OLYMPIA – Republicans in the state Senate want to make sure the iPod crowd can listen to legislative discussions about health care and agriculture while trotting on the treadmill or riding the bus.
The Republican caucus announced Thursday that new technology on its Web site allows the public to subscribe to audio podcasts of legislative commentary and bill proposals – assuming, of course, that people would rather listen to Sen. Joseph Zarelli of Ridgefield talking about the budget than rapper Kanye West railing against gold diggers.
| Political podcasts
Washington Senate Republicans: www1.leg.wa. gov/Senate/SRC/Podcast House Democratic Caucus: http://hdc.leg.wa. gov/radio.asp |
A podcast is a downloadable audio file that can be played back on a computer or on a portable device such as an iPod. The difference between a podcast and other downloadable audio files is that people subscribe to favorite podcasts with special Web programs that automatically deliver new episodes to a computer.
The Republicans’ podcasts currently are limited to lawmakers talking about upcoming issues in the 2006 legislative session such as energy, sex offender punishment, the state budget and medical liability reform.
But the caucus said they could soon expand to include everything from individual lawmakers’ bulletins to caucus positions on other issues.
“It is our goal to give you open and unrestricted access to your government and connect you with your elected officials,” Senate minority caucus Chairman Jim Honeyford of Sunnyside said in a podcast on the site. “We’ve chosen to begin podcasting because more and more of you are getting your news and information online.
“We are excited to be part of this trend of information dissemination.”
The House Democrats’ caucus Web site, which had previously offered standard downloadable audio files, had podcast technology up and running Thursday afternoon.
Web sites for the Senate Democrats and House Republicans offer audio files that can be downloaded, but they’re not podcasts.
With thousands of podcasts delivered daily, the technology has 4.5 million U.S. users this year and 11.4 million expected in 2006, according to market analysts at the Diffusion Group in Plano, Texas.
Other caucuses around the country have taken up podcasting, including the Senate Republicans and House Democrats in Pennsylvania.
Honeyford admits that iPod users may not rush to download from the site.
“There’s a lot of competition,” he said. “I think this is for those people who are really interested and want to be better informed on what’s going on in the Legislature.”
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