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Catch Our Politicians Doing Something Right
By Damon Circosta
Published: Nov. 2, 2009
RALEIGH - The big story out of Raleigh last week was the State Board of Elections inquiry into former Gov. Mike Easley’s alleged campaign finance improprieties. In addition to extended radio, television and newspaper coverage, anyone with an Internet connection could watch the proceedings uninterrupted and unfiltered.
In devoting so much coverage to these hearings, the news media is performing a valuable service to the citizens of this state. One of the most important aspects of journalism is to serve as a watchdog.
News outlets and reporters have an incentive to do this job well. Investigations of impropriety are what sells papers and makes journalistic careers. Pulitzers are awarded and revenue jumps when reporters catch politicians doing something wrong.
North Carolina, a state that prides itself on its reputation of good government, has recently been rocked by several high-profile political scandals. Yet despite these scandals, the overwhelming majority of people who serve in public office are good and honorable. They do their jobs and serve the people mostly out of the spotlight.
Any abuse of the public trust is newsworthy and there has been no shortage of opportunities to catch politicians doing something wrong. But perhaps we should also try to catch politicians doing something right.
I am not suggesting that we dial back coverage of hearings like the one happening in the Easley campaign finance case. What I am suggesting is that we find a way to focus attention on public service when scandal isn’t in the offing.
It’s easy to follow the proceedings of the Easley affair. I counted no less than a dozen cameras there last week. In fact, you could watch every single piece of testimony on several different Web sites if you choose to. It should be just as easy to follow our public officials when they are engaged in the people’s business.
The floor of both chambers of the Legislature would be a great place to start. An uninterrupted feed of the day-to-day happenings of the General Assembly isn’t going to be destination television, but it would give us all the opportunity to see our lawmakers doing what we elected them to do.
Detractors will tell you that broadcasting raw footage of government proceedings will change the debate. They are worried that the presence of television cameras would encourage grandstanding, or even worse, the footage will be chopped into snippets and used in unflattering attack ads.
Other states and the federal government have figured out a way to broadcast their proceedings without these problems.
For the last 30 years, C-SPAN has provided uninterrupted coverage of Congress. It’s not riveting television, and the ratings for C-SPAN don’t even compete with the most banal sitcom or reality show. But having the opportunity to see our government when it is doing work is extremely valuable. Catching the occasional glimpse of our political process provides contrast to all of the political intrigue generated by hearings like the one that happened last week.
We shouldn’t only pay attention to our politicians when there is a scandal. A healthy democracy requires that we all spend at least a little time checking in on civic affairs. Right now, it’s easy to catch them doing something wrong. Let’s make it just as easy to catch them doing something right.