Page 418 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Publ c Access Telev s on |

The center should be a space for public mediation and the cultural celebra-
tion of difference. It is the role of access centers to facilitate social engagements
by organizing screenings, discussion series, panels, conferences, and parties. It
should be a facility for disseminating messages but also a place to have fun.
Those who work in public access point out that the most effective centers
are designed as creative environments where new thoughts are welcome, where
growth and enlightenment are realized through an atmosphere of social learn-
ing. An access center can be a place where seniors with different backgrounds,
including some with strong religious ties as in some Brooklyn neighborhoods
in New York, can be taught editing techniques and the social construction of
gender stereotypes by artists/educators from groups traditionally locked out of
mainstream participation such as lesbian, gay, and transgender communities.
It is a place where understanding, sharing, and community are provoked and
expanded.
Diversity in programming is severely limited when cable providers make it
overly arduous to produce and program a show. This opens access up only to the
passionate eccentrics of the community, defining the political base of public ac-
cess as fringe and not representative of the broader, more dynamic community.

CommuniTy rEsourCE or TELEvision Program?
Proponents of public access explain that as one of the few alternatives func-
tioning outside of powerful media systems, public access should continue to
embrace its oppositional character. Some lament that over time it has lost its
antagonistic tone by appropriating the theory and practices of commercial tele-
vision. Striving for “legitimacy,” some access centers are taking on the controver-
sial role of creating content for their public access channels. However, without
community involvement, programs concerning job growth or the economy, for
example, are advised by local chambers of commerce rather than unions, labor
groups, and other community organizations usually given little airtime on com-
mercial and even public television.
Instituting professional programming practices at the local level would trans-
form the nature and mission of public access. When public access program-
ming aspires to be a regional version of CNN or NPR, it reinforces the opinion
that public access television is merely a stepping-stone on the way to corporate
media. Since access does not deliver lucrative markets to advertisers, it can-
not be measured using a commercial broadcasting ratings system. Because of
these factors, advocates argue that public access needs to be reconceptualized
as a community resource rather than as a television program. They point to the
history of its development and its unique vision in an age of highly centralized,
corporate-dominated media institutions.

ThE uniquE mission oF PuBLiC aCCEss TELEvision

Public access has always been tied to community activism and social change, and
is part of a long struggle to claim public space within emerging communications