Loud booing. Animated conversations in the aisles of the House chamber. Sleeping children. Lawmakers scrolling on their phones.
The typical live stream from the U.S. House is focused on the dais and the desks from which members of each party address the chamber. But this week brought an unusual amount of drama as the American public watched lawmakers struggle to select a new speaker.
Whether it’s lawmakers chatting in the aisles or their reactions after a vote, Ben O’Connell, C-SPAN’s director of editorial operations, says he hopes the network will be allowed to show more of it to the American public.
“Those visuals are really speaking to viewers,” he told The Post. “It’s helping to tell the story of this speaker election. Now, imagine if we were able to do that when there’s a major piece of legislation. I think that it would be far more engaging for the American people, and voters would really be able to see who’s talking to who.”
