C-SPAN
Encyclopedia
C-SPAN an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American
cable television
network
that offers coverage of federal government
proceedings and other public affairs programming
via its three television channels (C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3), one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming media
and archives of C-SPAN programs. C-SPAN's television channels are available to over 100 million cable and satellite households within the United States
, while WCSP-FM
, also called C-SPAN Radio, is broadcast on FM radio in Washington, D.C.
, and is available throughout the U.S. on XM Satellite Radio
, via internet streaming, by calling 202.626.8888, and through an iPhone app.
The network televises U.S. political events, particularly live and gavel to gavel coverage of the U.S. Congress
as well as occasional proceedings of the Canadian
and British Parliament
s and major events worldwide. Its coverage of political and policy events is unedited, thereby providing viewers (or listeners) with unfiltered information about politics and government. Non-political coverage includes: historical programming, programs dedicated to non-fiction
books and interview programs with noteworthy individuals connected to public policy
. C-SPAN is a non-profit organization, funded by the affiliate
fees paid by its cable
and satellite
affiliates, and does not carry advertisements on any of its networks, radio stations or websites. The network operates independently, and neither the cable industry nor Congress has power over the content of its programming.
, C-SPAN's chairman and CEO
, first conceived of C-SPAN in 1975 while working as the Washington, D.C.
bureau chief of cable industry trade magazine Cablevision. It was a time of rapid growth in the number of cable TV channels available in the U.S., and Lamb envisioned a cable-industry financed non-profit network for televising sessions of the U.S. Congress and other public affairs event and policy discussions. Early cable executive Bob Rosencrans provided the initial seed funding of $25,000 for Lamb to launch C-SPAN in 1979 and other cable executives followed suit, eventually forming C-SPAN's first board of directors.
C-SPAN was launched on March 19, 1979, in time for the first televised session made available by the House of Representatives, beginning with a speech by then-Tennessee representative Al Gore
. Upon its debut, only 3.5 million homes were wired to see C-SPAN, and the network had just three employees. The second C-SPAN channel, C-SPAN2, launched on June 2, 1986 when the U.S. Senate
opened its chambers to TV cameras. C-SPAN3, the most recent expansion channel, began full-time operations on January 22, 2001, and shows other public policy and government-related live events on weekdays along with weekend historical programming. C-SPAN3 followed a predecessor digital channel called C-SPAN Extra, launched in the Washington-area in 1997, televising live and recorded political events from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST Monday to Friday.
C-SPAN Radio
launched on October 9, 1997, covering similar events as the TV networks and often simulcast
ing their programming. The station broadcasts on WCSP 90.1
FM
in Washington, D.C., is also available on XM
Channel 119 and is streamed live at c-span.org. It was formerly available on Sirius
satellite radio from 2002–2006.
, which were televised from August to October in 1994.
In 2003, C-SPAN celebrated its 25th anniversary, by which time the original network was carried in 86 million homes, C-SPAN2 was in 70 million homes and C-SPAN3 was in 8 million homes. On the anniversary date, C-SPAN repeated the first televised hour of floor debate in the House of Representatives from 1979 and, throughout the month, 25th anniversary features included "then and now" segments with journalists who had appeared on C-SPAN in its early years.
To commemorate 25 years of taking viewer calls, in 2005, C-SPAN held a 25-hour "call-in marathon", running from 8:00 p.m. on Friday, October 7, concluding at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 8. The network also held a viewer essay contest, whose winner was invited to host an hour of the broadcast from C-SPAN's Capitol Hill studios.
. In December 2009, Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate, requesting that negotiations for health care reform be televised on C-SPAN. Committee meetings on health care were subsequently shown on C-SPAN and are available on the C-SPAN website. In November 2010, Lamb wrote to incoming House Speaker John Boehner
requesting changes to restrictions on cameras in the House. In particular, C-SPAN asked to add some of its own robotically operated cameras to the existing government-controlled cameras in the House chamber. In February 2011, Boehner denied the request. C-SPAN had previously written to Speaker Designate Nancy Pelosi
on December 14, 2006, requesting to add its own cameras in the House chamber to record floor proceedings. Although C-SPAN uses the congressional floor feeds, the cameras are owned and controlled by each respective body of Congress. The Pelosi request was denied. Requests by C-SPAN for camera access to non-government events such as the annual dinner held by the Gridiron Club
have also been denied.
C-SPAN began promoting audience interaction early in its history, through the regular incorporation of viewer calls in its programming. It has since expanded into social media, incorporating Twitter
in its broadcasts. In March 2009, Twitter became an additional way for viewers to interact with guests on Washington Journal, with users of the service submitting questions live to the C-SPAN call-in program. The network also has a Facebook
page to which it added occasional live streaming in January 2011. The live stream is intended to show selected high-profile events from Congress. In June 2010, C-SPAN joined with Foursquare to provide users of the application with access to geotagged C-SPAN content at various locations in Washington, D.C.
In 2010 C-SPAN began a transition to high definition telecasts, planned to take place over an 18-month period. The network launched C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 in high definition on June 1, 2010, and C-SPAN3 in July 2010.
. Between 1979 and May 2011, the network has televised more than 24,246 hours of floor action. C-SPAN2, the first of the C-SPAN spin-off networks, provides uninterrupted live coverage of the United States Senate
. With coverage of the House on C-SPAN and the Senate on C-SPAN2, viewers can track legislation as it moves through both bodies of Congress. A few key debates in Congress that C-SPAN has covered live include the Persian Gulf conflict
in 1991, and the House impeachment vote and Senate trial of Bill Clinton
. During periods when the House or Senate are not in session, C-SPAN channels carry other public affairs programming.
, Democratic
and Libertarian
presidential nominating conventions
in their entirety. Coverage of presidential campaign events are provided during the duration of the campaign, both on a weekly television program, Road to the White House, and at its dedicated politics website.
All three channels televise events such as White House press briefings and presidential speeches, as well as other government meetings including Federal Communications Commission
hearings and Pentagon
press conferences. Other U.S. political coverage includes State of the Union
speeches, congressional hearing
s and presidential press conferences. According to the results of a survey following the 1992 presidential election
, 85% of C-SPAN viewers voted in that election. In addition to this political coverage, the network carries press conferences and meetings of various news media
and non-profit organizations, including those at the National Press Club, public policy seminars and the White House Correspondents' Dinner. While C-SPAN does not have video access to the Supreme Court
, the network has used the Court's audio recordings accompanied by still photographs of the justices and lawyers to cover the Court in session on significant cases, and has covered individual Supreme Court justices' speaking engagements.
