Little Brother
The government should put C-SPAN out of business by videoing itself. Obama has said he wants to webcast agency meetings. I say the same should be the case for Congressional meetings and, yes, court sessions, including Supreme Court hearings. I’ve suggested that radio stations and newspapers should get citizens to record and podcast all their local government meetings.
All of government’s deliberations should be watchable. That doesn’t mean they’ll be watched, of course; this is sure to be the lowest rated video in the history of the camera. But that doesn’t matter. All it takes is for one Josh Marshall to get one of his readers to watch one hearing to catch that moment that’s newsworthy. And all the while, the government officials on the other side of the camera will know they are being watched.
Now one could argue that this will turn government into show biz, that politicians will preen for the camera as they have in big hearings and as judges have in televised trials. But the more everything is videoed, the less it becomes special. It becomes the eye of the people, always there: Big Brother, reversed.
Update: Government isn’t Little Brother’s only target, of course. We can already surveil each other w/ unprecedented ease.
We did videotape congressional sessions, but didn’t (and don’t) release them to the public. Congress is a pretty darn insular place, and as such House Rules say basically “everything produced by Congress is for the benefit of the Members.” Rather than the voters.
So video was kept private, released at great cost ($60+ an hour) and only with a committee chairman’s approval.