C-SPAN Present at the Revolution Brian Lamb An Information Economy Project Event Big Ideas About Information Lecture, GMU Law, Arlington, VA Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006, 4 p.m. iep.gmu.edu/event/tullock-lecture-c-span-present-revolution This lecture series, featuring world-class thinkers addressing key questions about markets, public policy, and information technology, continues with an address by an individual who has made seminal contributions to American media, pioneering innovative television programming that has forever altered the public forum. Brian Lamb founded the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network in 1979. The network's primary channels, C-SPAN1 and C-SPAN2, are today distributed to nearly 100 million U.S. households. The non-commercial presentation of congressional debates and hearings, think tank seminars, political speeches and debates, tape recordings of Supreme Court arguments and presidential phone calls, Book TV, the Road to the White House, and myriad other political, historical, and public policy offerings make C-SPAN a unique and valuable contribution to American life. Yet, federal regulation did not lay down the welcome mat for C-SPAN, which at its creation -- and often, since -- has been on the receiving end of rules designed to protect the "public interest" in broadcasting. From his exceptional vantage point, Mr. Lamb will explain how the regulation of mass media often triggers the Law of Unintended Consequences.

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