After heavy criticism of the view provided by the official Senate video webcast, Legislative Council Service put a new lens today on the lone camera bringing you video from the floor of the Senate.
The lens has a wider angle than its predecessor, but it doesn’t improve the view much. You can still see the desks of only nine of 42 senators, but you can see a few additional feet on each side of the room, so it’s a small enhancement.
That effort on the part of legislative staffers reminded me that, despite the shenanigans pulled by some lawmakers, the staffers should be recognized for their work to bring webcasting to the public in the middle of a busy session. These are the staffers that keep the Roundhouse running, and they’re absolutely swamped with work. In the midst of that, they’ve had to set up audio webcasting from the House floor, audio webcasting from a few House committee meetings and video webcasting from the Senate floor, in addition to the Web sites that make those audio and video feeds available to the public.
They’re working hard to do what they can to get this right. They’re limited in what they can do without approval from legislators, but their efforts have been commendable.
View the Legislature’s webcasting by clicking here.