(Download) "Television and Legislatures: The American Experience." by Canadian Parliamentary Review " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Television and Legislatures: The American Experience.
- Author : Canadian Parliamentary Review
- Release Date : January 22, 2000
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 238 KB
Description
It is now more than twenty years since the United States House of Representatives began televising its daily proceedings in March 1979. The Senate followed in 1986. This article looks at some of the effects television has had on legislative proceedings. Over the last several decades, Congress has evolved from a public institution protective of its privacy to one that has welcomed the public to view its proceedings. Television cameras have allowed viewers the opportunity to watch their congressman at work and to see democracy in action. The cameras have also allowed members to bask in the light of publicity and play to the camera -- a necessary evil in this age of electronic politics. During the debates on televising the Senate, J. Bennett Johnston, an opponent of the cameras, accurately, if somewhat sarcastically, described the marriage of today's politician with television: