The one part of Speaker Vote Week that received rave reviews was C-SPAN’s wall-to-wall coverage, with cameras showing live scenes of lawmakers interacting on the House floor. Normally, when the House is in session it controls the cameras that feed into C-SPAN and other news outlets. But without a speaker in place to set House rules, C-SPAN’s cameras were able to roam, capturing all kinds of interesting and entertaining activity.
Things reverted to normal last week, with the House-run cameras firmly fixed on whoever was speaking along with the occasional wide shot of the chamber during votes. But there is some interest in changing this. Five Democrats have proposed allowing C-SPAN to control its own feed of the House. Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz — whose heated argument with Kevin McCarthy and almost-altercation with Alabama Republican Mike Rogers during the speaker vote was captured by the nonprofit cable network — also supports the idea.
As someone who watches several orders of magnitude more House and Senate proceedings than the average U.S. citizen, I’m not against allowing C-SPAN free range. It was interesting to see the expressions on McCarthy’s face and to observe Democrats as spectators of the GOP drama.
