The Atlantic

The Silent Power of Live-Streaming Politics

Unfiltered feeds, like the one that carried James Comey’s testimony, can provide a rare moment of transparency in a noisy and divided political climate.
Source: Joe Penney / Reuters

For nearly three hours on Thursday, many Americans turned their attention to the engrossing, absorbing spectacle that was James Comey, the former FBI director, giving his first public remarks since President Donald Trump fired him one month ago. One of the nation’s top law-enforcement officials was poised to divulge damaging information about a president accused of trying to influence a federal investigation into his campaign’s ties to a foreign government—and the people weren’t going to miss it.

The room hosting the congressional hearing could seat less than 100 people. Live-streams, broadcast from cable-news channels, regular

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