GUEST, C-Span is not "the establishment media," and there was no "selective editing." It was all live and unedited. They did switch among cameras in a few different rooms, so you could argue (if you were a conspiracy theorist) that they jumped to a new camera every time a discussion of the issues broke out. But even then, I would have seen the beginnings of discussions of issues, and I did not.

(for those of you unfamiliar with C-Span, here is their mission:

C-SPAN is a public service created by the American cable television industry:

To provide C-SPAN's audience access to the live gavel-to-gavel proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and to other forums where public policy is discussed, debated and decided--all without editing, commentary or analysis and with a balanced presentation of points of view;

To provide elected and appointed officials and others who would influence public policy a direct conduit to the audience without filtering or otherwise distorting their points of view;

To provide the audience, through the call-in program, direct access to elected officials, other decision makers and journalists on a frequent and open basis;

To employ production values that accurately convey the business of government rather than distract from it; and to conduct all other aspects of its operations consistent with these principles.


It is often difficult to watch C-Span because they usually just let one camera run on, regardless of what it is capturing. So at a feed from a Kerry rally, you'll have Kerry shaking hands with people for 25 minutes sometimes, just saying "thank you, thank you, yes, I head about that, thank you, thanks for coming," etc. While it can be boring, it is often very enlightening, as was the live, unedited, un-commentated-upon, un-spun, and pundit-free feed from the Dubuque caucus.