London, the world looked on for America's big day

Inauguration day was a big deal in the UK as well, especially in London. The Faraday House - Syracuse University's London Campus - made sure that it was a special day for us. Professors were asked to end classes early at 4 pm and not start any classes until 6 pm (that's 11 am to 1 pm Eastern Time). During that time, students were encouraged to gather in the lounge in the basement where they had BBC coverage on a projection screen. They decorated the room with American and British flags, and had tons of food and drinks. I would say that there were at least 150 people watching in that room, and they had to open the room next door for people who wanted to watch in silence. So there we were, American students and British faculty looking on with the same awe and enthusiasm as President Obama was sworn in and gave his speech.

Sure that could be expected for an American institution, but the amazing thing was that Londoners were looking on in much the same way. I overheard one of my classmates saying that they had gone to a pub to celebrate and everyone inside was watching CNN. British media followed it extensively too, it was as if we were at home. The BBC News Channel was covering it all day, and BBC 1 - the British Broadcasting Corporation's flagship general entertainment channel - suspended normal programing at 4 pm to join BBC News' live coverage from Washington. Throughout the day, they were showing auditoriums in London filled with people watching projection screens of the coverage.

I noticed that media coverage at home rose to a new level as well. I was checking the websites of ABC News and the New York Times all day, and both had live streaming of the inauguration. I watched Dianne Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos anchor the abcnews.com coverage of the parade. They said that this was the first inauguration to be streamed online. It was great to be able to get both media perspectives and compare the BBC and ABC. Of course I preferred ABC, but BBC did a great job. I was certainly a big day no matter where you were, or where you were from.