An 'Honest,' 'Open' House, Where Cameras Can't Zoom Out

Al Kamen
Washington Post
Jan. 05, 2007

The House of Representatives is often called "the People's House." So wouldn't it be nifty if the "people" could see what was going on in their own house?

But those watching on TV really can't. Only tight camera shots of lawmakers speaking on the floor -- or of the presiding officer in the chair -- are allowed. The camera is not permitted to pan the chamber. Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) had promised that the Democrats would have "the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history."

So Brian Lamb, the head of C-Span, which got the electronic eye into the House and Senate in the first place nearly three decades ago, thought this would be a great opportunity to improve coverage. (The GOP turned him down in 1985.)

He wrote Pelosi asking for more cameras, saying the current system "does a disservice to the institution and to the public." For example, the fixed camera means "you can never get a reaction shot" during a debate, he told us, so it "takes out of the experience any soul" or sense of the give-and-take.

Not so, Pelosi said in a Dec. 22 letter to Lamb. "I believe the dignity and decorum of the United States House of Representatives are best preserved by maintaining the current system of televised proceedings," she wrote.

"Dignity"? "Decorum"? In a place that folks such as Jim Traficant, Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley used to call home? Okay, she's obviously joking, but still. . . . As The Who sang years ago: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."