Save Public Access

The other day, while discussing the important value of Public Access television with a friend, it occurred to me that one thing that seems to be overlooked when the subject of PEG TV or Pubic Access television comes up is the profound difference between Public Access/ community TV and commercial TV, a profound difference that federal, state and local legislators should be keenly aware of and take advantage of for the good of their communities.

I never understood why many cable and telecom companies have resisted franchise licencing or the mandate to fund and to support public access television. As an institution, Public Access is a community resources, building community in a way that can set the ground work needed for a sustainable commercial markets.

Our legislators have an opportunity through HR 3745, the
Community Access Preservation Act (CAP) to ensure support for Public Access as a good for their community and business constituencies.

The goal of commercial television, as it is with really any commercial enterprise, is to exploit a market. Although the commercial enterprise may wish to sustain it's ability to sell product, ultimately, it's role is to exhaust the market share.

On the other hand, the goal of Public Access/Community TV, as it is really with any non-profit community media, is to nurture, enrich and build community through media. A Sustainable public access mission, provides a rich community resource which inspires, invigorates and even encourages growth in related commercial markets in fields of cable services, television and video production and other creative economy initiatives.

Of interest:
Bankruptcy Judge Slams Charter Founder Allen

On Broadband DSL reports, Karl Bode writes:
"Charter founder Paul Allen got a stern talking to yesterday in a Manhattan bankrupcty court. According to the New York Post, US Bankruptcy Court Judge James Peck asked Allen's personal financial rep if it "appears somewhat unseemly for a person as wealthy as Allen" to be benefiting financially from the cable operator's bankruptcy plan. Charter's restructuring calls for Allen to be paid around $200 million and is tailored specifically to lessen Paul Allen's personal tax burden. Despite the fact that Charter has never been profitable and suffers from some of the worst customer support in the business, company CEO Neil Smit has also had a very profitable implosion. "

Do you remember my most recent posting which was about astroturf groups? If so, please consider this:
Thomas Jefferson has been quoted to say "Information is the Currency of Democracy", these fake groups (astroturf lobbyist who pretend to be grass roots when they are NOT and more likely to be representing a special corporate interest) sway legislators and the public under the mask of deceit.
I wonder if Jefferson would consider that as an equivalent to printing phony money. Wouldn't that be illegal?

There has been much concern focused on the struggles of print media in this depressed economy. The TV business is not immune. WBZ closed it's Worcester office, Fox and CBS and others are sharing resources. There is much more reporter pooling going on today. What we will see is more of the same. The same stories, the more the spectacle the better. Commercial TV News, as in most radio outlets, are moving further from objective, local and hard hitting news in favor of "human interest", and the business of propaganda.
Charter Communications seems to facing some unique challenges on it's own.
For sure there will be some that will moan over the fact that Worcester has no affiliate TV station. In today's world , however, that is really a moot issue.

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Thanks for supporting public access television in good old Worcester Massachusetts.

"AT&T, Comcast and Verizon -- the nation's largest ISPs -- don't want to have to build networks constrained by so-called 'net neutrality' provisions that would ban them from giving preferential treatment to some services (such as their own streaming video server) over others (such as YouTube)." Read how wonderful these benevolent giants are.

Also, check out how Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and other large wireless carriers and cable companies are behind lobbying efforts in state legislatures around the country to prohibit local governments from using federal stimulus money to build and manage their own broadband networks, critics contend. So far, they seem to be succeeding.
These are the ones lobbying in Massachusetts claiming they want to keep municipal controls and inspire competition. Don't laugh too hard.

Nahh... I am a big fan of Bunnie Riedel's blog. She is a strong advocate for public access. In her latest blog she writes, and I pretty much quote, " that in Maryland the Department of Commerce was instructed to commission the study and so they did with the University of Minnesota. And guess what the researchers found out? Come on…20 points for the right answer! Yep, competition doesn’t lower prices and video service providers cherry-pick service areas. “Statewide video franchising—or in some states the practice of state‐issued franchises—has led to an increase in new providers, but the numbers are underwhelming….Texas reports occurrences when cable companies requested amendments to remove cities and towns from their service area. In 2005 and 2006, no removals were recorded for municipalities in Texas.

