same as Hastert, and Gingrich before him, and Foley, Wright and O'Neill before them.
The main issue is "special orders." Basically, it's a periiod in which any member can give a one-minute speech on whatever strikes his fancy, with the license to "revise and extend" those remarks. In practice, it's an opportunity for any member to put anything he wants into the Congressional Record. Even bothering to give a spoken address at all is a bit of cermony and protocol. No one watches and no one really cares until it shows up in a press release and folks quote it on talk shows.
In the early days of C-SPAN, under House speaker Tip O'Neill, the camera panned the chamber during special orders, showing a completely empty house chamber. One speaker in the well, a presiding member in the Speaker's chair, a stenographer and a couple of pages, and an otherwise empty room.
It made the whole exercise look silly, which it pretty much is. After that flap, the C-SPAN camera angles have been pretty conservative, conventional, and actually incredibly predictable. There are really only about half a dozen shots.
The "news" in this story is that there is no news, that nothing has changed. The House and Senate maintain control over day-to-day operations. A media pool operates for special occasions like the State of the Union Address or joint sessions of Congress.
I see your point, but shouldn't coverage be that as if one were actually there, sitting in the public gallery? I say pan away and let the elected reps worry about being on their best behavior.
The part that I find maddening is that we pay for this bunch of posturing, preening, power-hungry predators. They have wonderful salaries, health care, pensions, etc., and it's all at our expense, literally. We must be fools.
Carolyn
Maybe Mzzzzz. Pelosi does not want the C-Span cameras to catch DemocRATS taking lobbyist cash on the chamber floor.
Yup, the reps who stayed home last 11/7 to "send a message", or voted libertarian, are getting their reward now : the REAL dem agenda. Most of us knew full well that their campaign promises of holier-than-thou/anti-war was just another lie, and kicking CSPAN out is proof positive.
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