An image from the first C-SPAN broadcast in 1979.

An image from the first C-SPAN broadcast in 1979. C-SPAN, used with permission

C-SPAN, Twitter, Facebook, and (yes) the Daily Show give American voters a unique, near real-time view of Congress. These tools have allowed reporters, journalists and satirists to hold their elected leaders accountable in new ways. But the portrait is often incomplete, missing the strategy, elbow twisting and every day constituent service that goes into legislating. Kojo kicks off a week of special broadcasts from Capitol Hill by talking with C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb and Roll Call Editor-in-Chief Christina Bellantoni about the difference between Congress as it is, and Congress as we imagine it.

Guests

  • Brian Lamb Founder and Executive Chairman, C-SPAN; Host, Q&A
  • Christina Bellantoni Editor in Chief, Roll Call

Highlights

  • Listen 7:46

    Kojo tells the story of how he and U.S. Rep John Conyers sweet talked their way into an interview with economist John Kenneth Galbraith

  • Listen 15:40

    Brian Lamb and Christina Bellantoni weigh in on the "coarsening of media rhetoric" that has come with real-time television and channels like YouTube.

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