In the world we now live in things can be tweeted and LIVE streamed by any person who has a smart phone. They only have to push a button and its broadcasted to potentially millions of people around the entire globe.
I come from a television background so understand how big of a change its had not only in my industry but how now anyone can be present for breaking news. We have been witness to how technology affects tragedy and breaking news stories, whether natural disasters, shootings, and now political stories.
Today Democrats began a sit-in at the House Chamber to call for gun control, it was during this process that the house republicans declared a recess which means the cameras that normally feed the footage to C-SPAN was shut down. Viewers noticed that C-SPAN was not broadcasting this moment of political manuvering in the nations capitol and they were quick to respond.
C-SPAN however had a work around to this problem as they began broadcasting a Periscope stream from Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA). They also began to use a Facebook LIVE stream as well to provide coverage to a news story that the public should be able to see.
Howard Mortman, C-SPAN’s director of communications, says that the network has used various streaming feeds for a variety of reporting but that it was the first time they used it for an extended period of time.
“We’ve incorporated Periscope before as needed, for event coverage, to add color,” he told Gizmodo, but this was the “first continuous use of Periscope.”
Regardless of political leanings an independent network such as C-SPAN in my opinion should have independent control of the cameras and microphones. In doing so C-SPAN could provide feeds of the House and Senate in all aspects, eliminating the possibilty of one party using the of cameras to their advantage. C-SPAN has asked for independent control in the past.
“We’ve had this request pending for a long time. Both parties, both chambers have said no to it over the years,” he added.
Today marked another change in the landscape of politcal reporting and how the consumer is able to stay connected to Democracy.