As far as I know, I did the first live video feed from a committee room at the Missouri state capitol. I know, you’re asking yourself why would anyone bother. You could ask that about a lot of important-but-not-too-interesting news.
We’ve been streaming audio of debate in the Missouri House and Senate for 8+ years and recorded audio of lots of hearings, but never video. Finally all of the pieces of the puzzle seemed to be in place: hardware, software, wifi.
I used a little Logitech webcam (on the tripod); the Casio Exilim for back-up (on the small tripod) and ran it (the LogiTech) through CamTwist up to USTEAM. I think I can skip CamTwist next time. You can sample a few seconds below.
It ain’t CBS but I didn’t have wait on the sat truck, either. Next time, I might just try this on the iPhone if I can get close enough.
Missouri’s new governor held a press conference today and reporters who showed up were told they had to leave their cell phones at a reception desk. St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tony Messenger was one of the reporters:
“Members of the Capitol press corps revolted and demanded reasons. “Security reasons” was the response given by Nixon spokesman Scott Holste, who said it was Nixon’s policy and the governor wouldn’t budge.
At that point, reporters started talking about walking out of the news conference before it began (and I took out my cell phone and Twittered the news). Holste went back to the governor’s private offices, and came back with the verdict. Reporters didn’t have to give up their cell phones.
Asked after the news conference about the policy, Nixon communications director Jack Cardetti said he didn’t believe the cell phone policy had anything to do with security.
“The governor believes when meetings are taking place in the oval office .. that everybody should be focused on the task at hand,” Cardetti said, noting that staff and others who are invited to meetings in the governor’s office follow the same policy. But Cardetti said the policy would not apply to the press, many of whom use their cell phones for reporting purposes.
During the news conference, reporters also noticed a new tiny camera above one of the doors. The camera feeds to a screen on a secretary’s desk that allows her to know when meetings have begun or are finished in the office, Cardetti said. He showed curious reporters the screen that captures the feed. The meetings are not recorded, he said.”
As Colonel Klink would say, “Veeeeeery interesting.”
How about, put your cell phones on vibrate or turn them off? And a wee little camera above one of the doors. Curiouser and curiouser.
One of the comments on Messengers’ blog post asks:
“If there is now a camera that is recording or broadcasting all meetings in the Governors office, should not this be covered under the Sunshine Law and allow the feed to be streaming video on the internet so that we, as taxpayers, can see what is happening in the meetings of our governmental officials?”
But back to the cell phones –and I admit to being both slow and naive– why wouldn’t the governor want reporters to have cell phones during press conferences, assuming one doesn’t buy the “let’s stay focused” explanation?
I’ve seen a lot of very nice photos of the Missouri Capitol. It’s such a beautiful building it’s almost hard to take a bad photo. But I really like this one by Andy Richmond, using a process called HDR (Hygh Dynamic Range).
Andy explains:
“Basically, you shoot a set of over exposed, underexposed, and properly exposed images so that you capture details in the areas of the scene from the extreme highlights to the dark shadows. The exposures are combined into a single image that applies the details to all areas of the image, making something that looks almost like a painting, but is still a photograph. It is somewhat like what an artist does when they paint a photo…they view the scene with their eye, which constantly adjusts to the brightness of the area of the scene they are looking at, and their brain reassembles this into one image in their memory which they regurgitate on canvas/paper.”
A rag-tag group calling themselves the National Socialist Movement were in town last weekend. Missourinet reporter Steve Walsh covered the brief march and rally on the steps of the State Capitol. This is my favorite photo from those he snapped.
Are the two young girls at the lectern singing? Perhaps America the Beautiful? Or some German beer hall song? Could they be making a speech? ("What the Neo-Nazi movement means to my junior high class")
How fucked up will the little boy (seated) be as he gets older. Mom thinks she’s doing him a favor, teaching him to hate.
Some are holding their hands over their hearts, others giving the old Heil Hitler stiff arm. But, shit, there was no time to rehearse and it was cold and… fuck it, we’ll just look tough in our SWAT gear.
Chuck the Z. shares some pix from this morning’s rally on the steps of the Missouri State Capitol. I’ll give her this, the girl knows how to wear a pair of levis.
My first thought was, "How’d they do an ice sculpture in the fountain?" This interesting shot was taken by co-worker and Super Shutter Bug Jim Foucault.
