纽约-政府控制的摄像机跟踪了凯文·麦卡锡当选众议院议长的高潮时刻，与C-SPAN记者操作的摄像机之间的区别就像是一张模糊的黑白照片，与闪闪发光的清晰色彩形成对比。

在其中一张照片中，麦卡锡大步走过众议院大厅的过道，然后从视野中消失。前面的几个人转头看他要去哪里。一分钟后，听到一些喘息声，每个人都站起来看摄像机没有显示的东西。

C-SPAN捕捉到了整个场景，包括愤怒的麦卡锡与佛罗里达州共和党众议员马特·盖兹(Matt Gaetz)紧张、相互指责的谈话，以及一名共和党同事忍住没有冲向盖兹。

国会和C-SPAN的一些人抓住这一时机，要求众议院为了透明起见，对摄像机更加开放。这方面已经有了实质性的进展。

麦卡锡作为众议院议长，拥有最终决定权。他的办公室已经表示正在考虑改变。政府摄像机已经拓宽了他们的视野。

“我持谨慎乐观的态度，议长会考虑独立媒体报道，如果不是永久的，至少应要求，”C-SPAN编辑业务主任本·奥康奈尔说。"我们收到了来自两党的许多积极反馈。"

C-SPAN的联合首席执行官苏珊·斯温(Susan Swain)表示，自44年前首次引入摄像机以来，公众对众议院会议的看法几乎没有变化。在很大程度上，讲台和来到前面发言的立法者被显示出来，但其他的很少。也有例外，当其他相机被允许时，例如当国会为国情咨文而召开联席会议时。

一月份那一周增加知名度的怪事是，从技术上讲，当时没有演讲者。奥康奈尔说，即将离任的发言人南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)同意三台C-SPAN摄像机。

民主党众议员马克·波坎说:“我们想让它尽可能地容易接近，我认为相机做到了这一点。”威斯康星州他拥有25个支持C-SPAN竞标的共同提案人。

除了麦卡锡戏剧之外，摄像机还提供了其他见解，如两极政治对立的众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥·科尔特斯(Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez，D-N.Y)和保罗·戈萨尔(Paul Gosar，R-Ariz)进行对话的时候。

Pocan的所有联合发起人都是民主党人，这使他们对加利福尼亚州的麦卡锡没有多少影响力。但也有一些共和党人支持这一概念，包括来自盖兹的支持。

CNN援引德克萨斯州共和党众议员奇普·罗伊的话说，“美国人民能够看到在地板上展开的东西对我们的民主和我们的共和国来说是一件好事。”

鉴于议长的投票是如何公开进行的，如果麦卡锡对更密切关注的程序没有兴趣，波坎不会感到惊讶。但事实并不一定如此。

麦卡锡的办公室不一定介意投票期间的情况，并在某些情况下开放更大的访问权。

麦卡锡发言人马克·贝德纳尔(Mark Bednar)表示:“我们正在探索开放人民之家的多种选择，以确保美国人民有一个更透明、更容易接触的国会。”

参议院也有类似的规则，但由于麦卡锡的投票，受到的关注较少。

观察人士说，政府控制的摄像机最近几周低调地提供了一些不同的视角。安装了八个摄像头，而四年前只有六个。

不确定的是C-SPAN是否会得到它更喜欢的东西:它自己的摄像机，安装在俯瞰众议院地板的画廊里，由记者自动控制，并由pool提供给所有新闻机构。

为当时的议长工作的布伦丹·巴克说，麦卡锡的办公室可能会谨慎行事约翰·博纳，俄亥俄州R-和保罗·瑞安他现在是通信公司Seven Letter的合伙人。

“一旦你给了什么，就很难收回，”他说。“他们必须确保自己愿意提供访问权限，因为他们知道这可能是永远的。”

巴克说，他相信国会的一些普通成员会比领导层更加抵制。他说，随着华盛顿越来越被党派隔离，众议院是议员们必须认识他们通常可能不会花时间在一起的同事的少数几个地方之一。

“他们不希望每一次谈话都有人监听，”巴克说。他说，这可能不是限制相机的好理由，但它实际上可能有利于民主。

波坎承认，更多的摄像机可能会促进表演，而不是立法。

“但是，老实说，那些要制造混乱的人会不顾一切地去做，”他说。Pocan不希望摄像机因为错误的原因而远离，例如代表可能会被发现在工作时打瞌睡。

他说，在奥康纳任职C-SPAN的22年里，每当有新的发言人当选，公司的高管都会尽职尽责地写信要求记者带着摄像机进入会议厅。

他说，今年，“我不认为我们会做什么，因为这感觉就像我们在对着一堵墙大喊。”

然而演讲者的投票，C-SPAN的视频被其他电视网和社交媒体广泛使用，导致Swain再次尝试。

代表报道国会的广播机构的广播电视记者协会支持C-SPAN的请求。该组织的主席Jared Halpren说，他感谢麦卡锡办公室愿意探索替代方案。

如果有所改变，它们将与麦卡锡当选的那晚直接相关。

“这是一个完美的结晶的论点，允许独立媒体在议会更经常地，”奥康奈尔说。

Drama of McCarthy's election may open House to more cameras

NEW YORK --The difference between a government-controlled camera that followed a climactic moment in Rep. Kevin McCarthy's election as House speaker and one operated by a C-SPAN journalist was like a fuzzy black-and-white picture contrasted with sparkling, clear color.

