C-Span Puts Full Archives on the Web

Researchers, political satirists and partisan mudslingers, take note: C-Span has uploaded virtually every minute of its video archives to the Internet.

The archives, at C-SpanVideo.org, cover 23 years of history and five presidential administrations and are sure to provide new fodder for pundits and politicians alike. The network will formally announce the completion of the C-Span Video Library on Wednesday. No other cable network is likely to give away its precious archives on the Internet. But C-Span is one of a kind, a creation of the cable industry that records every Congressional session, every White House press briefing and other acts of official Washington. The online archives reinforce what some would call the Web's single best quality: its ability to recall seemingly every statement and smear. And it is even more powerful when the viewer can rewind the video.