Audience still being sought for legislative webcasts

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad's “Condition of the State” address drew the most eyeballs to the live video feed from the Iowa House of Representatives this year.

This was the first year that either legislative chamber went online with live, streaming video. The move, which cost the state $130,000 to install six video cameras, brought the House in sync with what's becoming standard in statehouses across the nation.

Branstad's numbers - the Jan. 10 speech attracted a total of 163 unique viewers at a single point in time - may have had a boost given that his speech came in the first week cameras went live.

But it marked one of only two times the single-point viewership passed the triple-digit mark. The other high point came on Feb. 14 when 123 unique visitors logged on to watch House members debate property taxes.

When told of the numbers, Branstad said he was pleased with what the data showed. “That speech focused on our action plan for jobs and education reform,” he said. “I think those are the most important issues facing the state, and I am pleased we had that kind of viewership.”

House of Representatives Chief Clerk Charlie Smithson oversaw the installation of the cameras last fall. “I'm encouraged that some Iowans are tuning in,” he said, although the numbers aren't quite where he had hoped they would be.

“I think what we'd like to do is market it more,” he said.

So far, only the House chamber has cameras. In October, Senate leadership sent a note to Secretary Mike Marshall directing him to determine what it would take to outfit the Senate chamber with cameras in time for the 85th General Assembly, which convenes in 2013. Committee rooms, unlike some other states, aren't wired for video.

“I believe the webcasts evolved out of the C-SPAN tradition of televising Congress and similar public affairs networks in states,” Pam Greenberg, a researcher with the National Council of State Legislatures wrote in an email response to questions about how common cameras are in various state assemblies. “Many states have been webcasting legislative sessions for years - two of the earliest were the Missouri House and the Washington Legislature, back in 1996.”

According to the council's research, most states and U.S. territories have video in at least one chamber of their Legislature. Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, both Carolinas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming have only audio. Rhode Island has neither audio nor video.

The Iowa House video isn't archived, so watching it live is the only way to see floor debate other than being in the gallery in Des Moines. Smithson said archiving is next.

That means lawmakers, clerks, pages and anyone else who might appear on camera during floor debate doesn't - for the most part - have to worry about a silly look or a stumbled word being replayed in perpetuity. On the other hand, rousing speeches or other such shining moments likewise go officially unrecorded.

But there is an awareness that the cameras are on, even though they're only streaming and not recording. On Wednesday, Rep. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, gave her farewell speech to the House. Her longtime clerk, Claire Haws, made sure she was out of the shot. “I'm a weeper,” Haws explained.

Haws was caught on a private camera wiping tears from her eyes during last year's debate on same-sex marriage. The video was uploaded to Facebook pages and shared in emails. “I didn't want my reaction to take away from what she was saying (during the farewell speech),” Haws said. “It's something you are definitely aware of."

One of the more tech-comfortable members of the House, Democrat Tyler Olson of Cedar Falls, said lawmakers are aware of the cameras, too. Olson is on Twitter and Facebook and uploads a weekly video to his YouTube site. He said members who tended to talk before cameras were installed talk now; those who didn't still don't.

“I haven't seen a big difference this year,” he said.

House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, who asked for the cameras this year, said they'll eventually be in committee rooms after some details are worked out. “I don't think it's a matter of ‘if' as much as it is a matter of ‘when,'” he said.