C-SPAN Promotes Three Managers

C-SPAN today announced the promotion of three long-time managers to expanded leadership posts.

Richard Weinstein becomes vice president of digital media. He will be responsible for strategy and operations related to C-SPAN’s online presence, including c-span.org and the C‑SPAN Archives. “Richard brings to his new role excellent management skills plus extensive editorial and C-SPAN mission depth,” said C-SPAN co-CEO Susan Swain. “He has intricate knowledge of our internal content management systems plus a longstanding interest in innovation.”

Weinstein, who started at C-SPAN in 1986, has held a variety of positions at the public affairs network.  Most recently he oversaw daily event coverage and major productions. He also led the network transition to a new digital-based newsroom media asset management system. Weinstein is a 1986 graduate of American University.

Succeeding Weinstein is Ben O’Connell who becomes managing editor, responsible for day-to-day editorial operations. A Montana native and Yale graduate, O’Connell has been a C-SPAN producer since 2001. In his current role as managing producer of events he has been an integral part of C-SPAN’s editorial and political coverage teams.  He is now involved in his fourth election cycle for the network.

Prof. Robert X Browning of Purdue University is named executive director of the C-SPAN Archives, which is based in West Lafayette, Ind. “Dr. Browning’s new title reflects the growing importance of the Archives as both an internal and external resource and Dr. Browning’s strategic role in its future,” said C-SPAN co-CEO Rob Kennedy. Under Browning’s leadership at the Archives, the Video Library records all three C-SPAN networks seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Programs are extensively indexed, making the database of C-SPAN programming an unparalleled chronological resource of modern political and public policy history.

In 2010, C-SPAN won its third Peabody Award for the Video Library — now a collection totaling more than 221,000 hours of programming first made available to the public for free in 2007. Browning graduated from Marquette University in 1972. He received a master’s degree in public administration (1977) and a master’s degree in political science (1978), and in 1981 he was awarded his Ph.D. — all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.