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In Praise of C-SPAN
By Peter Block
We live in a
culture of commerce and it invades not only what we do, but what we
become. At the heart of commerce is the capacity to market, sell and
build a future on what is most often a false promise. It is most obvious
in this season of a presidential campaign where each candidate promises
a future that not one of their predecessors has been able to deliver. If
I vote Republican, Democrat or Green, my taxes will go down, my children
will learn more in school, my health care will improve and cost less,
the streets will be safe, my family will be preserved and happy, the
environment will be sustained and I will be able to sleep through the
night.
It is similar to the story of a person who broke their arm and went to
the doctor. As the doctor was setting the arm, the patient asked the
doctor, "When my arm heals, will I be able to play the violin?" The
doctor said, "Yes, definitely." The patient said, "That's wonderful
news, because I didn't know how to play the violin before I broke my
arm."
The candidates have become products, we are the consumer and the winner
is the one with the best merchandising talent and resources. The issues
become background and the action is about positioning, reach and mass
customizing messages so that every citizen receives a message that is
aimed at their particular interest.
The campaign is simply an extension of the marketing culture that we
have learned to accept and participate in. I have been puzzled lately
why:
•
It takes three hours to get your pictures developed in a "One Hour
Photo Developing" store?
•
Dollar Car Rental charges $55.00 to rent a car?
•
It takes up to eight months to get an article published in Fast Company
magazine?
•
At a Ford Motor Company conference on total quality, all participants
received a
gift of a portable car repair kit.
•
When I buy a set of wrenches from TV for $59.95, I get 300 screws and
fasteners "absolutely free."
And we are all
guilty, we each contribute to the illusion. I give talks at conferences
and read in the publicity brochure that I am an "International Leading
Change Management Expert." Really...Well, who am I leading and when did
the race begin, who is ahead of me, and what is "change management"
anyway? I think I must have become an expert the first time my advice
was not followed. And as far as being "international," I gave a talk in
Toronto six years ago, so that must count.
An Oasis of
Integrity
If we are not careful, we begin to believe that this is the way it has
to be-not true. Much of the selling of America comes through the medium
of television and it is on television that the alternative to the "Big
Promise" and the "Big Promotion" can be found. It is on C-SPAN. It is
two cable channels that tell the truth, and treat me like something more
than a consumer. C-SPAN is non-commercial and funded by the cable
industry. It was originally created to live-broadcast the sessions of
Congress, and in the early days was profoundly boring. In fact, I used
to threaten my children that if they did not behave themselves, their
punishment would be to watch three hours of C-SPAN.
Not so any more. Here are some of the qualities of this media treasure:
1. You get
viewpoints that never make it on the major networks and cable channels.
One weekend I watched the National Libertarian Convention. I heard the
argument for no government which included the legalization of marijuana.
The proponent of legalization presented the evidence that the drug has
no medical liability and does not affect the brain cells or our memory.
After presenting the findings, the speaker stood in silence for a few
moments, having forgotten the rest of the speech-interesting.
2. Programming is
presented without editorial comment. No one interprets the world for me,
it is just presented. The campaign conventions were just shown,
beginning to end, uninterrupted by talking heads telling me the tactical
importance and nuances of what I am watching. Other recent events aired
were a conference of Nobel Prize winners and world leaders at the Aspen
Institute speaking on globalization and poverty. Almost every cause and
institute has its day here which makes it a powerful force for the
democratic expression of ideas. All with no fanfare, no commerce, no
effort to sell derivative products, just content.
3. On the weekends,
there is "Booknotes." You see authors talking about their work.
Sometimes you see them in local bookstores discussing a book, answering
questions or being interviewed by Brian Lamb. You hear about their
writing, their lives, their view of the world, all in a quiet,
thoughtful, conversational way. No crossfire, no dramatic
confrontations, just ideas and the people behind them.
4. C-SPAN is the
only channel that puts the program first and the time slot second. Shows
do not start at the beginning and end of the hour. They are shown for as
long as they take. Some last twenty minutes, some four hours. Plus,
programs get repeated several times to fit my schedule. If you are among
those that are awake in the middle of the night, you can watch the same
quality of programs that were on during the day.
5. Finally, if you
like what you see and want a copy of it, you can get the video tape of
it for $19.95 plus shipping and handling. Transcripts are even less.
This is all the
good news. Being an imperfect world, the bad news is that C-SPAN is
still required to broadcast congressional speeches when Congress is in
session, which keeps it as a candidate for child discipline
possibilities. Also, even when it is free to really inform us, it is a
virtually unwatched national asset. The number of people watching C-SPAN
does not even show up on the Neilson rating scale. That is what needs to
change. Watching programming that treats the viewer as a thoughtful
adult is an answer to the commercial and dumbing down broadcasting that
captures most of our attention.
At the moment each of us decides to support those media, like C-SPAN,
that live out free speech and are truly democratic and pluralistic in
their actions, something in the culture will start to shift. Granted the
Internet offers this potential, but even this is increasingly becoming
commercialized and controlled by corporate interest.
C-SPAN is a pure play for intellectual diversity and free speech. If
it became the most watched TV channel, then the market pressure of our
attention might result in our once again being able to get a photo
developed in an hour, rent a car for a dollar, get an article published
quickly in Fast Company, and, who knows, when my arm heals, I might be
able to play the violin.
This
article appeared in
News for a Change published by AQP in October 2000
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