In one, McCarthy strides up an aisle in the House chamber and disappears from view. A few people in the front turn to see where he's going. After a minute, and some audible gasps, everyone stands to watch what the camera doesn't show.

C-SPAN captured the entire scene, including the exasperated McCarthy's tense, finger-pointing conversation with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and a GOP colleague held back from lunging at Gaetz.

Some in Congress and C-SPAN are seizing on that moment to ask that the House floor be more fully open to cameras in the interest of transparency. There's been tangible movement in that direction.

McCarthy, as House speaker, has the final word. His office has signaled that changes are being considered. Already, government cameras have broadened their views.

“I'm guardedly optimistic that the speaker would consider independent media coverage, if not permanently, at least on request,” said Ben O'Connell, C-SPAN director of editorial operations. “We had a lot of positive feedback from both sides of the aisle.”

There's been little change in how the public has seen House sessions since cameras were first brought in almost 44 years ago, according to Susan Swain, C-SPAN's co-CEO. For the most part, the podium and lawmakers who come to the front to speak are shown, but little else. There are exceptions when other cameras are allowed, such as when a joint session of Congress is convened for the State of the Union.

The quirk that increased visibility that week in January was that, technically, at the time there was no speaker. Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., consented to three C-SPAN cameras, O'Connell said.

“We want to make it as accessible as possible, and I think cameras do that,” said Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan ofWisconsin, who has 25 co-sponsors for a resolution supporting C-SPAN’s bid.

Beyond the McCarthy drama, cameras offered other insights such as when polar political opposites Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., had a conversation.

All of Pocan's co-sponsors are Democrats, which give them little sway with McCarthy, R-Calif. But there's been some GOP support for the concept, including from Gaetz.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, was quoted by CNN as saying, “What the American people were able to see unfold on the floor was a good thing for our democracy and our republic.”

Given how the speaker's vote played out in public, it wouldn't surprise Pocan if McCarthy had little interest in more closely watched proceedings. But that hasn't necessarily been the case.

McCarthy's office didn’t necessarily mind how things looked during the vote and is open to greater access on certain occasions.

“We are exploring a number of options to open up the People’s House to ensure a more transparent and accessible Congress for the American people,” said Mark Bednar, a McCarthy spokesman.

The Senate has similar rules, but has gotten less attention because of the McCarthy vote.

Without fanfare, the government-controlled cameras have been offering some different views in recent weeks, observers said. There are eight cameras installed, up from six four years ago.

What's uncertain is whether C-SPAN will get what it prefers: its own cameras, installed in the gallery overlooking the House floor, controlled robotically by journalists and available by pool to all news organizations.

McCarthy's office is likely to move with caution, said Brendan Buck, who worked for then-SpeakersJohn Boehner, R-Ohio, andPaul Ryan, R-Wis., and is now a partner at the communications firm Seven Letter.

“Once you give something, it’s hard to take it back,” he said. “They have to make sure they are comfortable giving the access, knowing that it may be forever."

Buck said he believed that some rank-and-file members of Congress would be more resistant than leadership. With Washington increasingly segregated by party, the House floor is one of the few places members have to get to know colleagues they might not normally spend time with, he said.

“They don't want every conversation they have to have eyes and ears on it,” Buck said. That may not be a good reason to restrict cameras, but it may actually serve democracy, he said.

More cameras might also promote performing rather than legislating, a point Pocan conceded.

“But, honestly, people who are going to cause disruption are going to do it regardless,” he said. Pocan doesn't want cameras kept away for the wrong reasons, like the risk a representative could be caught dozing on the job.

Every time that a new speaker has been elected in the 22 years that O'Connell has been at C-SPAN, the company's top executive dutifully writes to request access to the chamber by journalists with video cameras, he said.

This year, he said, “I didn't think we were going to do anything because it felt like we were shouting at a wall.”

Yet the speaker's vote, where C-SPAN's video was used widely by other television networks and on social media, led Swain to try again.

The Radio and Television Correspondents Association, which represents broadcast outlets that cover Congress, supports C-SPAN's request. The group's chairman, Jared Halpren, said he appreciates the willingness of McCarthy's office to explore alternatives.

If changes are made, they would be tied directly to the night McCarthy was elected.

“It was a perfect crystallization of the argument for allowing independent media in the chamber on a more regular basis,” O'Connell said.