Sen. Robert Dole Republican Leader United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20515

RE: Further Opening Up the Senate to C-SPAN Cameras.


Dear Senator Dole:

As you and your colleagues prepare to take leadership of the Senate, we've noted with interest an increasing national discussion about how tho expand public access to the legislative process.

We at C-SPAN are among those who have long been interested in expanding the public's access to Congress. As such, we would like to offer this proposal which we hope can contibute to this goal: Consider opening the 104th Congress fully to television cameras. Allow C-SPAN cameras into places where they've historically been excluded -- most importantly, into the chamber of the U.S. Senate.

Here, more specifically, is what we propose:

1) Allow C-SPAN Cameras to cover Senate floor debates. Senate cameras cameras currently give C-SPAN and the rest of the news media a restricted view of the floor. Under Senate rules, cameras cannot pan the chamber or take reaction shots; they must ficus only on Senators who are speaking. These procedures were agreed to by a Senate has greatly changed since the vote on Senate television in 1986. Only half of the Senators who were present then are still in office. Not only has the Senate changed, society has too--consider how much our country's appetite for access to information has grown in those eight years.

Allow C-SPAN--a private not-for-profit company to install its own cameras in the Senate. Since C-SPAN brings Congress inton American living rooms, most American (and, according to our last survey as many as half of the Senators) think that C-SPAN is operating cameras in the Congress. They don't know that the cameras in the chamber are controlled by government employees using procedures established by the Senate Rules Committee. Allowing C-SPAN cameras in the chamber will help end the confusion and create a more honest picture of Senate debates.

If you do allow our cameras into the chamber, we will commit to covering Senate floor debates in the same style we've established during 16 years and 25,000 hours of Congressional committee coverage. We'll present a complete, honest, and accurate picture of the day's events, and make our telecasts available to others in the news media using accepted pooling practices. We hope you'll agree that allowing our cameras in the Senate chamber is a simple way to use technology to extend Congress' public galleries. It allows 35 million C-SPAN2 homes the same opportunity to see their legislators that 611 citizens sitting in the Senate gallery.

2) Open the Leader's "dugout chatter" to television. Established practice has kept cameras out of these daily on-the-record briefings between reporters and the Majority Leader. Let cameras in and allow the public to hear and see these sessions for themselves. We can commit to televising these briefings on C-SPAN2 each day; we would also extend a similar opportunity to the Minority Leader.

3) Allow C-SPAN to install a permanent camera position just off the floor. Our viewing public regularly tells us they need more context for the debates they watch. Create a permanent camera position near the floor so that we can interview Senators during quorum calls, votes and before and/or after C-SPAN2's gavel-to-gavel coverage of Senate sessions.

4) Open all House-Senate conference committees to camera. Often, camera's are shut out of this important, final step in the legislative process. Budget Conferences are one important example. We propose that the public be allowed to witness -- via television -- the debate and decision making that finally determines how their tax dollars are being spent.

As you can imagine, going forward with all these proposals would require considerable additional resources from C-SPAN. You should know that the cable television industry, which is responsible for creating and funding C-SPAN, is committed to providing the additional resources necessary to expand our coverage of Congress.

It took many years for the Senate to agree to televise its sessions. Since then, other democracies have followed suit -- several of them allowing more complete television pictures than American citizens now get. We hope you'll agree that after eight years, it's time for the Senate to take the next step--consider other venues we've suggested. Expand what American citizens can see of their national legislature; and, make the television picture of Congress more complete and, therefore more honest.

As you consider our proposals we, of course, happy to provide any details or technical information you may need.

Sincerely,



Brian Lamb

Chief Executive Officer



cc: Sen. Tom Daschle, Sen. Chris Dodd



P.S. Today, a similar proposal is being sent to the leaders of the House; we will also be sending copies to our colleages in the news media.