Occasionally, proceedings of the Parliament of Canada
, Parliament of the United Kingdom
(usually Prime Minister's Questions
and the State Opening of Parliament
) and other governments are shown on C-SPAN when they discuss matters of importance to viewers in the U.S. Similarly, the networks will sometimes carry news reports from around the world when major events occur—for instance, C-SPAN carried CBC Television
coverage of the September 11 attacks. Newscasts and other broadcasts in foreign languages are dubbed into English
. Following the deaths of Ronald Reagan
in 2004, Rosa Parks
in 2005 and Gerald Ford
in 2006, C-SPAN featured live, uninterrupted coverage of the visitors who came to the Capitol Rotunda to pay their final respects and the funeral services. The network also provided coverage of Lady Bird Johnson
's funeral in Stonewall, Texas
. In 2005, C-SPAN covered Hurricane Katrina
through New Orleans' NBC affiliate WDSU
, as well as Hurricane Ike
coverage via Houston's CBS affiliate KHOU
. C-SPAN also carries CBC coverage during events that affect Canadians
, such as the Canadian federal elections, the death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau
, and the 2003 North America blackout. In early 2011, C-SPAN carried broadcasts by Al Jazeera
to cover the events in Egypt
, Tunisia
and other Arab nations. Additionally, C-SPAN simulcasts NASA
Space Shuttle mission launches and landings live, using the footage and audio from NASA TV
.
With its public affairs programming, C-SPAN aims to offer different points of view, by allowing time for multiple viewpoints to be discussed on a given topic. However, this practice is not always successful as in 2004, when C-SPAN intended to televise a speech by Holocaust historian
Deborah Lipstadt
adjacent to a speech by Holocaust denier David Irving
, who had unsuccessfully sued Lipstadt for libel in the United Kingdom
four years earlier. C-SPAN received criticism for its use of the word "balance" to describe the plan to cover both Lipstadt and Irving. Once Lipstadt closed media access to her speech, C-SPAN canceled coverage of both.
The network strives for neutrality
and a lack of bias
; in all programming, the content is the focus and when on-camera hosts are present their role is simply to facilitate and explain proceedings to the viewer. Due to this policy, no C-SPAN host has said his or her own name on television.
every morning at 7 a.m. Eastern Time
. Washington Journal launched January 4, 1995 and has appeared every weekday morning since then, with guests including elected officials, government administrators and journalists. Among the hosts is the political editor Steve Scully
, a native of Erie
, Pennsylvania
. The program covers current events, with guests answering questions on topics provided by the hosts as well as from members of the general public. On the weekend schedule, C-SPAN's flagship programs are: America and the Courts, which is shown each Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, Newsmakers, a Sunday morning interview program with newsworthy guests; Q&A, a Sunday evening interview program hosted by Brian Lamb, with guests including journalists, politicians, authors and other public figures; and The Communicators, which features interviews with prominent communications figures including government officials and private sector representatives.
On weekends C-SPAN2 dedicates its schedule to non-fiction books, book events and authors, with 48 hours of programming called Book TV
, first launched in September 1998. This includes: programs featuring historical books and biographies of public figures; In Depth, a live, monthly, three-hour interview with a single author; After Words
and repeats of Booknotes
. After Words is an author interview program featuring guest hosts interviewing authors on subjects with which both are familiar. The program was developed as a new spin on author-interview programs following the end of production of Booknotes, which was C-SPAN's previous author-interview program. Booknotes originally ran from 1989 to 2004, with a one-hour one-on-one interview
of a non-fiction
author as its format. Repeats of the interviews remain a regular part of the Book TV schedule under the title Encore Booknotes. The Book TV weekend programming also includes coverage of book events such as panel discussions, book fairs, book signings, readings by authors and tours of bookstores around the U.S.
at the University of Kansas
, which featured historian Richard Norton Smith
and Vice President Walter Mondale
, among other interviewees.
programs from Booknotes focusing on specific topics. In 1994, Booknotes collaborated with Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer
to produce a re-creation of the seven Lincoln–Douglas debates. Several years later, a similar series retraced the journey of Alexis de Tocqueville
described in Democracy in America
. Another special series was "American Writers", a 38-week tour of the U.S. based on the works of 40 famous American writers.
In 2008 to 2009, as part of programming specially commissioned for the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln
, C-SPAN produced a series titled Lincoln 200 Years, which featured episodes on a variety of topics relating to the life of Lincoln including his career, his homes and his views on slavery.
The network has also produced special feature documentaries on American institutions and historical landmarks, exploring their historical background through to the present day. These programs include: The Capitol focusing on the history, art and architecture of the U.S. Capitol Building; The White House, featuring footage inside the White House
and exploring the history of the building and its occupants; The Supreme Court, focusing on the history and personalities of the court; and Inside Blair House, a behind-the-scenes look at the president's guest house.
. Unique programming on the radio station includes oral histories, and some committee meetings and press conferences not shown on television due to programming commitments. The station also compiles the Sunday morning talk shows for a same-day rebroadcast without commercials, in rapid succession.
, maintained at the Purdue Research Park
in West Lafayette, Indiana
. First unveiled in August 2007, the C-SPAN Video Library contains all of the network’s programming since 1987, totaling more than 160,000 hours at its completion of digitization and public debut in March 2010. Older C-SPAN programming continues to be added to the library, dating back to the launch of the network in 1979, although some limited earlier footage from the National Archives
, such as film clips of Richard Nixon
’s 1972 trip to China, is available as well. Most of the recordings before 1987 (when the C-SPAN Archive was established) were not saved, except approximately 10,000 hours of video which are slated to be made available online. Described by media commentators as a landmark educational tool and a valuable resource for researchers of politics and history, the C-SPAN Video Library has also played a key role in media and opposition research
in several U.S. political campaigns.
Prior to the launch of the C-SPAN Video Library, websites such as Metavid
and voterwatch.org hosted House and Senate video records. However C-SPAN contested Metavid's usage of C-SPAN copyrighted footage. The result was Metavid's removal of portions of the archive produced with C-SPAN's cameras, while preserving its archive of government-produced content. C-SPAN also engaged in actions to stop parties from making unauthorized uses of its content online, including its video of House and Senate proceedings. Most notably, in May 2006, C-SPAN requested the removal of Stephen Colbert's performance
at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner from YouTube
. Following concerns by some bloggers, C-SPAN gave permission for Google Video
to host the full event. On March 7, 2007 C-SPAN liberalized its copyright policy for current, future, and past coverage of any official events sponsored by Congress and any federal agency and now allows for attributed non-commercial copying, sharing, and posting of C-SPAN video on the Internet, excluding re-syndication of live video streams. The new policy did not affect the public's right to use the public domain video coverage of the floor proceedings of the U.S. House and Senate.
