YouTube Serves As C-SPAN 2.0 In Virginia State House
from the gotcha-on-camera dept
Video sites like YouTube may make for some fun timewasters, but increasingly they're proving to have some useful societal purpose. Recently, the site was used to track down the perpetrators of a crime after one of them had the bright idea of posting his cameraphone video of the even online. And in Virginia, an interesting situation is brewing, as Democrats in the state legislature have been posting videos to YouTube in an attempt to prevent Republicans from engaging in dirty politics. The Democrats say that the majority Republicans have been killing bills without taking a proper vote, and that they hope the videos will help shame the opposition. The Republicans counter that the Democrats are engaging in "gotcha" politics, and that some of the video footage has been edited to give a false depiction of the events. While that may be so, in some cases, anything that furthers transparency is a good thing, if in fact politicians are engaged in sneaky, off-hour tactics. If one party thinks it's being misrepresented by the other party, there's nothing stopping them from taking their own footage of the proceedings. Of course, this could all be taken care of if the legislature just had a camera on by default. It would bring more openness to the political process, and presumably offer a non-partisan point of view. But until that happens, YouTube represents a good way of exposing what goes on in the halls of power.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Gotcha...acting like a douchebag
I am all for the YouTubification of politics.
As a graduate of UVA and a staunch detractor of George Allen, I gotta say that this is indeed a step forward for representative democracy.
You bet we're in an age of "Gotcha" politics; as in "Gotcha on film subverting the legislative process, jerkoff." You want us to apologize for this?
My dad has worked for the House of Representatives recording studio for over 20 years [they are responsible for all floor coverage, State of the Union, etc; CSPAN just buys the feed].
They were all whining about the same shit in 1979 when they put cameras in the chambers. I personally won't be satisfied until we have a 24/7 Kennedy/DeLay/Bush/LibbyCAM.
Maybe then the politicians will be back on OUR side, instead of their corporate underwriters.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Big Brother on Big Brother Action
At least on film they can't go " Well I didn't say that" or "That's not what it meant" I'm not a Democrat but damned if I don't love this idea.
It's time the masses started caring about our governing body. In fact, it's time the majority was able to pull a Martin Luther and nail a digital note to the governing houses and say, HEY NO MORE GAMES! YouTube is just that venue.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
spelling nazi
I believe that compilations of events have a far-greater effect that a simple feed. If both parties have the same tools at their disposal, it sounds like a fair fight.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
but then again, with VOD and such, you don't have to sit through the formalities of parlimentary procedure, you can just have the "goodstuff"
who what's to see, and the gentleman from such and such makes a motion to call to question the motion regarding the proposed cact proposed by the gentlement from such and such while being seconded by such and such...
i mean i watched some of the congressional hearings on the HP pretexting case. funny. the chairman had to go to each "wittness" get their name, title and such. from there, he read a long queustion, to which the "witness" claimed the 5th to protect themself from self incrimination. and there were like 15 people, after abotu 20 minutes and 3 people, i had enough.
2 things you shouldn't let people see how they are made. sausages and bills.
anywhoo...more quotes politics....lets breat that down. poli/poly = many. tics = bloodsucking creatures. funny isn't it?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Expect a lot of attacks on them in the near future.
Once you start digging at the power and money of politicians the 'hit' teams come out of the woodwork.
Legions of Lawyers!!! SUE SUE SUE SUE!!!!!
lol
[ link to this | view in thread ]
While we are at it
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Figure this would me I'd never get any funding or anything actually accomplished.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Recording is good as long as it's complete
As for the videos on YouTube, I'm not sure I like that. I don't have a problem with them being on YouTube, what I have a problem with is the way they are getting there. Both parties have a pretty poor reputation for giving the public an "edited" version of the truth. I don't know that the Democrat versions are edited to make them seem worse, but it wouldn't surprise me. And once the Republicans start putting their own versions up on YouTube, you can bet that there will be just as much editing going on. What the public sees could end up being very distorted. The only solution in that case, would be to have an official feed that the "edited" versions could be compared against.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Recording is good as long as it's complete
[ link to this | view in thread ]
crack it open and shine the light in
That's why Virginia Democrats have been introducing the same bill for years to televise proceedings in the House of Delegates...and every year the (ever-narrowing) Republican majority votes the bill down.
It is on public record who is for, and who is against, transparency in (Virginia) government and shining a light on partisan shenanigans.
The Republicans stand to lose their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates either this cycle or in 2009. (Virginia, like New Jersey, holds their state election in the "off years" or odd-numbered years.) It will be interesting to see what Republicans think about checks and balances and transparency in government once they're back in the minority.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Open Governemnt
The other thing to do would be to put a camera in the divisions lobby, since votes are not secret, and then there is a good chance that politicians can be caught out speaking against something they voted for.
[ link to this | view in thread ]