The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Gabriela Schneider 202-742-1520

TONIGHT - Sunlight Live: Shining a Light on President Obama's State of the Union

Real-time data analysis, streaming video and live blog round out coverage

WASHINGTON

The first Sunlight Live of 2011 is set for tonight's State of the Union. The
Sunlight Foundation will cover President Obama's address to Congress --
and GOP response -- using its award-winning, real-time, investigative
reporting platform, Sunlight Live
.
Combining live streaming video, government transparency data and social
media coverage, the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation will provide
insight to the proposals, people and policies mentioned during the
speech. Sunlight Live provides viewers with real-time context and
analysis of current events, all from a single webpage.

"On Tuesday night, we will provide real-time transparency of the
annual State of the Union and make our analysis participatory in a way
we couldn't have before the Web. We invite all citizens to join us and
submit questions as we live-blog, fact-check on-the-fly and provide
contextual analysis about the influences shaping President Obama's
statements at the moment they are spoken," said Ellen Miller, co-founder
and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation.

In last
year's State of the Union, the president made transparency a cornerstone
issue for his administration, calling for greater transparency in
congressional earmarks, lobbyist disclosure and fixes to campaign
finance reform in the wake of Citizens United v. FEC. These issues
strongly reflect the Sunlight Foundation's mission and it continues to
issue policy proposals to help Congress and the White House achieve
these goals.

Leading the Sunlight Live coverage will be
investigative journalists from the Sunlight Reporting Group and will be
joined by partner bloggers from The Huffington Post, National Journal,
CQ Roll Call and Center for Public Integrity
. We invite all members
of the press and public to join us on Tuesday for Sunlight Live. You can
watch the video stream and live blog at https://www.sunlightlive.com.

Additionally,
all of the Sunlight Live widgets--the video feed, the live blog, the
infographics--are available to media and bloggers for embedding. Please
contact us for the technical specifications.

WHAT: Sunlight Live: State of the Union

WHEN: Tuesday, January 25
8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. (eastern)

WHERE: https://www.sunlightlive.com

WHO: Sunlight Reporting Group -- Bill Allison, Paul Blumenthal, Joshua Hatch
Center for Public Integrity -- John Solomon, Aaron Mehta
The Huffington Post -- Arthur Delaney, Jason Linkins, Amanda Terkel
National Journal -- Tim Fernholz
CQ Roll Call - Ali Ambreen

CONTACT: Gabriela Schneider, Communications Director
gschneider@sunlightfoundation.com
202-742-1520 ext 236

The Sunlight Foundation was co-founded in 2006 by Washington, DC businessman and lawyer Michael Klein and longtime Washington public interest advocate Ellen Miller with the non-partisan mission of using the revolutionary power of the Internet to make information about Congress and the federal government more meaningfully accessible to citizens.