The writer of the article below ends with "A people without access to their airwaves is one without access to their government. " I am compelled to point out, for the sake of of own city leadership and for others , the point of the quote is not simply that we are able to simply "see" government in the act of doing it's business, but that the people will also have an opportunity to discuss, critique, and offer opinions in an open forum on those very airwaves or cable ways. In other words, to have a government access channel is not enough. Ideally, Public Access television is the venue that allows everyone an opportunity to participate without fear of retribution from government itself. Even dictators allow those they rule over watch what they are doing, if and when they choose. De-regulation of cable and phone industries or the move to state authorized franchises are paving a road full of disasters for democracy, free speech, and citizen participation. In a California loop hole, Time Warner has found a way to close fourteen public access stations in Los Angeles alone. The public outcry against such an act is rarely mentioned, if mentioned at all, in the mainstream media. Wonder why? The media is controlled by a select few and because profits matter more than citizen participation and democracy to those who control air, phone and cable ways. Our government leadership has not stopped this trend that threatens everyone in this country today. Why is it that it seems that cities, everywhere, are failing to understand the importance and value of public access television or that Public Access centers can offer a strategic priority to stimulate and encourage economic, cultural, and civic growth through it's unique mission of inclusiveness in electronic media platform?

The Hoffington Post, Dec 29th, Jayne Stahl writes:

On December 31st, Time Warner Cable plans to pull fourteen public access channels and studios in Los Angeles a city whose name has, for generations, been synonymous with media and broadcasting. This move will act to solidify recent gains in media consolidation, as well as set a dangerous precedent for television programming nationally.

Those of us born on the cusp of the McCarthy era, who are old enough to remember both McCarthys, also recall a time when another administration whose high crimes and misdemeanors would have gone undetected were it not for the free flow of information, and the ability of newspapers to pursue diverse paths in investigative journalism, a prospect which would be nearly impossible today.

Active dissent is greatly diminished in a climate in which independent programming is not enabled to survive. Allowing a cable behemoth, Time Warner, to eliminate more than a dozen public access channels means, in effect, green lighting standardized programming that exists solely to feed the corporate coffer at the expense of creative, community participation.

Bottom line, Mr. Attorney General: there needs to be diversity for the First Amendment to thrive. There needs to be citizen participation in a democracy, and no monopoly can be allowed to defeat that which is intrinsic to individual growth.

The Caucus for TV Producers, Writers, and Directors, Ed Asner, and all of us who are concerned about the life expectancy of an intellectual environment that embraces independence of thought, and diversity, call upon you, as chief law enforcement officer in your state, for injunctive relief, and a temporary restraining order against Time Warner to prevent them from pulling the plug on public access channels in Los Angeles this New Year's Eve.

A people without access to their airwaves is one without access to their government. On this, I know we agree.

****
Many agree with the fact that Public Access is to important to loose.
Share on the Alliance list serve, thanks to Rob McCausland is the following list of Hollywood celebs that agree and join the fight to stop Time Warner for shutting down public access stations in Los Angeles:

What do these Hollywood heavy weights have in common?
By David Hernandez
Save LA Public Access: Los Angeles Public Access Coalition
12/25/08

Rene Balcer, Emmy and Peabody Award winning writer
and producer of landmark television series “Law and Order”; co-creator, writer,
and producer of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.”

Hinton Battle,
dancer, dramatic actor, singer, choreographer, writer, director, and producer
as well as America’s
only living three-time Tony Award winner.

Warren Beatty, Oscar-winning writer, producer,
director, and actor, winner of the Academy’s 2000 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial
Award.

Stefan Bechtel, non-fiction author.

Steven Bochco, Multiple Emmy, Peabody, and Humanitas
Award-winning writer, producer, and creator of landmark television series,
including “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law,” “Doogie Howser,” and “N.Y.P.D.
Blue.”

Peggy Charren, founder of Action for Children’s
Television, winner of the Peabody Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Vin Di Bona, Chairman of the prestigious Caucus for
Television Producers, Writers, and Directors, winner Emmy and Peabody Awards,
creator and producer of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

John Connolly, actor, President of the American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

Blake Edwards, award-winning director, writer,
producer, one of only three recipients of the prestigious Preston Sturges Award
given jointly by the DGA and WGA, awarded the French Legion of Honor, winner of
the French Cesar.

Diane English, multiple Emmy-winning writer and
producer, creator of “Murphy Brown.”

Jonathan Estrin , Executive V.P., American Film
Institute, Writer/ producer/director of film and television, winner of WGA
awards, nominated for Emmys and Golden Globes.