In addition to the programming available in the C-SPAN Video Library, all C-SPAN programming is available as a live feed streamed on its website in Flash Video format. In 2008, C-SPAN's online political coverage was expanded in the run up to the elections, with the introduction of three special pages on the C-SPAN website: the C-SPAN Convention Hubs and C-SPAN Debate Hub, which offered video of key events as well as discussion from blogs and social media about the major party conventions and candidate debates.
whose board of directors consists primarily of representatives of the largest cable companies
. Early chairmen of C-SPAN include Bob Rosencrans, John Saeman, Ed Allen and Gene Schneider. Funding for C-SPAN does not come from advertising; instead, it receives nearly all of its funding from subscriber fees charged to cable and Direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) operators. As the network is an independent entity, neither the cable industry nor Congress has power over the content of its programming.
, the network has more than 225 full and part-time employees. C-SPAN's chairman and CEO is Brian Lamb, who is assisted in leading the organization by co-presidents, Susan Swain, and Robert Kennedy. The majority of C-SPAN's employees are based at C-SPAN's headquarters located on Capitol Hill
in Washington, D.C.
, however in 2003 TV studios were opened in New York
and Denver, Colorado
. These studios use digital equipment that can be controlled from Washington. C-SPAN also maintains archives in West Lafayette, Indiana
at the Purdue Research Park
under the direction of Dr. Robert X. Browning
.
, however there have been a number of surveys providing estimated figures. A 1994 survey found that 8.6% of the U.S. population regularly watched C-SPAN. Ten years later this figure had increased to 12% of the U.S. population, according to a Pew Research Center survey, while 31% of the population was categorized as occasional viewers. , over 28 million people said they watched C-SPAN programming each week. A March 2009 Hart Research survey found that 20 percent of homes with cable TV watch C-SPAN at least once a week, for an estimated 39 million Americans. More than 7,000 callers had taken part in discussion on Washington Journal . The C-SPAN networks are available in over 100 million households , not including access to the C-SPAN websites. The results of a poll conducted by C-SPAN and Penn Schoen Berland estimates that 79 million adults in the U.S. watched C-SPAN at some point from 2009 to 2010.
C-SPAN's public service nature has been praised as an enduring contribution to national knowledge. The network has received positive media coverage for providing public access to proceedings such as the Goldman Sachs
Senate hearings and the U.S. 2010 Healthcare Summit, while its everyday programming has been credited with providing the media and the general public with an intimate knowledge of U.S. political proceedings and figures in Washington. The ability of C-SPAN to provide this service without federal funding, advertising or soliciting viewer contributions has been highlighted by local newspapers and online news services alike, with the Huffington Post calling C-SPAN's $55 million dollar annual budget, "an astounding bargain." In an article on the 25th anniversary of the network, The Washington Post noted that C-SPAN's programming has been copied by television networks worldwide and credits the network with bringing world politics to American viewers. According to The New York Times, C-SPAN's mission to record official events within Washington make it "one of a kind", particularly in the creation of the C-SPAN Video Library, which received significant press coverage.
Despite its stated commitment to providing politically balanced programming, C-SPAN and its shows such as Washington Journal, Booknotes, Q & A, and Afterwords have been accused by left-leaning organizations of having a conservative bias. In 2005, the media criticism organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
(FAIR) released a study of C-SPAN's morning call-in show Washington Journal, showing that Republicans
were favored as guests over Democrats
by a two-to-one margin during a six-month period that year, and that people of color are underrepresented.
regulations, passed by Congress
in 1992, affected the availability of the C-SPAN networks, in particular C-SPAN2, as some providers chose to cut the channel altogether. Between 1993 and 1994 cable systems in 95 U.S. cities dropped or reduced broadcasts of C-SPAN and C-SPAN2, following the implementation of the must-carry regulations. Viewers protested these decisions, especially when the moves coincided with matters of local interest occurring in the House or Senate. Some communities, such as Eugene, Oregon
and Alexandria, Virginia
, were successful in restoring C-SPAN availability. C-SPAN carriage was also restored in areas where improvements in technology allowed for mandatory stations and the C-SPAN networks to both be carried.
C-SPAN also has published ten books based on its programming, containing material both original and taken from interview transcripts. These include five books drawn from the former Booknotes program: Booknotes: Life Stories, Booknotes: On American Character, Booknotes: Stories from American History,Booknotes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing and the Power of Ideas, the latter a compilation of short monologues taken from the transcripts of Lamb’s interviews, and a companion book to the series on Tocqueville, Traveling Tocqueville's America: A Tour Book. The first published C-SPAN book, C-SPAN: America's Town Hall, was published in 1988. Since then C-SPAN has published four more books: Gavel to Gavel: A C-SPAN Guide to Congress, Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?, a guide to the grave sites of U.S. presidents, Abraham Lincoln - Great American Historians On Our Sixteenth President, a collection of essays based on C-SPAN interviews with American historians, and The Supreme Court, which features biographies and interviews with past Supreme Court judges together with commentary from legal experts.
, often focused on the U.S. government and related historical topics. These have included:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
that offers coverage of federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
proceedings and other public affairs programming
Public affairs (broadcasting)
Public affairs, a broadcasting industry term, refers to television programs which focuses on matters of politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time...
via its three television channels (C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3), one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming media
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
and archives of C-SPAN programs. C-SPAN's television channels are available to over 100 million cable and satellite households within the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, while WCSP-FM
WCSP-FM
WCSP-FM, also known as C-SPAN Radio, is a radio station licensed to the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network in Washington, D.C. The station broadcasts on 90.1 MHz and is on-air 24 hours a day. Its studios are located near Capitol Hill in C-SPAN’s headquarters...
, also called C-SPAN Radio, is broadcast on FM radio in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and is available throughout the U.S. on XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
, via internet streaming, by calling 202.626.8888, and through an iPhone app.
