SourceWatch:Wikiproject Colbert Report

The Congresspedia project on SourceWatch is attempting to update the site with links to each "Better Know a District" segment on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. The short segments generally provide information about a particular congressional district (usually focused on history and odd facts), and often include an interview by host Stephen Colbert with the House member who represents it. The interviews, while comical in nature, often force members to answer challenging questions and provide insight into their political views. This graphic illustrates the districts the show has featured (as of April 10, 2007).



Congresspedia currently has a page on the Colbert Report, which includes an incomplete list of members who have been interviewed on the show in the past. Clicking on a member name opens a video of the interview found on Comedy Central's website. While accessing the video is free, it does require viewers to wait through a 30-second advertisement before playing.

The Congresspedia page is missing links to many of these interviews, including all of those conducted so far in 2007. Updating this list with new links is easy, and requires only a short visit to Comedy Central's wesbite and a small amount of editing. To add links, just complete the following short steps:


 * 1) Go to the official page on the Colbert Report's "Better Know a District" segment at Comedy Central's website (it may be best to open it in a new window so you can have Congresspedia and the Comedy Central site open at the same time). Here, you will see a list of links to "Better Know a District" interviews.
 * 2) Click on a link to a member's interview (Remember, the Congresspedia page already includes links to several of these interviews, so choose one(s) that are currently missing). The video box should open.
 * 3) Copy the URL from your browser.
 * 4) Go to the Congresspedia page on the Colbert Report, locating the section titled "Better know a District interviews."
 * 5) Click the "[edit]" link on the right-hand-side of the section heading.
 * 6) Scroll down past all of the existing text, placing your cursor on the line directly following the last line of text.
 * 7) Paste the link to the "Better Know a District" segment that you copied in step 3.
 * 8) In addition to the link, we want to note the member featured in the interview, the party and state of the member, and the date in which the interview took place. Format your entry (with this information) in the style shown in the chart below. The example focuses on adding a link to a "Better Know a District" segment with Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.).

That's all it takes! It may be helpful to look at the format that was used for the already existing links on the page if you get confused. Also, feel free to contact Congresspedia Associate Managing Editor Elliott Fullmer (efullmer AT congresspedia.org) if you have any questions.

Thanks and have fun!