The New York City Council Goes Live
BY Nick Judd | Wednesday, November 17 2010
Earlier today, the New York City Council began its first-ever proceedings to be broadcast across the Internet through a video live stream provided by the Council itself, using in-house resources.
Live streaming is a hugely useful tool for people who really want to keep track of their government — say, local government reporters — to follow along when they can't be there in person. But the true test won't be when the government's doing what it is, for example, today: issuing proclamations that sing the praises of local institutions.
No, live streaming will shine during the tense meetings that draw reporters like bees to flowers — and those meetings are sometimes not broadcast when it's government people holding the cameras. I was watching the New York State Senate on their in-house stream in the summer of 2009, when a small group of senators staged a coup to take power and install a new leadership. Then, in the thick of it, someone shut off the feed.
The State Senate here in New York has a singularly bad reputation as far as being a functioning legislature is concerned, but the example does raise a question: When government is running the cameras, can it resist the temptation to turn them off during embarrassing moments?
Of course the press will probably be there for all the juicy bits, too. WNYC has live-streamed New York's council proceedings in the past, such as a hearing on controversial legislation that allowed Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run for a third term (a referendum had previously limited him to two consecutive terms).
And the momentum now is towards more openness, not less. A press officer for the City Council told me via email that streaming is limited to stated meetings only, for now, but that may be expanded as time goes on.