The network televises U.S. political events, particularly live and gavel to gavel coverage of the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
as well as occasional proceedings of the Canadian
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
and British Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
s and major events worldwide. Its coverage of political and policy events is unedited, thereby providing viewers (or listeners) with unfiltered information about politics and government. Non-political coverage includes: historical programming, programs dedicated to non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
books and interview programs with noteworthy individuals connected to public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
. C-SPAN is a non-profit organization, funded by the affiliate
Network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry , a network affiliate is a local broadcaster which carries some or all of the television program or radio program line-up of a television or radio network, but is owned by a company other than the owner of the network...
fees paid by its cable
Cable television in the United States
Cable television in the United States is a common form of television delivery, generally by subscription. Cable television first became available in the United States in 1948, with subscription services in 1949. Data by SNL Kagan shows that as of 2006 about 58.4% of all American homes subscribe to...
and satellite
Satellite television in the United States
Currently, there are two primary satellite television providers of subscription based service available to United States consumers: DirecTV and Dish Network....
affiliates, and does not carry advertisements on any of its networks, radio stations or websites. The network operates independently, and neither the cable industry nor Congress has power over the content of its programming.
Development
Brian LambBrian Lamb
Brian Patrick Lamb is the founder and chief executive officer of C-SPAN, a television network dedicated to coverage of government proceedings and public affairs. Born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, Lamb earned a degree from Purdue University before joining the United States Navy...
, C-SPAN's chairman and CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
, first conceived of C-SPAN in 1975 while working as the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
bureau chief of cable industry trade magazine Cablevision. It was a time of rapid growth in the number of cable TV channels available in the U.S., and Lamb envisioned a cable-industry financed non-profit network for televising sessions of the U.S. Congress and other public affairs event and policy discussions. Early cable executive Bob Rosencrans provided the initial seed funding of $25,000 for Lamb to launch C-SPAN in 1979 and other cable executives followed suit, eventually forming C-SPAN's first board of directors.
C-SPAN was launched on March 19, 1979, in time for the first televised session made available by the House of Representatives, beginning with a speech by then-Tennessee representative Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
. Upon its debut, only 3.5 million homes were wired to see C-SPAN, and the network had just three employees. The second C-SPAN channel, C-SPAN2, launched on June 2, 1986 when the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
opened its chambers to TV cameras. C-SPAN3, the most recent expansion channel, began full-time operations on January 22, 2001, and shows other public policy and government-related live events on weekdays along with weekend historical programming. C-SPAN3 followed a predecessor digital channel called C-SPAN Extra, launched in the Washington-area in 1997, televising live and recorded political events from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST Monday to Friday.
C-SPAN Radio
WCSP-FM
WCSP-FM, also known as C-SPAN Radio, is a radio station licensed to the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network in Washington, D.C. The station broadcasts on 90.1 MHz and is on-air 24 hours a day. Its studios are located near Capitol Hill in C-SPAN’s headquarters...
launched on October 9, 1997, covering similar events as the TV networks and often simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
ing their programming. The station broadcasts on WCSP 90.1
WCSP-FM
WCSP-FM, also known as C-SPAN Radio, is a radio station licensed to the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network in Washington, D.C. The station broadcasts on 90.1 MHz and is on-air 24 hours a day. Its studios are located near Capitol Hill in C-SPAN’s headquarters...
FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
in Washington, D.C., is also available on XM
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
Channel 119 and is streamed live at c-span.org. It was formerly available on Sirius
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
satellite radio from 2002–2006.
Anniversaries
C-SPAN reached its 10th anniversary in 1989 and celebrated with a three-hour retrospective, featuring Lamb recalling the development of the network. The 15th anniversary was commemorated in a more unusual manner; the network launched a series of re-enactments of the seven historic Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858
The Lincoln–Douglas Debates of 1858 were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for Senate in Illinois, and the incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. At the time, U.S. senators were elected by state legislatures; thus Lincoln and...
, which were televised from August to October in 1994.
In 2003, C-SPAN celebrated its 25th anniversary, by which time the original network was carried in 86 million homes, C-SPAN2 was in 70 million homes and C-SPAN3 was in 8 million homes. On the anniversary date, C-SPAN repeated the first televised hour of floor debate in the House of Representatives from 1979 and, throughout the month, 25th anniversary features included "then and now" segments with journalists who had appeared on C-SPAN in its early years.
To commemorate 25 years of taking viewer calls, in 2005, C-SPAN held a 25-hour "call-in marathon", running from 8:00 p.m. on Friday, October 7, concluding at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 8. The network also held a viewer essay contest, whose winner was invited to host an hour of the broadcast from C-SPAN's Capitol Hill studios.
Scope of coverage
C-SPAN continues to expand its coverage of government proceedings, with a history of requests to government officials for greater access, especially to the U.S. Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. In December 2009, Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate, requesting that negotiations for health care reform be televised on C-SPAN. Committee meetings on health care were subsequently shown on C-SPAN and are available on the C-SPAN website. In November 2010, Lamb wrote to incoming House Speaker John Boehner
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...
requesting changes to restrictions on cameras in the House. In particular, C-SPAN asked to add some of its own robotically operated cameras to the existing government-controlled cameras in the House chamber. In February 2011, Boehner denied the request. C-SPAN had previously written to Speaker Designate Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
on December 14, 2006, requesting to add its own cameras in the House chamber to record floor proceedings. Although C-SPAN uses the congressional floor feeds, the cameras are owned and controlled by each respective body of Congress. The Pelosi request was denied. Requests by C-SPAN for camera access to non-government events such as the annual dinner held by the Gridiron Club
Gridiron Club
The Gridiron Club and Foundation, founded in 1885, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious journalistic organizations in Washington, D.C. Its 65 active members represent major newspapers, news services, news magazines and broadcast networks. Membership is by invitation only and has...
have also been denied.
Expansion and technology
Since the late 1990s, C-SPAN has significantly expanded its online presence. In January 1997, C-SPAN began real-time streaming of C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 on its website. This was the first time Congress had been live streamed online. To cover the Democratic and Republican conventions and the presidential debates in 2008, C-SPAN launched two standalone websites: the Convention Hub and the Debate Hub. In addition to real-time streams of C-SPAN's television networks online, c-span.org also features further live programming such as committee hearings and speeches that air later in the day, after the House and Senate have gone out.C-SPAN began promoting audience interaction early in its history, through the regular incorporation of viewer calls in its programming. It has since expanded into social media, incorporating Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
in its broadcasts. In March 2009, Twitter became an additional way for viewers to interact with guests on Washington Journal, with users of the service submitting questions live to the C-SPAN call-in program. The network also has a Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page to which it added occasional live streaming in January 2011. The live stream is intended to show selected high-profile events from Congress. In June 2010, C-SPAN joined with Foursquare to provide users of the application with access to geotagged C-SPAN content at various locations in Washington, D.C.
