PEG Access TV and Why Local Newspapers Matter

Thanks to Rob McCausland (Director of Information and Organizing Services for the Alliance for Community Media), and his incredibly resourceful Clippings for PEG Access TV, I can subscribe to an RSS feed of daily news on issues related to community television from around the world.

These daily updates have played a large part in the research for this project. I’ve also been able to learn a lot about many of the dedicated community media workers who help to raise awareness about the importance of local media and why they matter for their communities.

In yesterday’s Clippings, there is a link to an interview with Capital Community Television’s Executive Director, Alan Bushong in Salem, Oregon’s StatesmansJournal.com. In it he addresses two questions that have become integral to this study:

Why do PEG Access TV & Community Media Centers matter?

How have PEG Access TV & Community Media Centers changed with the rise of YouTube and other social network platforms?

In the article, The Statesman Journal’s Chris Hagan asks, “Why is it important to have a station like this in a community?” Bushong responds (with emphasis added)

“I think there are a couple of reasons. First I think it’s nice to have a commercial-free alternative for viewers. I think the second big advantage is that it is local; it’s people that you know. I still believe in the importance of the geographical community, my neighborhood. I know there are cyber-communities. I have a lot of friends I communicate with by e-mail, but it’s still our neighbors that take care of our cats when we go on vacation. We still shop at the grocery store a mile away. So I think it speaks to the importance of the community. And finally I think it’s so important to give voice to those who have had little opportunity to speak to any size of audience. Even with the Internet, where people have that opportunity, I think they need to use as many media as possible. They should use the Statesman, they should use local radio, they should use our channels, the Internet. I just think that opportunity of voice is very important for the viability of a community. Our society should not be defined by New York, Chicago and L.A. We should be as important.”

So to my first question, Bushong says here that PEG Access TV provides:

A commercial-free alternative for viewers

It is local; it’s people that you know

Giving voice to those who have had little opportunity to speak to any size of audience

Now this isn’t news to folks who work in access. But for those who don’t, I think it’s important to re-emphasis his point that the “opportunity of voice is very important for the viability of a community” even when we may not agree with those who are speaking. It’s this “opportunity of voice” that provides opportunities for location-based civic engagement and community empowerment in a way that goes beyond letters to the editor or Op-Eds published in a local newspaper or other online communication platforms. As Bushong says, his community “should use the Statesman, they should use local radio, they should use our channels, the Internet.”

Next, Hagan asks “How has CCTV changed through the rise of YouTube, MySpace and other Web sites?”

“The Internet is real easy to use, which is great. So one of the ways we’ve changed is that we’ve become easier to use, and we’ll continue to work to become easier to use. But for some people, communicating on the Internet is really what they want to do, and I think people ought to go with what’s right for them. So I think some people that might have come in 15 years ago, had we been further along in our development, are not coming in and using the Internet. We’re also working to use the Internet more, and you’ll see over the next year we’re trying to make it easier for people to stream programs and to use promotion between the internet and CCTV. YouTube is still a fairly short venue, and we place no limits. YouTube … the parallel for me seems to be the length of a popular song. It’s about three to four minutes. I think we’ll see YouTube also change, and I think it will become important for groups like us to provide Internet access because YouTube is now not only starting to sell commercials but we’ll also see big changes because of the copyright issues surrounding it. The shorter answer is that I think people should take advantage of every opportunity.”

Here, Bushong not only compares YouTube to a three to four minute pop song, but addresses larger issues related to the commercialization of the web, as well as intellectual property concerns. Many access centers are using YouTube and other web video tools (e.g., blip.tv, Google Video, etc.) to publish and embed video on their website. The Community Media Center web platform can then serve as both an online non-commercial alternative for local community voices, while helping to educate producers about copyright issues.

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