Panelists: Tom Schwallie, Louis Cintron, Ron Scott, Habibah Ahmad
Moderator: Betty Yu
In the face of increasing corporate media consolidation and the FCC's deregulation efforts, more and more disenfranchised communities are finding themselves marginalized or shut out of these media systems. However, local communities all over the country have been utilizing Public Access TV as an empowerment tool to advance their social justice goals. These communities who traditionally lack access to media making tools, are creating their own media and using the public airwaves to inform, advocate and organize around housing, immigration, police brutality, environmental and economic justice issues. But in recent months, statewide legislation has emerged all over the country creating the greatest threat to Public Access TV in its thirty-five year history.
Already, damaging statewide video franchising legislation has passed in over 14 states. In Michigan alone, bad legislation resulted in reduction of staff and slashes in overall funding for the community access TV centers in the state. Politically, Public Access TV is the materialization of the first amendment, the only vehicle of information that is not mediated by commercial or profit-driven interests, but by the people. Without Public Access TV, the media justice discourse is severely compromised and so is the public's ability to get a closer look at our social justice communities and our stories. In light of this, change cannot wait! This panel will explore how different communities have been organizing to preserve these local media resources and the strategies they are using to stop harmful legislation that could endanger the scope of their reach and overall existence. This will be a participatory dialogue to engage workshop participants in this ongoing fight.