In 2010 C-SPAN began a transition to high definition telecasts, planned to take place over an 18-month period. The network launched C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 in high definition on June 1, 2010, and C-SPAN3 in July 2010.
House and Senate
The core programming of C-SPAN is live coverage of the U.S. House and Senate, with the primary C-SPAN channel focusing on the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. Between 1979 and May 2011, the network has televised more than 24,246 hours of floor action. C-SPAN2, the first of the C-SPAN spin-off networks, provides uninterrupted live coverage of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. With coverage of the House on C-SPAN and the Senate on C-SPAN2, viewers can track legislation as it moves through both bodies of Congress. A few key debates in Congress that C-SPAN has covered live include the Persian Gulf conflict
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
in 1991, and the House impeachment vote and Senate trial of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. During periods when the House or Senate are not in session, C-SPAN channels carry other public affairs programming.
Public affairs
The public affairs coverage on the C-SPAN networks other than the House and Senate floor debates is wide-ranging. C-SPAN is viewed as a useful source of information for journalists, lobbyists, educators and government officials as well as casual viewers interested in politics, due to its unedited coverage of political events. C-SPAN has been described by media observers as a "window into the world of Washington politics" and it characterizes its own mission as being "to provide public access to the political process". The networks cover U.S. political campaigns, including the RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and Libertarian
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
presidential nominating conventions
United States presidential nominating convention
A United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election...
in their entirety. Coverage of presidential campaign events are provided during the duration of the campaign, both on a weekly television program, Road to the White House, and at its dedicated politics website.
All three channels televise events such as White House press briefings and presidential speeches, as well as other government meetings including Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
hearings and Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
press conferences. Other U.S. political coverage includes State of the Union
State Of The Union
"State Of The Union" is the debut single from British singer-songwriter David Ford. It had previously been featured as a demo on his official website, before appearing as a track on a CD entitled "Apology Demos EP," only on sale at live shows....
speeches, congressional hearing
Congressional hearing
Congressional hearings are the principal formal method by which committees collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. Whether confirmation hearings — a procedure unique to the Senate — legislative, oversight, investigative, or a combination of these, all...
s and presidential press conferences. According to the results of a survey following the 1992 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot....
, 85% of C-SPAN viewers voted in that election. In addition to this political coverage, the network carries press conferences and meetings of various news media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
and non-profit organizations, including those at the National Press Club, public policy seminars and the White House Correspondents' Dinner. While C-SPAN does not have video access to the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, the network has used the Court's audio recordings accompanied by still photographs of the justices and lawyers to cover the Court in session on significant cases, and has covered individual Supreme Court justices' speaking engagements.
Occasionally, proceedings of the Parliament of Canada
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
, Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
(usually Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime minister's questions is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom that takes place every Wednesday during which the prime minister spends half an hour answering questions from members of parliament...
and the State Opening of Parliament
State Opening of Parliament
In the United Kingdom, the State Opening of Parliament is an annual event that marks the commencement of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is held in the House of Lords Chamber, usually in November or December or, in a general election year, when the new Parliament first assembles...
) and other governments are shown on C-SPAN when they discuss matters of importance to viewers in the U.S. Similarly, the networks will sometimes carry news reports from around the world when major events occur—for instance, C-SPAN carried CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
coverage of the September 11 attacks. Newscasts and other broadcasts in foreign languages are dubbed into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Following the deaths of Ronald Reagan
Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan
On June 5, 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, died after having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for nearly a decade. His seven-day state funeral followed, spanning June 5–11...
in 2004, Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
in 2005 and Gerald Ford
Death and state funeral of Gerald Ford
On December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, at 6:45 p.m. local time . At 8:49 p.m...
in 2006, C-SPAN featured live, uninterrupted coverage of the visitors who came to the Capitol Rotunda to pay their final respects and the funeral services. The network also provided coverage of Lady Bird Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson
Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources and made that...
's funeral in Stonewall, Texas
Stonewall, Texas
Stonewall is a census-designated place in Gillespie County, Texas, United States. The population was 469 at the 2000 census. It was named for Thomas J. Jackson, by Israel P. Nunez, who established a stage station near the site in 1870....
. In 2005, C-SPAN covered Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
through New Orleans' NBC affiliate WDSU
WDSU
WDSU, virtual channel 6, is the NBC-affiliated television station for the New Orleans, Louisiana television market. It is owned by Hearst Television, which in turn is wholly owned by the Hearst Corporation. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 43...
, as well as Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...
coverage via Houston's CBS affiliate KHOU
KHOU-TV
KHOU is the CBS affiliate television station in Houston, Texas. Serving Greater Houston, it is owned by the Belo Corporation and broadcasts on digital and PSIP channel 11...
. C-SPAN also carries CBC coverage during events that affect Canadians
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, such as the Canadian federal elections, the death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau
Death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau
The death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau took place in September 2000. Pierre Trudeau was the 15th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1968 to 1984, with a brief interruption in 1979–1980. Trudeau died on September 28, 2000...
, and the 2003 North America blackout. In early 2011, C-SPAN carried broadcasts by Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
to cover the events in Egypt
2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...
, Tunisia
Tunisian revolution
The Tunisian Revolution is an intensive campaign of civil resistance, including a series of street demonstrations taking place in Tunisia. The events began in December 2010 and led to the ousting of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011...
and other Arab nations. Additionally, C-SPAN simulcasts NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Space Shuttle mission launches and landings live, using the footage and audio from NASA TV
NASA TV
NASA TV is the television service of the United States government agency NASA. NASA TV is broadcast by satellite with a simulcast over the Internet. Local cable television systems across the U.S. and amateur television repeaters may carry NASA TV at their discretion, as NASA-created content is...
.
With its public affairs programming, C-SPAN aims to offer different points of view, by allowing time for multiple viewpoints to be discussed on a given topic. However, this practice is not always successful as in 2004, when C-SPAN intended to televise a speech by Holocaust historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Esther Lipstadt, Ph.D. is an American historian and author of the book Denying the Holocaust and The Eichmann Trial. She is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University...
adjacent to a speech by Holocaust denier David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
, who had unsuccessfully sued Lipstadt for libel in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
four years earlier. C-SPAN received criticism for its use of the word "balance" to describe the plan to cover both Lipstadt and Irving. Once Lipstadt closed media access to her speech, C-SPAN canceled coverage of both.
