Page 46 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Alternat ve Med a n the Un ted States |

Instead of trying to mimic the expensive, slick production style of mainstream
mass media and what marketing consultants call the “packaging” of news pro-
gramming, Paper Tiger created a “public access aesthetic” that included innova-
tive and inexpensive set designs, handmade graphics, and alternative location
settings. Dedicated to the inclusion of original and creative artistic expression,
the collective developed a working analysis that argued that alternative formats
were as important as content. The style and look of the Paper Tiger video aes-
thetic was contentious, with some critics charging that audiences would not take
seriously shows that diverged from the high production qualities recognizable
on network TV and even in some documentary formats. Yet Paper Tiger con-
tinued its unconventional and inexpensive style, and such innovations predated
the now popular look of many independent videos, especially those shared on
online venues such as YouTube and others.

DEEP Dish TELEvision

Deep Dish Television can be understood as the logical outgrowth of the pub-
lic access structure, providing a distribution network for public access video and
independently produced programming. Initiated in 1986, its goal was to col-
lect programming from community stations and video artists from across the
country and provide a national distribution source for that programming. Pro-
grams are uplinked to a satellite feed that can be received at local community
media centers, where they can be rebroadcast on community, public, and access
stations. As a “grassroots” network, Deep Dish has produced its own programs
with the help of individual donors and foundation support. Programs and even
series that address specific topics from an in-depth perspective exemplify a very
different type of reporting of historical and cultural events, political scandals
and corruption, and war. After 20 years, assessing these often groundbreaking
series allow media analysts and the public alike to fully appreciate the role of and
need for alternative media (see sidebar, “Shocking and Awful: Deep Dish Televi-
sion Responds to War”). The most successful of the Deep Dish uplinks has been
the daily news program Democracy Now! with award-winning journalist Amy
Goodman. This ongoing international news program began as a radio show on
the Pacifica network and became a television series through the Deep Dish net-
work of local stations.

shoCking and awFul: deeP dish teleVision resPonds to war

In the days before the invasion of Iraq, as the U.S. military planned a massive aerial bombing
campaign of Baghdad, the Pentagon phrase “Shock and Awe” was repeated with enthusi-
asm on mainstream television. At the same time, Deep Dish TV was setting in motion a plan
to record, illuminate, document and bear witness to what would be left out of the commer-
cial media war-coverage frame. They would title the 13-part series of 28-minute programs
Shocking and Awful, and the group of independent artists and media producers would tell
the story of the Iraq war in a way completely unlike that of commercial media.