Many of us learned on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, that C-SPAN doesn't own or control the House Chamber cameras and microphones it uses for its live feeds of legislative sessions. The cameras, and the operation of those cameras, are controlled by the House and function only when the House is officially in session.
When House Democrats began their sit-in late yesterday morning to force a vote on a gun-control bill before the House of Representatives begins a scheduled vacation recess, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) put the legislative body into recess, which meant the cameras and microphones were switched off. Soon afterward, C-SPAN began broadcasting Periscope and Facebook Live feeds of the sit-in shot by various House Democrats. As of 11:30 am, June 23, the sit-in continued, as did C-SPAN's broadcast of live streams from the House Chamber floor. [Update: The sit-in ended that afternoon.]
The live feeds mostly consist of haggard, hoarse Democrats delivering speeches at the lectern without the help of amplification, while House Republicans offer their own rejoinders from the back of the chamber.
A few years from now, we might look back on this as live streaming's first major, extended media moment. So far during C-SPAN's broadcast of the live streams, there has been one tense, chaotic and dramatic confrontation—when Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) approached the lectern while Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) was speaking and shouted repeatedly "Radical Islam killed these people!" as he pointed at images of shooting victims. A physical altercation seemed entirely possible.
A less incendiary but perhaps more telling media moment came when the live stream from Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) was being broadcast by C-SPAN and his phone picked up the voice of an unseen colleague saying to him, "Were you a journalist in another life, Beto?"
The sit-in has gotten some additional social media play with the help of the slogan "no bill, no break" and the accompanying hashtag #NoBillNoBreak, as well as the hashtag #DemocraticSitIn.
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