The network strives for neutrality
Objectivity (journalism)
Parent article: Journalism ethics and standardsObjectivity is a significant principle of journalistic professionalism. Journalistic objectivity can refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses all of these qualities.- Definitions :In the context...
and a lack of bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
; in all programming, the content is the focus and when on-camera hosts are present their role is simply to facilitate and explain proceedings to the viewer. Due to this policy, no C-SPAN host has said his or her own name on television.
C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 flagship programs
While many hours of programming on C-SPAN are dedicated to coverage of the House, the network's daily programming begins with the political call-in and interview program Washington JournalWashington Journal
Washington Journal is an American television series on the C-SPAN network in the format of a political call-in and interview program. The program features elected officials, government administrators and journalists as guests, answering questions from the hosts and from members of the general...
every morning at 7 a.m. Eastern Time
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. Washington Journal launched January 4, 1995 and has appeared every weekday morning since then, with guests including elected officials, government administrators and journalists. Among the hosts is the political editor Steve Scully
Steve Scully
Steven L. Scully is the senior executive producer, political editor, and host of C-SPAN's Washington Journal, a three-hour early morning cable television public affairs program.-Background:Scully was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, to Hubert L...
, a native of Erie
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. The program covers current events, with guests answering questions on topics provided by the hosts as well as from members of the general public. On the weekend schedule, C-SPAN's flagship programs are: America and the Courts, which is shown each Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, Newsmakers, a Sunday morning interview program with newsworthy guests; Q&A, a Sunday evening interview program hosted by Brian Lamb, with guests including journalists, politicians, authors and other public figures; and The Communicators, which features interviews with prominent communications figures including government officials and private sector representatives.
On weekends C-SPAN2 dedicates its schedule to non-fiction books, book events and authors, with 48 hours of programming called Book TV
Book TV
Book TV is the name given to weekend programming on the American cable network C-SPAN2 airing from 8 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday morning to 8 a.m. Eastern Time Monday morning each week. The 48 hour block of programming is focused on non-fiction books and authors, featuring programs in the format of...
, first launched in September 1998. This includes: programs featuring historical books and biographies of public figures; In Depth, a live, monthly, three-hour interview with a single author; After Words
After Words
After Words is an American television series on the C-SPAN2 network’s weekend programming schedule known as Book TV. The program is an hour-long talk show, each week featuring an interview with the author of a new nonfiction book. The program has no regular host...
and repeats of Booknotes
Booknotes
Booknotes is an American television series on the C-SPAN network hosted by Brian Lamb, which originally aired from 1989 to 2004. The format of the show is a one-hour, one-on-one interview with a non-fiction author. The series was broadcast at 8 p.m. Eastern Time each Sunday night, and was the...
. After Words is an author interview program featuring guest hosts interviewing authors on subjects with which both are familiar. The program was developed as a new spin on author-interview programs following the end of production of Booknotes, which was C-SPAN's previous author-interview program. Booknotes originally ran from 1989 to 2004, with a one-hour one-on-one interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
of a non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
author as its format. Repeats of the interviews remain a regular part of the Book TV schedule under the title Encore Booknotes. The Book TV weekend programming also includes coverage of book events such as panel discussions, book fairs, book signings, readings by authors and tours of bookstores around the U.S.
C-SPAN3
The programming on C-SPAN3 from Monday to Friday features uninterrupted live public affairs events, in particular political events from Washington. Each weekend the network airs 48 hours of programming dedicated to the history of the U.S., branded as American History TV, which was launched on January 8, 2011. The programming covers the history of the U.S. from the founding of the nation through to the late 20th century. Programs include American Artifacts, which is dedicated to exploring museums, archives and historical sites, and Lectures in History, featuring top university history professors giving lectures on U.S. history. In 2009, C-SPAN3 aired an eight-installment series of interviews from the Dole Institute of PoliticsRobert J. Dole Institute of Politics
The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics is housed at the University of Kansas. It was founded by former U.S. Senator from Kansas and presidential candidate Bob Dole. Opened on July 22, 2003 , the institute's $11 million, facility houses Dole's papers and hosts frequent political events...
at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
, which featured historian Richard Norton Smith
Richard Norton Smith
Richard Norton Smith is an American historian and author specializing in US presidents.-Life:Born in Leominster, Massachusetts, in 1953, Smith graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1975 with a degree in government...
and Vice President Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
, among other interviewees.
Special programming
C-SPAN has occasionally produced spinoffSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
programs from Booknotes focusing on specific topics. In 1994, Booknotes collaborated with Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer
Harold Holzer
Harold Holzer is a scholar of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the American Civil War Era. He served for nine years as co-chairman of the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission , appointed to the commission by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and elected co-chair by his...
to produce a re-creation of the seven Lincoln–Douglas debates. Several years later, a similar series retraced the journey of Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...
described in Democracy in America
Democracy in America
De la démocratie en Amérique is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville. A "literal" translation of its title is Of Democracy in America, but the usual translation of the title is simply Democracy in America...
. Another special series was "American Writers", a 38-week tour of the U.S. based on the works of 40 famous American writers.
In 2008 to 2009, as part of programming specially commissioned for the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, C-SPAN produced a series titled Lincoln 200 Years, which featured episodes on a variety of topics relating to the life of Lincoln including his career, his homes and his views on slavery.
The network has also produced special feature documentaries on American institutions and historical landmarks, exploring their historical background through to the present day. These programs include: The Capitol focusing on the history, art and architecture of the U.S. Capitol Building; The White House, featuring footage inside the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and exploring the history of the building and its occupants; The Supreme Court, focusing on the history and personalities of the court; and Inside Blair House, a behind-the-scenes look at the president's guest house.
Radio broadcasts
In addition to the three television networks, C-SPAN also broadcasts via C-SPAN Radio via WCSP 90.1 FM in Washington, D.C. and nationwide on XM Satellite Radio. Its programming is also livestreamed at c-span.org and is available via an iPhone app. C-SPAN Radio takes a selective approach to its broadcast content, rather than duplicating the television network programming, although it does offer some audio simulcasts of programs such as Washington JournalWashington Journal
Washington Journal is an American television series on the C-SPAN network in the format of a political call-in and interview program. The program features elected officials, government administrators and journalists as guests, answering questions from the hosts and from members of the general...
