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I look at many news sources, but C-SPAN offers a view of current events that you don't get elsewhere. Many important, official events are covered on the C-SPAN channels, as well as interesting features like commencement speeches, book reviews, professional conclaves, and excerpts from foreign televised press and government. Much of the coverage is live, and so although the players are usually aware of the camera trained on them, you get to see glimmers of what's behind the facade. Some programs allow people to call in, accomodating both sides of contentious issues to simultaneously provide a cross-section of average American views and a national process of cathartic debate. Nobody in this world is perfectly objective, but the series hosts frequently demonstrate a good example of fair arbitration and productive interviewing. The programming includes an unparalleled amount of time on the floor of Congress, so you can actually see your representation at work from the One-Minute Speeches to the Roll-Call Votes, with a few lonely nights of some elected official talking to a virtually empty room in between. The really good stuff gets aired repeatedly. C-SPAN is a public resource, with a mandate for supporting the principle of democracy.
C-SPAN is also the perfect vehicle for my own excursion into armchair journalism. It's available everywhere in the most basic cable lineup. In fact, I got it for free with my internet connection. It's the only television I'll watch, and every time I think I have nothing left to say, I turn this channel on and find more to talk about. I plan to use this forum to share my observations on America, government, and the media itself, and C-SPAN gives raw material for all three.
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