"If the politics of division has become clich�, it's because we have forgotten that the media can also bring us together. Beyond the strident rhetoric of blogs, cable TV and talk radio is C-SPAN.

C-SPAN does two important things for our democracy. First, it's the journalism of direct sources. It covers meetings, government announcements and the Congress unfiltered, letting people in on the once-secret process, seeing events unfold without the compression required to fit the story into the structure of a news program. The second thing C-SPAN does is to transmit a respect for differences across political ideology; its call-in programs are scrupulously fair. There's one line for conservative callers, a number for independents and still another for liberals. Ideas are explored through a cue, line by line, with fairness as the shared value."

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: C-SPAN: Journalism of direct sources (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3/27)

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