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Congress and the Media: Close Up Foundation and C-SPAN
In partnership with the Close Up Foundation and C-SPAN television, the Center on Congress produced two programs on "The Media and Congress." These programs brought leading journalists and academics before audiences of students for a lively discussion of topics including: how the media cover Congress; the influence of C-SPAN and the Internet on the operations of Congress and public perceptions of the institution; media objectivity; and the media's crucial role in helping citizens sustain representative democracy.
Panelists for the first program were Ron Elving of National Public Radio, Jackie Calmes of the Wall Street Journal and Center on Congress Director Lee Hamilton. The second program featured Paul Kane of Roll Call; former CNN correspondent Ralph Begleiter, now a professor at the University of Delaware; and Furman University professor Danielle Vinson, author of the book "Local Media Coverage of Congress and its Members." Close Up's John Milewski was moderator for the programs.
(Q=Quicktime, W=Windows Media) These videos are large, between 5-20 MB each, so they may take a while to load on slower connections.
Media Coverage of Congress
Q | W How do you decide what to cover?
Q | W How can reporters summarize?
Q | W How much time to devote to covering Congress?
Q | W Resisting the temptation to cover from the top down
Q | W How do legislators go about getting attention from the press?
Media's Impact on Congress
Q | W Objectivity in the media
Q | W Does TV affect legislation?
Q | W Mechanics of covering Congress
Q | W Negative aspects of television coverage
Q | W Does increasing media sophistication affect Congressional media operations?
Q | W Effect of the expansion of internet coverage of Congress
Media Objectivity
Q | W Are the media thinking for us?
Q | W Many sources, you just need to seek them out
Q | W Can the media go too far?
Q | W Is there an adversarial relationship between Congress and the media?
Media's Crucial Role in Helping Representative Democracy
Q | W Is there too much focus on the executive branch?