Page 416 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Publ c Access Telev s on |

PuBliC aCCess teleVision
The advent of cable television franchises across the country in the early 1980s
gave rise to public access channels designed for community participation that
offered alternatives to commercial television. The act of placing communica-
tions resources within the hands of community members was an attempt to
empower public expression at the local level. However, public access has never
become an institution within mainstream society and is continually struggling
over production issues, day-to-day operations, and legislative challenges often
driven by the commercial motives of mainstream media.

un-TELEvision: PuBLiC aCCEss as a Tv aLTErnaTivE
Regardless of the communications apparatus, public access television offers
alternatives. Ideally, it is about replacing the consumer-driven imperative of
commercial television with a medium directed by a community’s needs. Pub-
lic access is part of a decentralized public media movement that seeks to em-
power the community through training in production technologies without
the “professional” tampering of reporters, editors, and producers. Public access
conceives the video maker as organizer, activist, and catalyst. This may be a diffi-
cult concept given cultural norms that applaud individual enterprise over group
processes.

CoLLECTivism anD ProCEss
Ceding authority and debunking the individualism of auteur theory is cru-
cial to the collective ideal of public access, whose advocates argue that commu-
nity members need to be empowered through inclusion and group participation.
Collectivism strives to impartially allocate power so each individual is instru-
mental to the group project. Successful production models that embody this
more egalitarian and process-oriented approach can be found in the work of
Paper Tiger Television, Deep Dish TV, and Indymedia.

PuBLiC aCCEss as mEDia LiTEraCy
When nonprofessionals begin to produce media, they often start by imitating
what they have seen on mainstream TV, especially young people intent on imi-
tating popular music videos and other commercial formats. In the effort to help
those eager to move from media consumers to media producers, public access
staff often incorporate media literacy into their curricula and provide instruc-
tion beyond the technical aspects of production. Workshops facilitate discus-
sions of television’s intersection with the social, political, and economic factors
that influence the medium and the look of commercial programming, providing
emerging media makers with the critical tools necessary to expand into creative
uses of the medium and alternative constructions. Public access producers can
then reapply the constructivist techniques of television in addressing personal
and communal concerns.