FACTORS RELATED TO CONGRESSIONAL TELEVISION IMPLEMENTATION: A LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF TELEVISION COVERAGE OF U.S. HOUSE AND SENATE COMMITTEE HEARINGS, MEETINGS AND DELIBERATIVE CHAMBER SESSIONS, 1955-1979.

摘要

This study chronicles the legislative development of Congressional television from 1955 to September, 1979, a period of momentous transformation in the use made of the medium by the U.S. Senate and by the U.S. House of Representatives. As the title suggests, the study defines Congressional television as any televised coverage of U.S. Senate and U.S. House proceedings.;This was a descriptive, historical study based primarily on examination of official government documents. Specific documents included copies of resolutions introduced in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House related to methods of implementing Congressional television, committee hearings, reports, documents and prints emanating from introduction of those resolutions, and commission and special studies such as those the Congressional Research Service that have provided information for varying aspects of Congressional television. The Congressional Record served as a particularly effective source of material for tracing the chronology of Congressional television through periodic debate and commentary.;Personal correspondence and interviews with some of the principal participants in the Congressional television endeavor served as further sources of information. U.S. Representatives Jack Brooks, B. F. Sisk, John Anderson and Charlie Rose and Tom VanDusen, Special Adviser to the Canadian House of Commons, provided information through correspondence. Moreover, important data came from interviews with Joan Teague, Director of the U.S. House Broadcasting System; Don Wolfensberger, Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative John Anderson; Jana Dabrowski, Director of Network Services for the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network; U.S. Representative Henson Moore; Joe Karpanski, Staff Assistant to Representative Moore; and Irwin Arieff, correspondent for the Congressional Quarterly.;The legislative implementation of the various phases of congressional television proceeded slowly during the past fifty years, due primarily to the number of unresolved questions surrounding the possible impact television might have on the two Congressional houses. Additionally, at no time was there any great surge in either Congressional or public demand to implement any form of Congressional television. Attitudes among U.S. House members became more favorable toward such implementation, though, as "nuisance" arguments against televised chamber proceedings were diminished by advances in technologically sophisticated hardware and production techniques, as philosophical reservations were resolved, and as the practical advantages television offered toward increasing Congressional efficiency and at the same time boosting the Congressional image were demonstrated. Owing to these factors, the House opened its chamber proceedings to live televised coverage in March, 1979. What effects such coverage has had or might have on House members as well as on viewers of House proceedings is yet to be determined.;This study's major thrust is to trace the legislative development of Congressional television to its present state by examining the motives and objectives of the numerous federal legislators who have introduced resolutions and bills on the subject during the past quarter-century. Both antecedent and parallel to a legislative history of Congressional television is a study of the political climate within the federal government and its effect on inducing Congress to employ more efficient methods of communicating with the public. In that respect, this study examines the dominance of the U.S. President in the past two decades and the reassertion of Congressional leadership in the late 1970's to determine what bearing such a shift in roles has had on Congressional use of television.