The Jan. 6 committee has learned some lessons from previous televised hearings

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
"Do this, not that.

In its first five public sessions, the House select committee on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has shown how much it has learned from live hearings in the past.

The committee has absorbed the lessons from high impact undertakings such as the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973. It has also heeded the warnings from past probes that failed to meet expectations — notably the Iran-Contra hearings of 1987.

Some of the lessons have to do with presentation – the live events that viewers have seen and heard. Others have to do with what has not been seen or heard.

Jan. 6 hearings use TV tricks to great effect even as critics call them show biz
HOUSE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE HEARINGS
Jan. 6 hearings use TV tricks to great effect even as critics call them show biz
Perhaps the first lesson to note is that waiting to build the best case before going public is worth the risk involved.

In one sense, airing all these facts together in this fashion might have had more impact if done right after the attack on the Capitol. Some of the evidence now being presented might have been available in the early months after former President Trump left office.

But assembling it in an orderly and lawyerly fashion and then shaping a clear and cogent manner takes time. And in this case, the flexible schedule for the hearings themselves has allowed for the emergence of still more evidence as they continue.

History will weigh whether the origins of Jan. 6 and the culpability of the former president could have been as thoroughly and persuasively mounted in haste. Past hearings that seized on a moment of outrage or heightened public interest have suffered from a rush to judgment atmosphere and ultimately misjudged the public mood."...