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5 fun facts about C-SPAN on its 40th birthday

Forty years ago today, C-SPAN first aired live and unfiltered coverage of Congress — broadcasts that engaged citizens now rely on as a bedrock of open American democracy.

Gavel-to-gavel coverage of the House began March 19, 1979, with a one-minute speech by a 30-year-old Democrat named Al Gore, who would later be elected senator in time to give the first speech when the Senate allowed coverage of its flor proceedings to begin in 1986.


Here are five factoids to drop at any celebration marking C-SPAN's anniversary:

  • The same six cameras in the House, and six more in the Senate, have always been used to capture the proceedings. Congressional employees control the cameras and audio from inside the chambers. C-SPAN broadcasts the raw feeds while adding its own graphics.
  • The network created the first regularly scheduled national TV call-in program in 1980. The first caller hailed from Yankton, S.D.
  • Nearly 250,000 hours of archived video is available for visitors to stream online. The archives go back to 1987, when the organization began digitizing its broadcasts. Earlier recordings are stored in-house on VHS cassettes.
  • In its first year, the network reached 10 million TV households. Today it's 90 million homes, roughly three out of every four with a TV.
  • The acronym stands for Cable-Satellite Pubic Affairs Network.

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Similarity Hub Shows >700 Instances of Cross-Partisan Common Ground

Two coloured pencils one red and one blue drawing a reef knot on a white paper background.

Getty Images, David Malan

Similarity Hub Shows >700 Instances of Cross-Partisan Common Ground

It is a common refrain to say that Americans need to find common ground across the political spectrum.

Over the past year, AllSides and More Like US found >700 instances of common ground on political topics, revealed in Similarity Hub. It highlights public opinion data from Gallup, Pew Research, YouGov, and many other reputable polling firms.

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U.S. Refines Military Strategy in Africa As Development Programs Face Cuts

Royal Moroccan Armed Forces service members and U.S. Army Soldiers hold an African Lion banner during a Moroccan F-16 flyover at the closing day of African Lion 2025 (AL25) at Tantan, Morocco, May 23, 2025.

By Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Mallett/U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

U.S. Refines Military Strategy in Africa As Development Programs Face Cuts

WASHINGTON – Both the Trump administration and its critics agree the U.S. risks losing influence in Africa to rivals like China and Russia. But while the administration argues its commercially driven foreign policy will reverse the trend, critics warn that retreating from development and diplomacy could deepen the problem.

Under the Trump administration, the U.S. plans to consolidate embassies, scale back USAID operations, and pivot towards a security and commercial driven approach on the continent. While U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) defense officials insist their core missions within Africa will remain intact, civilian experts and lawmakers argue that abandoning diplomatic and development tools opens the door for strategic competitors to fill the void and fails to take into account what would best benefit African countries.

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