Website Name: CSPAN http://www.c-span.org/
Operated By: National Cable Satellite Corporation
Funded By: “C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) is a private non-profit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. C-SPAN receives no government funding; operations are funded by fees paid by cable and satellite affiliates who carry C-SPAN programming.”
CSPAN, or Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, was not an oft visited channel in our home growing up. I have memories of flipping through the channels looking for Disney channel and coming across some government proceeding on CSPAN. I inwardly groaned, repulsed by how boring the channel seemed to me, a child, then I flipped quickly on to the next channel. Now that I am an adult, and I have been to the CSPAN website and observed a few video clips and have read the history of CSPAN, I feel a bit more welcoming of the organization which as a child I would never have enjoyed. This week in investigating the website, I watched a video of a Gallup representative discussing the current 40% mass media trust rate, and I watched/listened to a 30 minute video of the director of the U.S. Botanic Garden discussing the history of the Garden. Truthfully, CSPAN has actually developed since my childhood, as has my understanding and interest in the government and our country. In 2001, CSPAN launched its third associated channel “CSPAN 3” in addition to the others, “CSPAN” and “CSPAN 2”. CSPAN also has a radio station available on Sirius XM. The website is very expansive, with a large video library free to watch, many podcasts, a blog, and among other various types of information, there is an interesting website about the First Ladies of the United States. There is also a Series A-Z page that helps you find helpfully grouped information. One of the major collections of information is regarding Congress. They have gone to great lengths to provide a lot of info on our lawmakers. One more major item on the site worth noting is “CSPAN Classroom” which has a lot of helpful resources for teachers. The website has a corresponding free Android/Apple app that lets you listen live to all three of the stations and CSPAN radio. This is nice, but it is regrettable that the app only allows the audio and that the main website only allows for streaming of the channels if you log in with a cable provider. I think that they put off a lot of viewers by requiring cable service. Many citizens don’t have cable service anymore, but rather opt for online news and subscription movie and tv service, like XBOX video, hulu, or Netflix. We are one of those families. In any case, CSPAN is still a great resource for Americans because they provide unedited raw video of many US court, Congressional, and public affairs proceedings without bias or interruption, and also provide American history programming and non-fiction book and author events from around the country, much of this free on their website.
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