Missouri governor Matt Blunt met with reporters at the Capitol this morning to discuss yesterday’s surprising announcement that he will not seek a second term. Blunt says he has accomplished the goals he announced for his administration during the 2004 campaign and feels it is time to move on and to spend more time with his wife and son.
When this story broke late Tuesday, I Googled around and found this highly produced video on YouTube. (I found it interesting the governor chose to to break the story on his own YouTube channel) Here’s a photo our reporter shot at this morning’s news conference. I’ll ask around the newsroom, but can anyone tell me why the governor would video the event? Do the record all news conferences? If so, why?
Update: Don’t know why it didn’t dawn on me that this was some news photog. There were a dozen or so covering the news conference. The gov’s staff shot some stills but no video. Never mind.
I think this (deciding not to run for a second term) adds weight to my theory (which I’ve posted previously) that Republicans are quietly and secretly fleeing the planet. I’ve lost track of how many have mysteriously left congress ("to spend more time with my family").
I’m convinced there’s a Starship being readied at a secret base in the New Mexico desert. One by one ("let’s not all leave at once") the GOP is getting out of Dodge (or Earth in this instance) before the shit hits the fan. If you have a more plausible theory, comments are welcome.
A lot of our company’s history is jammed into cardboard boxes and I stumbled upon a little piece this afternoon. This is a copy of an ad [larger image] that ran in Missouri Life Magazine, sometime in the early ’70’s.
Now Missourians from border to border know what their neighbors are doing.
They know what is going on in Jefferson City… in the major metropolitan areas… in the arts… in science… business.
They’re listening to their local radio station… an affiliate of the Missourinet.
The Missourinet is a statewide news network… very similar in operation to the national news networks. Some 40 radio stations carry its hourly newscasts. It has the state Capitol’s largest full-time news bureau. And each week its programs feature hundreds of on-the-scene reports from correspondents and newsmakers over the state.
Missouri + net? Get it? The official name of our company was "Missouri Network, Inc." back then.
The Missouri legislature is in session and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on several bills last night. I’ve been told these hearings are in many ways more interesting and important than floor debate. So I took my little Marantz down to the capitol and recorded a couple of hours.
SB 5 would modify Missouri laws on child pornography (32 min MP3). SB 27 would modify regulations regarding sexually oriented billboards (24 min MP3). I found the testimony on these two bill pretty interesting.
As I listened to the testimony pro, and con… I kept thinking how easy it would be for anyone to record the hearing. Many of those testifying drove a long way to do so. The issues were obviously important to them. Why not record the testimony and put the audio of the full hearing on online.
Admittedly, these hearings can be pretty dry. You won’t see these on TV or hear them on your local radio station. But there’s an audience for these and the web is the perfect platform.
Don’t expect the people who conduct the hearings to make this happen. That might be a little more light and attention than they can stand. But any citizen could –I assume– walk in and record the thing. And share it with the world. Or a hand full of people who care.
The reporters that work so hard for our radio networks have –at most– three minutes to report all the top stories of the hour. A committee hearing like this will only get a few seconds…and our guys to a great job of boiling it down. But why not do both?
And if we can’t or choose not to, the public can pitch in. And I bet they will.
The first election covered by The Missourinet (a network owned by the company I work for) was in 1976. News Director Bob Priddy orchestrated that first election night and every one since. Prior to The Missourinet, radio stations throughout the state focused on local races and relied on the wire services for news and numbers from throughout the state.
The Missourinet brought the sounds of election night from the state capitol and capaign headquarters throughout Missouri to the hometown audiences of our affiliates.
The technology has changed… and is changing… but insight and understanding Missourinet reporters bring to their election night coverage remains the focus of their reporting. Bob reflects on the past 30 years in this 10 minute video (40 meg).
Now Missourians from border to border know what their neighbors are doing.
The Missouri legislature is in session and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on several bills last night. I’ve been told these hearings are in many ways more interesting and important than floor debate. So I took my little Marantz down to the capitol and recorded a couple of hours. 
The first election covered by The Missourinet (a network owned by the company I work for) was in 1976. News Director Bob Priddy orchestrated that first election night and every one since. Prior to The Missourinet, radio stations throughout the state focused on local races and relied on the wire services for news and numbers from throughout the state.