. Unique programming on the radio station includes oral histories, and some committee meetings and press conferences not shown on television due to programming commitments. The station also compiles the Sunday morning talk shows for a same-day rebroadcast without commercials, in rapid succession.
Availability online
C-SPAN archival video is available through the C-SPAN Video LibraryC-SPAN Video Library
C-SPAN Video Library is the audio and video streaming website of C-SPAN, the American legislative broadcaster. The site offers a complete, freely accessible archive going back to 1987...
, maintained at the Purdue Research Park
Purdue Research Park
The Purdue Research Parks are a network of four research parks located in Indiana, United States. The flagship West Lafayette park is located less than north of Purdue University's West Lafayette campus, and is the largest university-affiliated research park in the United States. The other...
in West Lafayette, Indiana
West Lafayette, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 29,596 people, 12,591 households, and 3,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,381.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 74.3% White, 17.3% Asian, 2.7% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.03% Pacific...
. First unveiled in August 2007, the C-SPAN Video Library contains all of the network’s programming since 1987, totaling more than 160,000 hours at its completion of digitization and public debut in March 2010. Older C-SPAN programming continues to be added to the library, dating back to the launch of the network in 1979, although some limited earlier footage from the National Archives
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
, such as film clips of Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
’s 1972 trip to China, is available as well. Most of the recordings before 1987 (when the C-SPAN Archive was established) were not saved, except approximately 10,000 hours of video which are slated to be made available online. Described by media commentators as a landmark educational tool and a valuable resource for researchers of politics and history, the C-SPAN Video Library has also played a key role in media and opposition research
Opposition research
Opposition research is:# The term used to classify and describe efforts of supporters or paid consultants of a political candidate to legally investigate the biographical, legal or criminal, medical, educational, financial, public and private administrative and or voting records of the opposing...
in several U.S. political campaigns.
Prior to the launch of the C-SPAN Video Library, websites such as Metavid
Metavid
Metavid is a free-software wiki-based community archive project for audio video media. The site hosts public domain US legislative footage. It was started as a Digital Arts/New Media MFA thesis project of Michael Dale and Abram Stern under the advisement of Professor Warren Sack in late 2005 at the...
and voterwatch.org hosted House and Senate video records. However C-SPAN contested Metavid's usage of C-SPAN copyrighted footage. The result was Metavid's removal of portions of the archive produced with C-SPAN's cameras, while preserving its archive of government-produced content. C-SPAN also engaged in actions to stop parties from making unauthorized uses of its content online, including its video of House and Senate proceedings. Most notably, in May 2006, C-SPAN requested the removal of Stephen Colbert's performance
Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
On April 29, 2006, American comedian Stephen Colbert appeared as the featured entertainer at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, which was held in Washington, D.C., at the Hilton Washington hotel...
at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner from YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. Following concerns by some bloggers, C-SPAN gave permission for Google Video
Google Video
Google Videos is a video search engine, and formerly a free video sharing website, from Google Inc. Before removing user-uploaded content, the service allowed selected videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provided the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube...
to host the full event. On March 7, 2007 C-SPAN liberalized its copyright policy for current, future, and past coverage of any official events sponsored by Congress and any federal agency and now allows for attributed non-commercial copying, sharing, and posting of C-SPAN video on the Internet, excluding re-syndication of live video streams. The new policy did not affect the public's right to use the public domain video coverage of the floor proceedings of the U.S. House and Senate.
In addition to the programming available in the C-SPAN Video Library, all C-SPAN programming is available as a live feed streamed on its website in Flash Video format. In 2008, C-SPAN's online political coverage was expanded in the run up to the elections, with the introduction of three special pages on the C-SPAN website: the C-SPAN Convention Hubs and C-SPAN Debate Hub, which offered video of key events as well as discussion from blogs and social media about the major party conventions and candidate debates.
Organization and operations
C-SPAN is operated by the National Cable Satellite Corporation, a non-profit organizationNon-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
whose board of directors consists primarily of representatives of the largest cable companies
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
. Early chairmen of C-SPAN include Bob Rosencrans, John Saeman, Ed Allen and Gene Schneider. Funding for C-SPAN does not come from advertising; instead, it receives nearly all of its funding from subscriber fees charged to cable and Direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) operators. As the network is an independent entity, neither the cable industry nor Congress has power over the content of its programming.
, the network has more than 225 full and part-time employees. C-SPAN's chairman and CEO is Brian Lamb, who is assisted in leading the organization by co-presidents, Susan Swain, and Robert Kennedy. The majority of C-SPAN's employees are based at C-SPAN's headquarters located on Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Capitol Hill, aside from being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, however in 2003 TV studios were opened in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. These studios use digital equipment that can be controlled from Washington. C-SPAN also maintains archives in West Lafayette, Indiana
West Lafayette, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 29,596 people, 12,591 households, and 3,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,381.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 74.3% White, 17.3% Asian, 2.7% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.03% Pacific...
at the Purdue Research Park
Purdue Research Park
The Purdue Research Parks are a network of four research parks located in Indiana, United States. The flagship West Lafayette park is located less than north of Purdue University's West Lafayette campus, and is the largest university-affiliated research park in the United States. The other...
under the direction of Dr. Robert X. Browning
Robert X. Browning
Robert X. Browning is a professor at Purdue University and head of the C-SPAN archives in West Lafayette, IN. He earned his B.S. from Marquette University in 1972, his M.A. in Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1977, his M.A. in Political Science from the University...
.
Audience
There are no official viewing figures for C-SPAN because the network, which carries no commercials or underwriting spots, does not use the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, however there have been a number of surveys providing estimated figures. A 1994 survey found that 8.6% of the U.S. population regularly watched C-SPAN. Ten years later this figure had increased to 12% of the U.S. population, according to a Pew Research Center survey, while 31% of the population was categorized as occasional viewers. , over 28 million people said they watched C-SPAN programming each week. A March 2009 Hart Research survey found that 20 percent of homes with cable TV watch C-SPAN at least once a week, for an estimated 39 million Americans. More than 7,000 callers had taken part in discussion on Washington Journal . The C-SPAN networks are available in over 100 million households , not including access to the C-SPAN websites. The results of a poll conducted by C-SPAN and Penn Schoen Berland estimates that 79 million adults in the U.S. watched C-SPAN at some point from 2009 to 2010.
