C-SPAN to Televise IOP Talks

In an attempt to spread its influence, the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics (IOP) will allow a national cable station to videotape and broadcast some of its events, K-School officials said this week.

However, the IOP has decided to limit Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) to taping only four shows, in order to examine the impact of the network's presence on the quality of the events.

"We want to look and see the effect on panelists of knowing they are before national television and see whether they will be any less candid when they talk," said Paul Bograd, the associate director of the IOP. C-SPAN, which is funded and managed by the cable networks, has a potential viewership of 25 million people, said Barry Katz, a C-SPAN official.

I Want My K-TV

Bograd said he would also like to ensure that the station's presence "does not jeopardize the interaction we now have between the audience and the panelists."

Katz, who negotiated the agreement with Bograd, said, "We tape two or three events like this in Washington every day, and I've never noticed any difference, although you can't know how it will affect people."

"We think C-SPAN's presence is fine as we've also been enthusiastic of public radio here," said Dean of the Kennedy School Graham T. Allison. '62. "I don't think TV cameras in a forum as large as ours will change the character of the conversation at all. In fact, it may make the speakers more precise."

C-SPAN will tape and broadcast the IOP events free of charge, Bograd said. The IOP also allows Boston Public Radio to broadcast IOP events live.

American Cable Systems, Cambridge's local cable company, will assist C-SPAN by providing some camera and lighting equipment during the events and show the IOP events on their station, which is available only to Cambridge viewers.

During the University's 350th anniversary this summer, C-SPAN videotaped eight symposia at the Kennedy School, some of which will air Thanksgiving weekend, Katz said. "It was at this time that we established a very good working relationship with the people up there," Katz said.

The IOP has never welcomed commercial television stations into the forum because, "with commercial stations come commercial interests," such as trying to popularize the discussions, Bograd said. "C-SPAN is a different issue altogether," he said.

The Advocate Series, which featured Governor Michael S. Dukakis--then a lecturer at the Kennedy School--ran regularly in 1980 on Boston public television. In the show, Dukakis moderated debates between two or more participants on a variety of political topics.