Cable Television

C SPAN Celebrating 47 Years Of Exceptional Coverage Of American Government And Politics!

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C SPAN is celebrating its 47th Anniversary, having been started on March 19, 1979, covering American politics and government in a non partisan way, unmatched by any other news media source.

The public service began through its founder, executive Chairman, and now retired CEO Brian Lamb, and co-CEO Susan Swain, to provide the American people gavel to gavel coverage of Congress, but also of the Presidency, the Supreme Court, and major news events and gatherings, along with coverage of British, Australian, and Canadian government events.

Major news events in domestic and foreign affairs, all balanced without any clear bias, including election campaigns and national Presidential conventions, and Supreme Court case arguments, are also offered.

The cable television industry formed C SPAN as a nonprofit public service, and operates independently, as a non biased presentation of public affairs.

It offers gavel to gavel coverage of both houses of Congress, with the US House of Representatives on C SPAN One, and the US Senate on C SPAN Two, and also has American History lectures and specials on American History on C SPAN Three.

Washington Journal allows citizens to call in with their views and questions on public affairs, and Book Notes covers lectures and interviews with authors on non fiction topics.

C SPAN began full time operations in September 1982, and Senate coverage on C SPAN Two in June 1986, and C SPAN Three in January 2001.

Brian Lamb spent many years interviewing non fiction authors on Booknotes, including this author, scholar, and blogger on his book, “Assassinations, Threats, and the American Presidency: From Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama” in the Fall of 2015, and he was a gracious interviewer.

Overall, it is estimated about 40 percent of Americans watch C SPAN in any calendar year, and it is a significant service in promoting knowledge of public affairs.

National Conventions May Be Part Of History, Never To Return

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It is now official: The two national conventions of the Democratic Party and Republican Party will not be held with large crowds, due to the CoronaVirus Pandemic, and it may be that the typical national convention format may now be part of American history, never to return.

National conventions in modern times have mostly been just coronations of the Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees. But there is no way to know whether in the future, that there might be a party divided as convention time arrives, as occurred in 1968 for the Democrats.

But with modern technology, it could be that saving money on conventions and focusing on the message being spread by the party nominees might be seen as a better use of funding.

Also, traveling the nation, which began with William Jennings Bryan in 1896, might no longer be the norm, as Joe Biden is doing an excellent job presenting his agenda in live speeches from home or specific locations, and then made available for cable and social media.

Too often, the constant traveling wears candidates down, and it would be better if the energy level could avoid exhaustion, which clearly shows in the last weeks of a Presidential campaign, particularly for the winner of the Presidency.

Donald Trump: Most Accessible Presidential Candidate, Least Accessible President!

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Donald Trump was just about the most accessible Presidential candidate, when he was running for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2015=2016, including phone interviews, and innumerable appearances on Cable Television.

But now, as President, he has only had one press conference in February, and has not been at all accessible in a direct fashion, to answer questions of journalists.

Instead, he attacks news media as “Fake Media”, and his Press spokesmen, Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have often refused to meet the media on television, and nave perpetrated lies and outrageous defenses of their boss in a way that has undermined their credibility.

So Donald Trump has become the most inaccessible President, and has declared the free press to be “the enemy”, reminding us of totalitarian dictatorships of the Left and the Right throughout the past century of world history!

Trump sounds and acts more like a Third World Dictator than the leader of the “Free World”, and seems to have no scruples at all in wreaking destruction of the cherished First Amendment!

35 Years Of CNN!

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On this day in 1980, the Cable News Network began, and it is hard to recall the time before cable news, news 24 hours a day, came to be the norm!

CNN, founded by Ted Turner, has undergone a tremendous amount of change, and has been much criticized, but it set the standard for cable news all over America, and was unchallenged, until the emergence of MSNBC and Fox News Channel in 1996.

CNN first became widely popular during the Persian Gulf War; and also gained by its coverage of the O J Simpson Murder Trial; the Bill Clinton Impeachment Trial; the controversial Presidential Election of 2000; the September 11, 2001 attacks of Al Qaeda; the Iraq War; Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans; the election of Barack Obama in 2008; and the Boston Marathon Bombing, among many other historic and, often, tragic events.

As much as there is room for vast improvement in news coverage, CNN has contributed a great deal to public discourse and discussion, informing the American people of what they need to know to be good American citizens, and to understand the world we live in!