During the 7 or 8 years we streamed audio of Missouri House and Senate debate, one of the most common requests was to provide audio from committee hearings. This was, we were told again and again, “where the action is.”
There was just no good way to do this, until wifi became available in the House and Senate. While we still have some technical challenges to work out, we’ll almost certainly stream more hearings. But we’ll be pretty selective, trying to stick with the most important (whatever that means) and/or those with broad interest. Let’s face it, there’s a limited audience for legislative committee hearings.
Sitting through a few of these gives one an appreciation for the job performed by reporters who regularly cover the state capitol.
Missourinet reporter Brent Martin covered yesterday’s House hearing on ethics and distills the two hour hearing down to a handful of the most pertinent sound bites. And the story containing those “actualities” will provide context and relevance. For most folks, a better way than sitting through the full hearing.