C-SPAN Challenges Congress to Open Health Care Talks to TV Coverage

[jefferson_dem]

Report from FauxNews...

C-SPAN Challenges Congress to Open Health Care Talks to TV Coverage

The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.

The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open "all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings," to televised coverage on his network.

"The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety," he wrote.

<SNIP>

Lamb urged Congress in his letter to fling open the doors in the final stretch of the negotiations.

"President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation's editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation's health care system," he wrote. "Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American."

Lamb said his network would use "the latest technology" to be "as unobtrusive as possible" during the talks.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/05/c-span-challenges-congress-open-health-care-talks-tv-coverage/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528Text+-+Politics%2529

[babylonsister]

1. Now they're 'concerned'?

:eyes:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. Check out the source

:eyes:

Was C-Span busy screaming for the Repubs to be more *transparent* during the 12 years that the Repubs controlled Congress? Didn't Newt, et. al promise a more *transparent* government when THEY took office? Did C-Span demand that the cameras stay rolling when the Repubs passed- bribed, cajoled, strong-armed -the Medicare (d)eform into law back in 2003.........? Nope, didn't think so. Even C-Span, it seems, has impossibly high double standards for the Democrats. :mad:

[Armstead]

4. So now it's CSpan's turn under the bus?

That's whacky

[Parker CA]

3. Funny, isn't it?

[Armstead]

5. Um, now CSpan sucks?

[Jennicut]

6. No. CSpan is CSpan. Brian Lamb is not your friend.

Just remember that. Even if he does the right thing once in awhile (like here) he is not your friend.

[Armstead]

8. If it weren't for Brian Lamb we'd never see Congress or public affairs

I'm aware of his personal biases and missteps over the years.

But if it were not for him, we wold not get a chance to see Washington in action, and we would also be deprives of any real ideas on television.

The only problem I have with this request is that he did not do it sooner.

[Jennicut]

13. Any idiot could have started C-Span. Please do not elevate his importance.

[moondust]

12. Exactly.

This could very well amount to nothing more than Brian Lamb recently finding out that Democrats intend to do a final bill without Republicans and without a conference so he sends this letter to give Republicans "unbiased" hard evidence to use in making the case that Democrats promised transparency and are doing the exact opposite. If it had been dated before December it would have more credibility. Brian Lamb knows full well how the legislative process works.

Does it really matter at this point how Democrats wrangle among themslves over what to put in the final bill?

[jefferson_dem]

7. Not to me.

I'm always wary of press bias but do not detect it in CSPAN's mission or coverage.

It would be terrific if the public had a front row seat for these negotiations, even if I fully expect they would be mischaracterized and exploited to the fullest by right-wing/left-wing nutjob ideologues.

[Armstead]

9. My post wasn't referring to your OP

This left wing nutjob was referring to the reactions.

Wherever one stands on HCR, it is hard to say it woold be a bad thing to let the public see who stands where and how the sausage is being made.

[babylonsister]

11. Don't put words in my mouth. Why weren't they yelling for this in

June? Hmmm? Now that this might not go to conference, suddenly they're interested? And Brian Lamb isn't a pal of mine. Some might even think he has a r/w agenda. :think:

[Armstead]

21. If I misinterpreted you I apologize.

I do wish they'd done more of this sooner during the process.

But I don't believe the timing of this has anything to do with any nefarious political agenda by Lamb or CSPAN.

[Hello_Kitty]

10. Pres. Obama promised transparency during his campaign

Lamb is calling him on it.

[ClassWarrior]

14. Transparency is always good, Sis. At least if they go down that road now, it'll be tough...

...to backtrack with future administrations. Any port in storm.

NGU.

[Captain Hilts]

16. It's amazing how many folks here are against this request. Amazing. nt

[FrenchieCat]

15. CSPAN is owned by the Cable stations......

in otherwords, CSPAN is owned by mega corporations.

C-SPAN (pronounced /si.spæn/, see-span), an abbreviation of Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network owned and operated by the cable industry.

Uncommonly 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.

Although C-SPAN states its commitment to providing politically balanced programming, C-SPAN has been criticized by progressive organizations for an alleged bias toward conservatives.<14> A study released by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) argued that C-SPAN's morning call-in show, Washington Journal, favored Republicans as guests over Democrats by a two-to-one margin during a six-month period in 2005.<15> A 2009 C-SPAN survey reported that its audience included almost equal numbers of liberals and conservatives, with 31% describing themselves as "liberal" compared to 28% calling themselves "conservative".<16>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-SPAN


11th hour intervention for the sake of the Republican obstructionists
doesn't impress me one bit!

