Jan. 6 Panel Takes Cues From Netflix With Made-for-TV Hearings
- Republicans deride slick productions as one-sided ‘show trial’
- Supporters say format needed to engage distracted audience
Chairman Bennie Thompson swears in witnesses during a House January 6th Committee hearing on June 13.
Photographer: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
Persuading the American public to tune in to the Capitol insurrection hearings came down to one thing: making them more like a limited-edition Netflix show.
The tightly scripted episodes have so far stayed close to two hours in length and are free of the meandering questioning typical of Washington hearings. Participation even by the nine committee members has been strictly limited, with opening statements read from a teleprompter.