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C-SPAN (officially, the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) is an American cable television network dedicated to airing non-stop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming. In addition to C-SPAN Radio and the C-SPAN website, C-SPAN is made up of several television channels:
HistoryBrian Lamb, C-SPAN's chairman and CEO, conceived of C-SPAN while working at Cablevision, a cable industry trade magazine. C-SPAN was created as a cable-industry financed, non-profit network for televising sessions of the U.S. Congress. It receives no funding from any government source, has no contract with the government, and does not sell sponsorships or advertising. It strives for neutrality and a lack of bias in its public affairs programming. C-SPAN first went on the air on March 19, 1979, broadcasting a speech by then-congressman Al Gore. C-SPAN2, a spinoff network, covers all live sessions of the U.S. Senate and went on the air on June 2, 1986, with the original channel then focusing on the House. The latest spinoff, C-SPAN3, began broadcasting on January 22, 2001, and shows other government-related live events along with historical programming from C-SPAN's archives. On October 9, 1997, C-SPAN launched C-SPAN Radio, which broadcasts on WCSP 90.1 FM in Washington, D.C.. The radio station, which is also available on XM and Sirius satellite radio, covers similar events as its sister TV networks, often simulcasting their programming.
On February 12, 2003, C-SPAN launched the Amos B. Hostetter Distance Learning Program with the University of Denver. Steve Scully, Political Editor and Chair of Communication, instructs the course from the C-SPAN center in Washington, D.C. and features prominent guests in politics and journalism who can field questions live to students in Denver over 1,500 miles away. Soon after, the program was also expanded to Pace University in New York. CampaignNetwork.org is a collaborative project with CQPolitics.com covering election reporting announced on August 31, 2006.[1] CoverageIn addition to live coverage of House and Senate proceedings and local and general elections, the three channels air government hearings, press conferences and meetings of various political, media, and non-profit organizations; book discussions, interviews, and 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 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. Newscasts and other broadcasts in foreign languages are dubbed into English. C-SPAN has submitted requests to air live United States Supreme Court proceedings, but has always been denied camera access. However, the network has aired audio tapes of the Court in session on significant cases and has covered individual Supreme Court Justices' speaking engagements. C-SPAN is the only cable channel that covers the Republican and Democratic presidential nominating convention in their entirety. Following the deaths of Ronald Reagan in 2004, Rosa Parks in 2005 and Gerald R. Ford in 2006, C-SPAN featured live, uninterrupted coverage of the visitors who came to the Capitol Rotunda to pay their final respects. Additionally, C-SPAN simulcasts NASA Space Shuttle mission launches and landings live, using the footage and audio from NASA TV. C-SPAN and the InternetAll of C-SPAN's live feeds are streamed free of charge on its World Wide Web site in Real Media format and in Windows Media format. Selected C-SPAN programs are archived for the general public on its website for at least two weeks, while others remain permanently accessible. C-SPAN has exclusive rights to all recordings and may charge $30 to upwards of $3000 dollars [1] for access to these House and Senate proceedings. OrganizationUncommonly for a television network, C-SPAN is operated as a non-profit organization by the National Cable Satellite Corporation, whose board of directors consists primarily of representatives of the largest cable companies. C-SPAN accepts no advertising; instead, it receives nearly all its funding from subscriber fees charged to cable and DBS operators. Contrary to popular perception, C-SPAN receives no funding from government sources. FollowingIn its early days, cable companies tried to replace C-SPAN with revenue-producing channels. As stated above, C-SPAN is funded by the cable industry; thus, the industry loses money airing C-SPAN. However, C-SPAN had developed somewhat of a "cult following" among political junkies and citizens who had always wanted to see what was really happening with their elected officials. Avid C-SPAN viewers often refer to themselves as "C-SPAN Junkies," "SPANners," or "Spanheads". Over time, the cable companies and the general public realized that C-SPAN provided a desired and much needed public service; a "window" into the operations of Congress. C-SPAN did not (and most likely will never) have the ratings of the major networks, but its devoted following ensured that it would remain part of the cable industry, and all attempts at replacing it with other channels have long ceased. C-SPAN and Intellectual PropertyOn March 7th, 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 non-commercial copying, sharing, and posting of C-SPAN video on the Internet, with attribution. [2] Prior to this change, C-SPAN engaged in numerous actions to stop parties from making unauthorized uses of their content online including cases where the footage is the House and Senate proceedings. For example, Dem Bloggers received a take down request for clips they had posted. [3] In February of 2006, WRPI's Dennis Karius was fired for airing copyrighted audio from C-SPAN's web stream on his radio program. [4] In May 2006, C-SPAN requested the removal of the Stephen Colbert performance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner from YouTube while allowing it to remain on Google Video [5], causing concern from web bloggers. [6] Websites such as metavid make House and Senate video records freely available. C-SPAN contested metavid usage of C-SPAN video which resulted in metavid taking down portions of the archive which were produced with C-SPAN's cameras while maintaining an archive of government produced content. [7] On December 14th 2006 C-SPAN wrote an open letter to Speaker Designate Nancy Pelosi requesting that floor proceedings be covered by C-SPAN cameras. This would put the floor footage under the same restrictive license as C-SPAN produced content.[8] The request was denied [9] Allegations of bias and other controversiesDespite its stated commitment to providing politically balanced programming, C-SPAN shows such as Washington Journal, Booknotes, Q & A, and Afterwords have been accused of having a conservative bias. 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 in 2005, and that people of color are underrepresented. FAIR and critics including guests have charged that the shows Booknotes and Afterwords highlight more conservative authors than liberals. In 2004, C-SPAN planned to broadcast a speech by Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt paired with a speech by Holocaust denier David Irving. Irving unsuccessfully sued Lipstadt for libel in England in 2000. C-SPAN claimed airing Lipstadt's speech adjacently with Irving's would provide a "balance" of opinions. However, due to the uproar from outraged viewers, liberal groups, and Jewish organizations, C-SPAN canceled the broadcasts of both speeches. In 2005, the left-leaning media watchdog group Media Matters for America took issue with the fact that L. Brent Bozell, the head of the right-leaning Media Research Center, was booked by C-SPAN2 to interview former CBS producer Mary Mapes on After Words, following an incident where some documents used to support a report on then-campaigning President George W. Bush's Texas National Guard stint turned out to have been faked.[10] Past chairmenShowsSee also
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