House Readies for Daytime Television

General Hospital and Family Feud had better get ready for some heavy competition, because the state House of Representatives will move onto daytime television by January with live, "gavel-to-gavel" broadcasts from the floor.

A special House committee is currently working out the technical details for the move, following a rules change last January that authorized television and radio broadcasts from the chamber. House committee hearings are already open to live broadcast. The Senate has not yet considered any move for broadcasts.

State Rep. George Keverian (D-Everett), chairman of the special committee, said last week that broadcasts would open the legislative process to the members of the public who usually can't see the House in action. He added that now the long speeches on the floor could "drive the whole state crazy, instead of just us."

State Rep. Nicholas Paleologos (D-Woburn), who sponsored the rule change, said the broadcasts would improve the quality of debate on the floor, making it "more intelligent and well-reasoned."

Paleologos added that the legislature is currently suffering from a loss of healthy, spirited debate. "We [the Democrats] are so far and away the majority that there is no need to even rationalize things now," he said.

But State Rep. Peter C. Vellucci (D-Cambridge) said he isn't so sure that the broadcasts will improve debate on the floor. "It may just put the whole Commonwealth to sleep," he added. Still, Vellucci supported the move, saying it would keep the public better informed.

While several legislators said the broadcasts might cause some debaters to grandstand for the camera, Paleologos countered that not enough legislators are active on the floor anyway. "We always hear from the same old people," he said.

He added that many of the legislators who opposed the move were simply afraid of an unregulated camera in the chamber, which could pick up legislators who were sleeping, not paying attention, or absent. "The camera has a tendency to editorialize," he admitted.

Before the entertainment can begin, Paleologos said the special committee will have to decide who will control the television broadcasts--such as a cable or public channel--and which technical format will be most effective.

"We don't want the legislature adapting to the camera, we want the camera adapting to the legislature," he explained.