ready, set, PAN: as newspapers close their capitol bureaus, the value of public affairs networks increases.

• Author: Walters, Steven
• Position: LEGISLATURE

Move over Survivor!, The Bachelor and The Amazing Race. There's a different kind of reality TV available for the more discriminating viewer. Public affairs networks provide real-time and taped coverage of the sometimes messy, but always fascinating, art of lawmaking in state legislatures. Networks and broadcast systems began offering real-time and archived coverage of state legislatures in the 1990s. If time and resources allow, they also cover the executive and judicial branches of state governments. The trend has exploded in recent years, as many newspapers closed their capitol bureaus.

"As newspapers have pulled back on statehouse coverage, it is arguably more important than ever that the basic proceeding of state government be televised, just as the U.S. Congress is on C-SPAN," says a 2011 Federal Communications Commission report.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Almost every state has some type of network or broadcast system providing legislative coverage--although the landscape of organizations that do so varies widely, according to a survey by NCSL. The largest, most sophisticated and independent organizations belong to the National Association of Public Affairs Networks (NAPAN). The association's president, Paul Giguere, who runs CT-N, The Connecticut Network, estimates that about 24 states have public affairs networks (PANs), most of which rely on tax or public funds to varying degrees.

Some of the larger networks include Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. They broadcast real-time and archived legislative coverage, produce Emmy-award winning programs on complex issues and trends, travel around their states to cover cultural and historical events, and offer regular news updates.

WisconsinEye, for example, taped 147 face-to-face interviews with candidates for Congress and the Legislature before the Nov. 6 election. It also rebroadcast and archived dozens of candidates' debates, forums and news conferences.

The Pennsylvania Cable Network, with 37 employees and a $4.5 million budget, "helps bring perspective to major issues by interviewing lawmakers one-on-one and hosting call-in programs with lawmakers, various commentators and analysts," says Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R).

A second tier of capitol coverage networks has survived by blending public funds and other fund-raising partnerships, including with public broadcasting channels. These networks turn to whatever...