[ClassWarrior]

17. Why are you afraid of people seeing what happens? I think it could really show the difference...

...between our people and the freakzoids on the (R) side.

NGU.

[FrenchieCat]

18. I don't think that those who don't like the bill now, will like it any more after negotiations....

closed or open.....so why bother?

Both the DUers on this board as well as the Obstructionist Republicans
will never be pleased no matter what, and personally, I don't feel like endangering the bill,
for the sake of those who have already made up their mind that short of single payer or a PO,
there's nothing left to talk about.

and since Folks have already been decrying the President day in, day out,
and after one year have judged him a failure......that won't change by
trying to accomodate them.

At this point, there is little difference in my mind with those who oppose the President
from either the Right or the Left....as their desires of being proven right outweights what could be
beneficial for some in this country, as does their hopes to see Obama fail as retribution.

You see, when we were all against Bush, it was difficult to distinguish the asshats
from the folks that just wanted better for their country, cause we all basically wanted the same thing; to see Bush ousted.

but now, those who cannot be pleased about anything no matter what unless their entire wish list is checked off have become more evident.

[ClassWarrior]

19. "Endanger?" So you think the President has something to hide?

How does transparency "endanger" anything? This still is a democracy, isn't it?

And I think this President would welcome it.

NGU.

[Armstead]

20. My God! Maybe we should ask CSpan to block out the debates on the House and senate floor too

Evil CSPAN -- trying to destroy Obama and the Democrats by requesting permission to do the kind of thing they do all the time: shining a light on the activities of government and elected officials by broadcasting meetings and hearings and the floor.

Here on DU, people jumped on CSpan's ass anyytime they failed to cover something government did during the Bush administration. Now you're jumping on their butt for providing the openess you demanded back then.

Talk about a freaking double standard!

[jenmito]

22. Hmmm. C-Span covered every single Teabag Party but has not covered quite a few of Obama's

events/speeches/town halls. So I guess I'm not surprised that they're giving fuel to Repubs. in this case.

[mstinamotorcity]

23. There is no need

for c-span to inform us of anything that is how a lot of what should have been in the bill got derailed.They would pick out legitimate parts of the bill an attack it .Hell it was a republican congressman who wanted end of life consultations in the bill. But you see what they did to one of their very own,they turned on him and called it death panels.I always wondered about that one you think he wanted it in there just for ammunition.Doesn't matter.It is time for the bill to get passed with out any distractions or obstructions.We are not going to get any repug support so there is no need for them to see a damn thing.We are already prepared for it to not be everything that we want but we are learning how to accept some change in these small increments.The transparency is only so they can figure out the next thing they can use to hold up the bill.Personally they should conference the bill get the Democratic Senate and House ,Vote and have it on the Presidents desk in the morning.Once it has his signature, then we might let them call it Obama-cares!!!!!!!!

[Armstead]

24. CSAN doesn't attack anything

If people choose to use information they see on televised hearings or meetings to attack the bill, that has nothing to do with CSpan pointing their cameras at it.

[mstinamotorcity]

25. this post was not to

imply that c-span attacks it is to imply that there is no need for c-span to have access to conferencing the bill because it will only be used as another stall tactic by picking apart certain portions of the bill. this is a repug tactic.And personally everything doesn't have to have a television platform.

[JustinL]

26. Good. So did 2008 Obama.

To achieve health care reform, Obama said in August 2008, "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jan/05/charlie-crist/gov-charlie-crist-says-obama-breaks-transparency-p/

[ElsewheresDaughter]

27. CSpan's Brian Lamb is a big time Repubilcan supporter. admirers Cheney

BRIAN P. LAMB Chairman and CEO C-SPAN .....Lamb came very close to becoming the personal aide of Richard Nixon during his campaign for the 1968 presidential election,

In 2007, Lamb received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from *

“Ronald Reagan used to have this little plaque on his desk that said..."No telling how much you can get accomplished if you don't care who gets the credit." I've used that; I just find that to be incredibly important.” —Brian Lamb

I always watched and I always knew where he was coming from and where he was going to with his C-Span.