Public affairs events come in a wide range of formats. Speeches, news conferences, forums and hearings are just some of the types of events that take place every day in Washington and beyond. Providing the public with the best variety of public affairs programming requires staying abreast of events taking place and understanding their relevance. This responsibility falls to C-SPAN's Assignment Desk. The Assignment Desk consists of several editors, each of whom is responsible for keeping track of events going on in a particular geographic location. One editor, for example, follows events on Capitol Hill, while another editor monitors events happening elsewhere in Washington, D.C.

Editors find out about events through a variety of means. In addition to receiving a deluge of faxes each day, editors also learn about events through mailed notices, emails and telephone invitations. Assignment Desk editors also spend several hours each day on the phone, actively seeking out other events for possible coverage and monitoring any changes in event scheduling. By mid-afternoon, each editor has developed a comprehensive list of events taking place in his or her area the next day.

The Daily Shoot Meeting
At 3 p.m. each day, members of the Assignment Desk sit down with representatives of C-SPAN's editorial departments for the daily shoot meeting. The purpose of the shoot meeting is to determine which events C-SPAN will cover the next day. Having only a fixed number of camera crews, C-SPAN cannot cover every event the Assignment Desk learns about. Each meeting begins with a review of the compiled list of events taking place the next day. Certain events, like luncheon addresses at the National Press Club and the standard weekly or daily policy briefings by the four Members of Congress who comprise the leadership, automatically receive coverage. In addition, special requests for camera coverage are occasionally made from other departments within C-SPAN.

After the list is reviewed, each event is polled for interest. Participants in the shoot meeting look for events that meet four basic conditions:

• the events should be of a public affairs nature;
• the subject of the events should be an issue of national importance;
• events should be selected so as to show balance between different sides of a particular issue; and
• the speakers participating in the events should be closely related to the topic under discussion.

After further discussion, the original list of events is whittled down to a smaller number of final candidates. At this point, logistical considerations like event location and time play a prominent role in event selection. An additional event can often be included if it takes place near an event already scheduled for coverage at a different time. Awareness of such logistical details allows C-SPAN to maximize the number of events its camera crews can cover, resulting in a greater variety of on-air programming.

By the end of the shoot meeting, a tentative coverage schedule for the next day is agreed upon. At this point, event sponsors are contacted to make any necessary arrangements. The scheduling of individual camera crews also takes place. Since camera crew members spend so much time away from the office covering events, they receive their next day assignments nightly from a telephone recording.