C-SPAN Career Opportunities

THE C-SPAN 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.

C-SPAN, the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network, is located in Washington, DC, one block from the Capitol. The cable television industry created C-SPAN in 1979 to provide live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the US House of Representatives. In 1986, C-SPAN2 was launched to provide corresponding coverage of the US Senate. C-SPAN3, launched in 1997, provides additional public affairs programming to digital TV customers. Since then, C-SPAN's programming has broadened to include in-depth coverage of the federal government's executive and judicial branches, national and international public affairs events and extensive coverage of campaigns and elections. In 1993, C-SPAN created C-SPAN.org as a comprehensive online resource for public affairs information, and in 1998 Book TV, devoted to exploring the world of nonfiction, was launched on C-SPAN2.

Providing unedited and balanced access to public affairs is still our main goal. The network offers viewers an opportunity to see public policy events as they happen, often in their entirety and without any commentary from us. Our philosophy is unique: we allow viewers to judge events for themselves and to critically assess current issues.

Today, C-SPAN is available in more than 99 million cable and satellite homes.

C-SPAN MILESTONES

1979
March 19 C-SPAN begins cablecasting the U.S. House of Representatives live to 3.5 million households.

1980
October 7 C-SPAN adds LIVE Viewer Call-ins to program schedule, providing viewers with direct access to public policy makers.

1981
January 6 C-SPAN adds gavel-to-gavel coverage of congressional hearings to program schedule.
April 1 C-SPAN cablecasts daily, eight-hours-a-day.

1982
February 1 C-SPAN cablecasts daily, 16-hours-a-day.
September 14 C-SPAN begins 24-hour-a-day programming.

1983
July 1, 1983 C-SPAN begins occasional coverage of the Canadian House of Commons.

1984
February 20 C-SPAN cablecasts an Iowa caucus live and uninterrupted for the first time.
July/August C-SPAN cablecasts live, uninterrupted coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions for the first time.

1985
November C-SPAN cablecasts first live coverage of the Canadian House of Commons.

1986
June 2 C-SPAN 2 cablecasts live proceedings of the U.S. Senate during television test period.
July 29 Senate votes in favor of permanent televised coverage of its proceedings.

1987
January 5 C-SPAN 2 begins 24-hour cablecasting.

1988
November 9 USIA transmits C-SPAN to 90 countries via World Net, the first global satellite television network.
November 22 C-SPAN inaugurates international with Queen Elizabeth II's speech to the State opening of Parliament.

1989
March 19, 1989 C-SPAN marks its 10th anniversary.
September 5 C-SPAN launches Audio Networks, featuring BBC World Service. The Audio networks are full time, permanent services.
November 21 C-SPAN begins regular coverage of the British House of Commons.

1990
June 18 C-SPAN adds its 50 millionth household.
August 2 C-SPAN airs 1,124 hours of first-run February 28, 1991 comprehensive public affairs coverage of the Persian Gulf conflict.

1991
January l0-12 C-SPAN 2 Senate coverage of Persian Gulf - reaches 32.3 million subscribers.
February 19 C-SPAN begins televising close captioning live proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives.
June 2 C-SPAN 2 marks 5th anniversary.
October 11-16 C-SPAN covers 128 hours of hearings to nominate Judge Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.
November 18 C-SPAN begins televising close captioning live proceedings of the U.S. Senate.
December 22 C-SPAN cablecasts exclusive interview with President George Bush at the White House.

1992
January C-SPAN offers more than 1200 hours of election coverage from January 1992 to November 1992.

1993
January C-SPAN wins the 8th Annual Golden Cable ACE award, the industry's highest annual honor, for its comprehensive coverage of the presidential election.
May C-SPAN receives the 1992 Peabody Award for overall excellence by an institution.
November 1 National launch of the C-SPAN School Bus in Washington, D.C.
December C-SPAN adds its 60 millionth household.

1994
May 26 C-SPAN School Bus ends its first (1993-94) tour.
June C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2 launch on DirecTV.
August-October C-SPAN covers re-enactments of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in seven Illinois towns.

1995
January The three-hour Washington Journal (7 to 10 am ET) replaces the network's earlier call-in incarnations as the network's flagship viewer call-in program.
C-SPAN won the 10th Annual Golden Cable ACE award, the industry's highest annual honor, for the C-SPAN School Bus.
March C-SPAN won the Golden Beacon Award for the C-SPAN School Bus, as well as a second Beacon for its customer relations efforts using the Bus.

