The State Senate is debuting a video broadcast through Vimeo today. The 15 minute broadcast will be released every two weeks and is called "One New York News." From an emailed release about the launch:
One New York News is an exclusive production of the NYS Senate developed to inform you about what is happening in the legislature. The 15 minute newscast will take you across the state and through the Senate Chamber allowing you to have an inside look on legislation and initiatives.
The newscast is scheduled for release every two weeks by the One New York News team.
The first edition features the new Senate Majority and their ideas for economic solutions, closing the budget gap, avoiding home foreclosures and what's being done to reform the rules of the Senate. The newscast also features the first-ever footage of Youtube video testimony submitted by freelance activist Jeff Tucci - using new technology as a vehicle to stop budget cuts.
UPDATE: Some thoughts. It's about what you would expect. The production is fairly sketchy in places, the copy read by the anchors is somewhat weak and tortured at times and there's not much actual news here ( a run down of all the new committee chairs being a welcome exception.) But, what really strikes me is that, unless I missed it, there wasn't a single Republican shown in the entire 15 minutes. That said, look, I get it. I know the GOP stuck it really hard to the Dems for decades. Hell, they even had their own TV studio on Long Island where Dems weren't only not welcome, they weren't even aware its existence. I can understand why the new majority isn't exactly eager to feature these guys and, to be perfectly honest, I can't imagine that they have all that much to offer right now that anyone would care to listen to. It's also the first broadcast and I'm sure they want to show the new Majority as much as possible. I get it. Really.
But the other side, as lame and bereft of ideas as they are, are still half the Senate. Throw them a bone every now and then, eh? Sure, they seem to mostly whine these days, mostly about how the new Majority is screwing them, but why give them an excuse? For all means, let's hear Owen Johnson's thoughts (even if only for comedic value) on closing the budget gap. Or give Skelos a minute a month to cry about whatever bee finds his bonnet.
Whatever. I'm mostly nitpicking. This is still far more than the former majority would have ever done. They used Senate Media Services as a de facto campaign operation. I'm fairly confident that the new majority is wise enough to steer clear of any impression that they would do the same. There's potential in this new effort and I at the very least applaud them for producing something at least moderately useful.
