A plea for public access

During the last several decades, media outlets have gradually been consolidated into large media conglomerates owned by a handful of large corporations. The fact that these companies often have their own agendas and vast amounts of capital can sometimes make it difficult to separate the facts from

the gimmicks.

Many people are unaware that there is a place to go to escape the world of corporate sponsorship, where programming reflects the interests and the issues of the local community.

Public access television, according to a study conducted by Hans Klien, associate professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology, dates back to the 1960s when cable television was becoming more widespread.

“As local governments began setting conditions for the use of local rights of way communities began requesting TV channels for public use,” Klien said.

Klien stated that the expectations of public access television were that it would create social change and open debates by giving, ” . ordinary citizens direct access to society’s most powerful mass medium.”

In 1984, Congress passed the Cable Communications Policy Act imposing national regulations on cable networks for public programming. This act, along with other legislation, “.authorized local governments to extract channel capacity, money, local data networks and other resources from cable providers in exchange for use of rights of way,” Klien said.

By January 2001, Treasure Valley Public Access Television made its debut in the Boise area and began transmitting through Cable One’s cable system. In a franchise agreement with the State of Idaho, Cable One agreed to provide funding for equipment and facilities, as well as absorb the cost of transmission.

Public Access still carries many of the same ideals that it did at its inception. According to tvctvonline.org, its mission is, ” . to facilitate a free exchange of ideas, community dialogue, culture and

artistic expression.”

However, public access television continues to face the same problems, primarily, lack of funding and lack of viewers.

Matt Dewey, professor in the Communication Department at Boise State, has been teaching at the TVCTV studio for the last four years.

“Recently in our legislation they have been discussing taking away 10 cents per cable subscriber,” Dewey said.

This means that TVCTV will be forced to cut about $35,000 out of their budget which could potentially put them out of business.

Because of its inability to attract viewers, it would seem that public access has failed at its expectations to be a force for change.

“This is a culture where we expect TV to do something that is hasn’t been acclimated in our society to do,” Dewey said. “It’s a distraction.”

However, public television can still be a valuable asset to the community by getting those who are interested involved in the production process.

“As irrelevant as it may be sometimes, I’m still out of my box working for something that ultimately I believe is good,” Dewey said.

Even though public access has failed to live up to its ambitious expectations, access to public airwaves is still a right worth protecting. Perhaps in the future, with a little innovation, public media can become a driving force in the community.

“Although to the casual observer public access television may seem mundane, it actually is a radical experiment in social empowerment and consciousness expansion,” Dewey said.

TRAVIS MURPHY
Arbiter Journalist

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