1996
January 1 National launch of the second C-SPAN School Bus in Washington, D.C.
May 18 C-SPAN2 launches About Books, a 5-hour weekend programming block devoted to books, authors and the publishing industry.
June C-SPAN receives award for programming by the National Education Association.

1997
January C-SPAN offers Live video web coverage of the House and Senate on the Internet.
May C-SPAN launches The Alexis de Tocqueville Tour, a nine-month series retracing the steps of the French aristocrat and author of Democracy in America.
June The C-SPAN School Bus travels to Hawaii, marking the 50th state the Bus has visited since its launch in November of 1993.
September 15 C-SPAN Extra, the network's third television network, debuts with a focus on live coverage of public affairs events.
October 9 C-SPAN Radio 90, a 24-hour public affairs radio station serving the Washington-Baltimore market, goes on the air.

1998
September 12 Book TV on C-SPAN2, the network's 48-hour programming block dedicated to nonfiction books, launches.
December 19 C-SPAN provides live coverage of House impeachment vote of President Clinton.

1999
January 31 500th episode of Booknotes airs; guests are Peter Kann and Frances Fitzgerald featured in the book Reporting Vietnam.
January 7 - February 12 C-SPAN2 provides live coverage of Senate impeachment trial of President Clinton.
February C-SPAN Radio begins airing the LBJ White House tapes of phone conversations President Johnson had from the Oval Office from Nov. '63 - Dec. '64.
March Booknotes: Life Stories, the second collection of essays from the Sunday night Booknotes interview program is published by Times Books.
March 19 C-SPAN marks 20th Anniversary.
March - December C-SPAN's Peabody-Award winning television series, American Presidents: Life Portraits.
September C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits exhibit including portraits of all U.S. Presidents by artist Chas Fagan opens its nationwide tour at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

2000
February 6 C-SPAN2 Book TV launches the signature author interview program, In Depth from 12 noon - 3 p.m. ET Live with historian John Lukacs discussing his life and career and taking viewer calls.
March - November C-SPAN provides gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Democrat and Republican National Conventions, as well as presidential and vice-presidential debates, campaign speeches and other national and local campaign events.
November 2000 - January 2001 C-SPAN Election 2000 coverage of Florida Recount and ensuing Supreme Court decision.
December The U.S. Supreme Court grants the same-day release of oral arguments in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board as a result of C-SPAN's request to televise the proceedings, marking a court first.

2001
January 22 C-SPAN3 is launched as a national digital cable network, offering live coverage of national events on weekdays and long-form history programming overnights and weekends.
February C-SPAN adds its 80 millionth household.
March 19 - September 10 C-SPAN launches the history series, American Writers: A Journey Through History, a look at the lives and works of selected authors who have chronicled, reflected upon, or influenced the course of our nation. Featured authors include: William Bradford, Thomas Paine, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Willa Cather, Black Elk, Henry Adams, Edith Wharton, and Upton Sinclair.
September 11 C-SPAN brings in New York City and Washington D.C. local news feeds of the attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon as well international news from around the world. C-SPAN offers multiple hours of open phones segments for viewer reaction.
November 7 Booknotes: Stories From American History, the third book related to the Booknotes series is published by PublicAffairs.
November 12 C-SPAN Radio reaches national audience with the advent of satellite radio.
December C-SPAN airs the first of over 50 Enron bankruptcy-related congressional hearings, many of which aired live on C-SPAN3.

2002
March The C-SPAN in the Classroom American Writers Web Site receives a 2002 Beacon Award.
March 31 - July 7 C-SPAN launches the history series, American Writers II: The 20th Century, a live two-hour program from a historic site exploring a writer's significance in the twentieth century. Featured authors include: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, H.L. Mencken, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Ayn Rand, Ernie Pyle, Jack Kerouac and James Baldwin.
August 15 C-SPAN airs the first of over 100 Senate, House and Gubernatorial debates for the 2002 midterm election.
October 9 C-SPAN Radio marks its 5th anniversary.

