State of the Union: Who controls the cameras?

[Tmy]

The SOTU is just one feed thats picked up by almost every channel. I was wondering, whos directing the cameras? You can do a lot of political comentary just by choosing who and what to put on camera and at one time. for example showing a Senator sleeping, or focusing on somone NOT clapping, ONLY showing people clapping , ect..

So whos running the show and do they have a political agenda wh the broadcasting.

[headscratcher4]

Originally posted by Tmy
The SOTU is just one feed thats picked up by almost every channel. I was wondering, whos directing the cameras? You can do a lot of political comentary just by choosing who and what to put on camera and at one time. for example showing a Senator sleeping, or focusing on somone NOT clapping, ONLY showing people clapping , ect..

So whos running the show and do they have a political agenda wh the broadcasting.

When I used to work in the House of Representatives, the Camaras were controlled by the House (under the agis of the Speaker's Office). There were a whole host of rules regarding what could be and what wouldn't be shown...for example, during House sessions, no panning that showed that people delivering 1 minute speeches were talking to an empty chamber. I assume that these rules are still in effect and that the House controls the cameras and has laid down rules for how to shoot the State of the Union.

[Andonyx]

Originally posted by Tmy
The SOTU is just one feed thats picked up by almost every channel. I was wondering, whos directing the cameras? You can do a lot of political comentary just by choosing who and what to put on camera and at one time. for example showing a Senator sleeping, or focusing on somone NOT clapping, ONLY showing people clapping , ect..

So whos running the show and do they have a political agenda wh the broadcasting.

I could be mistaken about this but I believe that this is an event where the news agencies do what they call, "Pooling footage."

In situations where having every broadcast news agency have their own camera set-up and sound set-up and producer / reporter present would create impossible logistical messes, the major agencies with permanent correspondants in that area "draw pool" which is they participate in a lottery to determine who does the technical coverage of the scheduled event. Then all the other agencies have equal access to all the footage shot or recorded.

Obviously how they choose to edit and make use of that footage differs from agency to agency, but they are all given equal access. This is especially true of interior governmental events like press conferences, and court proceedings where it's obvious there is only room for one solid camera setup, and it's also obvious that every news agency is going to be covering this as a major story as part of it's obligation to inform the citizenry.

[Tmy]

LIES! Its a republican media conspiracy!!!!!

Do you think it was by chance that they showed a freshman Senator looking all bored or was it a coinsidence that the camera was Hilliary Clinton???

[Andonyx]

I checked...I have it on good authority from one of the major news networks in an e-mail that it was pooled:


Virtually everything that happens at the White House or when POTUS travels is Pool. It is a 5 Network rotation. The SOTU cameras are part of the rotation and one net is assigned to control the feeds. Although the White House specifies when an event must be pool, the Washington Bureau chiefs vote among themselves as to how the pool is handled.