Tom Fontana, Emmy, Peabody, and Humanitas
Award-winning writer and producer of “Oz,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” and
“St. Elsewhere.”

Marshall Goldberg, award winning writer, (”Life Goes
On,” “LA Law,”
“The Paper Chase,” “Newhart,” attorney, Chairman of
the Writer’s Guild Industry-Health Fund and Producer - Writers Guild Pension
Plan.

Roger Gimbel , Emmy award-winning independent
producer.

Craig Haffner, President & CEO Greystone
Television , Emmy Award winning Producer.

Leonard Hill, prolific producer and leading member
of the prestigious Caucus for Television Producers, Writers, and Directors.

Gregory Allen Howard, screenwriter, “Ali,” and
“Remember the Titans,”
winner of Christopher Award and NAACP Image Award.
Winner, Howard University’s Paul Robeson Award.

Gerald Isenberg, Professor, USC School of Cinema -
Television, award- winning producer of over one hundred feature and television
films, former President of Hearst Entertainment, former Chairman, The Caucus
for Television Producers, Writers, and Directors.

Martin Kaplan, Associate Dean, USC Annenberg School
For Communication and Director, The Norman Lear Center (as well as a
screenwriter).

Richard Masur, actor, director, former President,
Screen Actors Guild.

Mary McCormack, star of “K Street” on HBO, critically acclaimed
stage, screen, and television actor.

Dorothea G. Petrie, Emmy award winning producer.

Frank Pierson, Oscar-winning writer, director,
President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the “Oscars”).

Sarah Pillsbury, Oscar and Emmy winning producer.

Marian Rees, renowned independent producer of “Miss
Rose White,”
“Love is Never Silent,” “Decoration Day,” “A Son’s
Promise,” and other films that have garnered eleven Emmy Awards and thirty-six
Emmy Nominations, two Golden Globe Awards, six Christopher Awards, the
Humanitas Prize, and a Peabody.

David W. Rintels, multiple Emmy and Peabody-winning
writer-producer, “Darrow,” “Sakharov,” “Andersonville,”
“World War II: When Lions Roared.”

Victoria Riskin, Past President of the Writers Guild
of America, west, and award winning writer-producer.

Allen Sabinson, Dean of Drexel University’s Westphal
College of Media Arts and Design, former President of Production at Miramax
Film and senior executive at A&E, TNT, ABC, ICM, NBC and Showtime.

James Sadwith, Emmy-award winning director for
“Sinatra,” writer, producer.

Sissy Spacek, Oscar-winning actress.

Sander Vanocur, a forty-year veteran of print and
broadcast journalism, including work for The New York Times and Washington
Post, NBC and ABC News.

Paul Wagner, Oscar-winning writer-producer-director
of documentary and dramatic independent films.

Their Organization has just announced support of our
efforts to stop Time Warner Cable from closing down the Public Access Studios
in Los Angeles!

Just moments ago, by a near-unanimous vote, the Senate stood up to Big
Media. They voted to throw out the FCC decision to let the largest
media companies swallow up even more local media.

This is simply an astounding victory, and it would not have happened
without the massive grassroots effort by you and thousands of others who called their senators, sent more than a quarter million letters,
posted thousands of pictures and stories on StopBigMedia.com, and testified at public hearings held by the FCC.

It was your dedication that made today's Senate win possible.

Today was a huge step forward, but there is still much to do. The fight against the FCC now moves to the House, where our elected representatives need to hear from us.

President Bush has promised that he will try to veto this bill. But tonight the Senate and the American people have spoken with one voice.
This historic vote sends a clear message that the only people who support more media consolidation are Big Media lobbyists and the White House.

We are in this struggle to bring more minority ownership, diverse perspectives and independent voices to the media. We need to make media consolidation an election-year issue. And we need to start talking about how to break up the giant conglomerates.

Corporate news today -- with its propaganda pundits, horse-race election coverage, and celebrity gossip -- undermines our democracy. We must continue to speak out and demand that the public airwaves be used to actually serve the public.

In just three weeks, thousands of people will be gathering together in Minnesota to build the movement for better media. You can join them at the National Conference for Media Reform, just visit www.freepress.net/conference.
FreePress

For today, know that you played a key role in the fight for better
media for all.

Thank you,

Josh Silver
Executive Director
Free Press Action Fund