Public and media opinion
A 2010 survey of C-SPAN's viewers found that the network's most-valued attribute was its balanced programming. The survey's respondents were a mixed group, with 31 percent describing themselves as "liberal," while 28 percent described themselves as "conservative", and the survey found that C-SPAN viewers are an equal mix of men and women across all age groups.C-SPAN's public service nature has been praised as an enduring contribution to national knowledge. The network has received positive media coverage for providing public access to proceedings such as the Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
Senate hearings and the U.S. 2010 Healthcare Summit, while its everyday programming has been credited with providing the media and the general public with an intimate knowledge of U.S. political proceedings and figures in Washington. The ability of C-SPAN to provide this service without federal funding, advertising or soliciting viewer contributions has been highlighted by local newspapers and online news services alike, with the Huffington Post calling C-SPAN's $55 million dollar annual budget, "an astounding bargain." In an article on the 25th anniversary of the network, The Washington Post noted that C-SPAN's programming has been copied by television networks worldwide and credits the network with bringing world politics to American viewers. According to The New York Times, C-SPAN's mission to record official events within Washington make it "one of a kind", particularly in the creation of the C-SPAN Video Library, which received significant press coverage.
Despite its stated commitment to providing politically balanced programming, C-SPAN and its shows such as Washington Journal, Booknotes, Q & A, and Afterwords have been accused by left-leaning organizations of having a conservative bias. In 2005, the media criticism organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
(FAIR) released a study of C-SPAN's morning call-in show Washington Journal, showing that Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
were favored as guests over Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
by a two-to-one margin during a six-month period that year, and that people of color are underrepresented.
Must-carry
The must-carryMust-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally-licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.- Canada :...
regulations, passed by Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in 1992, affected the availability of the C-SPAN networks, in particular C-SPAN2, as some providers chose to cut the channel altogether. Between 1993 and 1994 cable systems in 95 U.S. cities dropped or reduced broadcasts of C-SPAN and C-SPAN2, following the implementation of the must-carry regulations. Viewers protested these decisions, especially when the moves coincided with matters of local interest occurring in the House or Senate. Some communities, such as Eugene, Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
and Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
, were successful in restoring C-SPAN availability. C-SPAN carriage was also restored in areas where improvements in technology allowed for mandatory stations and the C-SPAN networks to both be carried.
Other C-SPAN services
C-SPAN offers a number of public services related to the network's public affairs programming. A free membership service for teachers called C-SPAN Classroom was launched by C-SPAN in July 1987, offering support for using C-SPAN resources in classes or for research. In November 1993, C-SPAN launched the C-SPAN School Bus, which travels around the U.S. educating the public about government and politics using C-SPAN resources. The bus also records video footage of the places that it visits. A new version of the bus, the C-SPAN Digital Bus was launched in 2010, introducing the public to C-SPAN's enhanced digital products. C-SPAN has also launched three Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) to travel the country and record unique political and historical stories, with each vehicle containing production and web-based technologies to produce on-the-spot content.C-SPAN also has published ten books based on its programming, containing material both original and taken from interview transcripts. These include five books drawn from the former Booknotes program: Booknotes: Life Stories, Booknotes: On American Character, Booknotes: Stories from American History,Booknotes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing and the Power of Ideas, the latter a compilation of short monologues taken from the transcripts of Lamb’s interviews, and a companion book to the series on Tocqueville, Traveling Tocqueville's America: A Tour Book. The first published C-SPAN book, C-SPAN: America's Town Hall, was published in 1988. Since then C-SPAN has published four more books: Gavel to Gavel: A C-SPAN Guide to Congress, Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?, a guide to the grave sites of U.S. presidents, Abraham Lincoln - Great American Historians On Our Sixteenth President, a collection of essays based on C-SPAN interviews with American historians, and The Supreme Court, which features biographies and interviews with past Supreme Court judges together with commentary from legal experts.
Shows
In addition to C-SPAN's daytime coverage of events related to the U.S. House and Senate, the network produces morning, weekend and primetime television programs. These have included:- After WordsAfter WordsAfter Words is an American television series on the C-SPAN2 network’s weekend programming schedule known as Book TV. The program is an hour-long talk show, each week featuring an interview with the author of a new nonfiction book. The program has no regular host...
- America and the Courts
- BooknotesBooknotesBooknotes is an American television series on the C-SPAN network hosted by Brian Lamb, which originally aired from 1989 to 2004. The format of the show is a one-hour, one-on-one interview with a non-fiction author. The series was broadcast at 8 p.m. Eastern Time each Sunday night, and was the...
(See also: List of Booknotes interviews) - In Depth
- Road to the White House
- Q & AQ & A (C-SPAN)Q&A is an American television series on the C-SPAN network. Each Q&A episode is a one-hour formal face-to-face interview with a notable person, hosted by C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb. Typical guests on the show include journalists, politicians, authors, doctors and other public figures...
- Washington JournalWashington JournalWashington Journal is an American television series on the C-SPAN network in the format of a political call-in and interview program. The program features elected officials, government administrators and journalists as guests, answering questions from the hosts and from members of the general...
Special programs
C-SPAN occasionally produces special broadcastsTelevision special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
, often focused on the U.S. government and related historical topics. These have included:
- The Supreme Court: Home to America's Highest Court
- The White House: Inside America's Most Famous Home
- American Presidents (video series)
- Presidential Libraries (video series)
- Inside Blair House
See also
- Al Jazeera Mubasher
- BBC ParliamentBBC ParliamentBBC Parliament is a British television channel from the BBC. Its remit is to make accessible to all the work of the parliamentary and legislative bodies of the United Kingdom and the European Parliament...
- Houses of the Oireachtas ChannelHouses of the Oireachtas ChannelHouses of the Oireachtas Channel or informally Oireachtas TV is a public service broadcaster for the two houses of the Oireachtas . The channel was created under the Broadcasting Act 2009 for broadcast on the proposed roll out of Irish Digital Terrestrial Television...
- DD Lok SabhaDD Lok SabhaLok Sabha TV is an Indian cable television network channel from Government of India that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming. Its remit is to make accessible to all the work of the parliamentary and legislative bodies of India...
- Rada TVRada TVParliamentary TV-channel «RADA» is an official television channel of the Ukrainian parliament: the Verkhovna Rada. It shows live broadcasts of the parliament's meetings, and others programs related to the law-making process....
- CPAC
- A-PACA-PACA-PAC is an Australian 24 hour cable and satellite news channel available on Foxtel and Austar platforms. On 15 November 2009, A-PAC's channel location for Foxtel changed from Channel 607 to Channel 648.-History:...
External links
- C-SPAN Video Library
- C-SPAN Classroom Educator Resources