I recently had a discussion with the communications director of a house committee about liveblogging committee hearings. It seems that Hill staffers aren't just reading blogs: some of them are thinking about how blogs can bring people closer to the legislature.
I'd like to talk about what bloggers may be doing soon in committee hearings: liveblogging.
The last time there was a Democratic Majority, there wasn't really an internet. With the majority comes bigger budgets, bigger staffs, more resources, and greater control over Congressional Procedures. These add up to the potential to project a meaningful internet presence.
How can Congress possibly adapt to a medium that won't stand still, talks with a million voices, and is itself developing?
Reaching out is a solid first step.
Politicians at all levels post on Daily Kos and other blogs with increasing frequency, and that's excellent. Their presence legitimizes our medium and reinforces our expectations that citizens are to be engaged with meaningfully, and we get to be heard.
Reaching out is happening in different ways too. I started the Congressional Committees Project in November to give people a forum to use to watch what happens in Congressional Committees, by focusing on areas of their expertise or passion. After researching Committee transcripts, I was contacted by Pelosi's staff about researching transparency issues further. I'll have more to say about that soon.
This recent conversation with a different staffer was about liveblogging.
Liveblogging usually means posting on the fly, with comments or updates functioning as real-time updates, lagging seconds behind what is actually occurring.
We're drawn to liveblogging diaries for the same reason that we're drawn to "breaking" diaries: the title asserts a direct connection to reality, with the promise of new, un-played-out information for us to digest.
In reality, liveblogging has an eccentric, even asocial appearance. There's just something funny about people in real social situations who are still typing. Liveblogging isn't about creating transcripts, and, at its worst, could be described as the creation of hearsay.
What place could liveblogging have in a committee hearing?
Rephrasing the question may help to answer it. What function might liveblogging play at a committee hearing?
To see the potential benefits of having bloggers attend committee hearings, we have to shed the idea of the liveblogger disseminating fresh information. First, we're not limited to the role of information gatherer. Reporters don't attend press breifings to listen to every word. Hopefully, we'll have timely transcripts available soon for that purpose.
Instead, I see the first possible benefit of liveblogging committee hearings as accountability. By allowing bloggers to attend committee hearings, committee chairs will be saying to witnesses and members: "you are being watched and heard." It creates a different type of accountability, one that the MSM is often lax in demanding.
Also, liveblogging committee hearings gives the potential (or at least lays the foundation for) readers to contribute their own questions to committee hearings. Whenever I've asked about reform in Congress, daily kos readers consistently ask for ways to give input. If you're thinking that this may be unattainable, consider the input that lobbyists already have. Three times more money is spent lobbying members of Congress as is spent electing them. All that money and leveraging of personal relationships adds up to some pretty intimate pressure.
Congressional staffers are underpaid and overworked. They do most of the legislative work. Think of how often people come to daily kos with questions that need answers. The power of hundreds or thousands of intelligent readers--experts in all kinds of fields--poring intently over minute details, eager to share what they understand. If I were in charge of a committee, I'd think seriously about how to harness that kind of power.
Having bloggers attend committee hearings won't solve all of our problems, and it may meet with resistance just like TV cameras did when they were introduced.
It may, however, be a meaningful next step toward the civic empowerment we're all hoping to attain.