C-SPAN's Entire Archives Now Online

Jaya Saxena

Published Mar 16, 2010

Modified Mar 16, 2010

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Never miss a story

Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

Jaya Saxena

Published Mar 16, 2010

Modified Mar 16, 2010

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Get ready to waste your day getting mad at politicians (even more): C-SPAN's video library now contains every video in their 23 year history. The New York Times reports that they'll officially announce the completion of the library tomorrow, but already all programming since 1993 is available online and copies of programming before that can be "obtained and used for education, research, review or home viewing purposes." As Rachel Maddow puts it, it's "like being able to Google political history using the ‘I Feel Lucky’ button every time."

So what does this mean? C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb says one benefit is "You can see if politicians are saying one thing today, and 15 years ago were saying another thing...Journalists can feast on it.” And indeed we have been, like watching this random clip of Mayor Elect Giuliani in 1993 talk about gun violence, health initiatives, getting Penn Station rebuilt at the Post Office and "the money that has just been lost by New York City because we didn't apply on time for HUD money." Same as it ever was.

Tagged