Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Subversive C-SPAN

Gore Vidal, writing a commentary in this week's The Nation, praises C-SPAN as "the one truly, if unconsciously, subversive media outlet in these United States." Why? Because its weekly broadcast of the Westminster Parliament's Question Time allows Americans "to observe British politics in full cry." He describes Question Time - when the Prime Minister is required to take hard-hitting questions from an always-raucous House of Commons, as "the only glimpse that most Americans will ever get of how democracy is supposed to work."

Vidal also notes that C-SPAN shows other UK-originated political programs, especially around UK election time. The example he gives is of a special broadcast of the three main party leaders being interrogated about the Iraq War by a UK studio audience (he's talking about a special presentation of BBC's Q&A program, itself called "Question Time" - I talked about it in London Calling back on May 1 - though C-SPAN also regularly showed episodes of BBC 2's flagship political affairs program, "Newsnight" throughout the recent UK election campaign). He notes, as many have, how wonderful it is to see a head of government have to face his skeptical people to explain why the country had to go to war. "Blair, for just going along, had to deal with savage, informed questions of a sort that Bush would never answer even if he were competent to do so."

The rest of Vidal's commentary focuses on Rep. John Conyers' efforts to uncover presidential election irregularities in Ohio, but Vidal's use of the British example to shine a harsh light on America's creaking democracy is interesting, especially because he recognizes the power of C-SPAN to provide that light. (And just for the record, I think Britain's own democracy is pretty creaky in places - but it is far more lively, and that's crucial, I believe.) In fact, C-SPAN is one of the - very few - hidden wonders of the American media, providing wonderful insights into American government and democracy for those willing to still seek out televised information rather than mindless entertainment. C-SPAN also provides insights into other countries' political systems, including those of Canada (which has its own version of Question Time, called "Question Period") and France (e.g., during its recent referendum over the EU constitution). But undoubtedly the bulk of C-SPAN's foreign coverage goes to Britain. The crown jewel in this coverage is of course Question Time, broadcast live on Wednesday mornings and repeated on Sunday evenings. But as mentioned before, other UK political programs get aired as well (albeit infrequently). C-SPAN also regularly covers professional forums for journalists and other media professionals, and many of the participants in these forums, I've noticed, have British accents and work for British organizations.

So C-SPAN comes under a significant amount of influence from the Brits. And yes, I think this influence truly is "subversive," even as these public service channels (C-SPAN 1 and 2) continue to fly under the radar of the rest of the U.S. media system.

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