C-SPAN Founder Lamb Looks at Past & Future of Network at Economic Club

Presidential Medal of Freedom winner and famed journalist Brian Lamb began Wednesday’s Economic Club of Indiana presentation in Indianapolis by poking fun at the C-SPAN networks he created and runs. The audience rolled with laughter as Lamb played satirical journalist Jon Stewart’s commentary on the admittedly dry nature of C-SPAN’s 24-hour congressional coverage.

With all joking aside, Lamb, a Lafayette native and Purdue alum, used archived C-SPAN video to share a variety of Hoosier success stories. Lamb demonstrated the massive archives’ true value with his uncanny ability to connect incredible happenings with the often tiny details of their origin. Lamb recently made C-SPAN’s entire 30 years of video history free and available online in hopes that educators will start making similar connections for young minds.

Going where cameras have never gone before

C-SPAN is regularly credited with gaining unprecedented government access for all media outlets – increasing the public accountability of elected officials. Not all of this access has been welcome or easily won.

“Our whole effort is public meetings and you would be surprised how hard it is to get into public meetings,” Lamb explains.

Lamb described how resistance from congressional leadership has increased over the past couple of years, but stated his belief in the need for private meetings to occur.

The times they are a changin’

Lamb, well known for avoiding even the slightest hint of his personal political views, did comment on broad changes in political media and the increasingly argumentative tone.

“I think we’re probably better off when people are at each other’s throats and challenging each other on bills,” Lamb offered, adding, “The stronger the voices are, the better…”

Lamb spoke of the three networks that dominated news when he was growing up and how much government happened behind closed doors because of the lack of available coverage. He welcomes the advent of blogging and social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.

One aspect of media evolution that Lamb views as negative is the increasing impact of money on the trade – pointing to Walter Cronkite’s hiring of a talent agent in 1952 as the first link in this chain.

The next Economic Club event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4 and will feature Mark Miles, president of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership discussing economic development in Central Indiana. 

Learn more about the Economic Club of Indiana.

Frito-Lay a Real Blue Chip for Frankfort

My parents and grandparents are all from Frankfort, and I spent the early part of my life as a Hot Dog. So it’s with great pride that I get to blog about a thriving business in this great town (known also to many as the place where "Blue Chips" was filmed). Frito-Lay not only employs 1,500 people at its Frankfort site (which includes two locations in the city), but it is making great strides in some key areas. Here are some facts you may not know about one of America’s premier snack makers:

  • The Frankfort plant is the largest site in Frito-Lay’s entire operation
  • Frito-Lay was the first major food company to remove trans fats from its entire snack chip portfolio
  • The Frankfort facility is working on a zero-landfill initiative. The company has been getting advice from Subaru in Lafayette, which has embarked upon a similar measure.
  • For its environmental awareness, the company won the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence in 2008.

So there you go. The next time you devour a chili cheese Frito, don’t forget that you’re also supporting an outstanding Hoosier business. Frankfort workers will be grateful for your contribution — and Nick Nolte won’t make you run sprints after practice.

Truitt/Polles HD26 Vote Count Coming Down to Wire

Here is the latest on HD26: Tippecanoe County election officials have looked at the 414 provisional ballots. Of those, only 80 will be allowed and they are in the process of doing exactly that right now. Of the 80, we are unsure how many are in HD26. Even if all 80 are in HD26, John Polles (D) would have to win 50-30 to catch Randy Truitt (R).

It’s looking good for Truitt, but there are still a couple of hours to finality.