2003 April-May C-SPAN and Comcast
present Students and Leaders - an educational experience for students at 40 DC-area schools during which national journalists and leaders discussed leadership and their commitment to public service.
May C-SPAN's Students and Leaders launches in Washington, D.C. Education program brings local leaders to high school classrooms to discuss leadership and public service, and airs to a national audience on the C-SPAN networks. Subsequent Students and Leaders held in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego.
September 12 Book TV celebrates its fifth anniversary.

2004
March C-SPAN celebrates 25th anniversary. Among the anniversary celebrations were a dinner for all l,000 former and current C-SPAN staff; a viewer essay contest with 25 prize winners, a dinner for all current and former C-SPAN directors, and a multi-media ad campaign.
August Debut of C-SPAN's Campaign Cam student video documentary contest, coinciding with the presidential election. With more than 700 entries in first year, annual StudentCam competition introduced in 2006.
December 801st and final Booknotes program airs on C-SPAN, concluding a 15-year run.
Launch of weekly Sunday night interview series, Q & A, on C-SPAN.

2005
January Book TV on C-SPAN2 premiers After Words; program pairs new, nonfiction authors with guest hosts who have a connection to the book's content.
September Book TV Bus unveiled at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. before embarking on first nationwide tour of libraries, book festivals and bookstores.
C-SPAN Classroom debuts new Web site for middle and high school teachers at www.c-spanclassroom.org; includes free video content and resources tied to state teaching standards.
October C-SPAN marks 25th anniversary of viewer call-in programming with 25-hour marathon program and viewer essay contest.

2006
March C-SPAN debuts The Communicators, a weekly half-hour interview with people who shape telecommunications policy.
May C-SPAN presents The Capitol, a 3-part, 9 hour, rare look at the art, history and architecture of the U.S. Capitol building. Complementing the series premier is The Capitol Oral History Project on C-SPAN Radio, and an extensive web site at www.the-capitol.org.

2007
January New Campaign 2008 Bus kicks-off "Road to the White House" tour from Des Moines, Iowa.
March C-SPAN introduces new copyright policy and expanded Capitol Hearings website making video of Congressional hearings, White House and other Federal events more widely available to the Online community.
C-SPAN wins Beacon Award for "The Capitol," the network's first series recorded in high-definition.

2008
January - November C-SPAN's expands its Campaign 2008 television coverage to include Convention Hub and Debate Hub: interactive web sites tracking the conventions and debates through blogs, Twitter, and video. Total C-SPAN Campaign 2008 programming: 4190 hours.
December C-SPAN premieres White House Week: seven days and 15 hours of programming focused on the White House, including the feature-length documentary The White House: Inside America's Most Famous Home. The most extensive portrait of the White House on video is also available in HD.

2009
January C-SPAN debuts the C-SPAN Civics Bus at Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington, DC.
With 1.7 million people attending Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington, DC, C-SPAN staff sleeps on cots to cover the seventh presidential inauguration since our founding.
March 5 "Washington Journal" first solicits audience questions and comments via Twitter.
March 10 The 75 winners in the fifth annual StudentCam national video documentary competition are announced. Middle school and high school students submitted short documentaries focusing on the topic: ''A message to the new president: What is the most urgent issue for the new president to address after taking office, and why?''
March 18 A new survey finds that 20% of cable TV households, an estimated 39 million Americans, watch C-SPAN regularly -- at least once or twice a week. The survey also illustrates an audience that is politically active, nearly equally liberal and conservative, and geographically diverse. Ninety percent of viewers say they voted in 2008.
March 19 30th anniversary of the U.S. House going on television and C-SPAN's nationwide launch on cable sytems.
April C-SPAN's DebateHub -- a special interactive social-media focused website from the 2008 presidential election debates -- is nominated for a Webby Award for best politics website.
April 27 President Obama congratulates the StudentCam Grand Prize winner with a videotaped message shown on Washington Journal.
May 22 C-SPAN interviews President Obama in the White House library, discussing, among other topics, health care, economics, and Supreme Court vacancy.
August During August congressional recess, C-SPAN provides extensive coverage congressional townhall meetings focusing on health care reform policy changes and legislation.
C-SPAN's ConventionHub -- a special interactive social-media focused website from the 2008 national political party conventions -- wins award from the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing.
October C-SPAN debuts "Supreme Court Week" with an 80-minute original feature documentary on the Supreme Court, described mostly through the commentary of the Justices who serve there, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with nine current and retired Justices in their entirety-- the first time so many Justices have granted interviews for a television production.

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