|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Article
|
|
Announcement :: Media |
|
CALL TO ACTION! Urbana City Council to address UPTV broadcast of "Democracy Now!", 7:30PM Monday, November 22nd. |
Current rating: 0 |
by Randall Cotton
Email: recotton (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified!)
Phone: 217-722-8470 |
15 Nov 2004
|
|
On Monday, November 22nd at the 7:30PM Urbana City Council meeting, an agenda item is expected relating to the 7+ month effort to get weekday broadcasts of "Democracy Now!" on UPTV, local public-access cable channel 6. A strong public turnout in support of "Democracy Now!" is needed to encourage the City Council to counter the obstruction of Urbana Mayor Tod Satterthwaite, who has thus far successfully censored this programming from UPTV. |
The long struggle to make the full video edition of "Democracy Now!" accessible to the tens of thousands of cable TV subscribers in the Champaign/Urbana area may finally be approaching triumph. But strong public turnout at the Monday, November 22nd Urbana City Council Meeting will likely be necessary to ensure success. This meeting will take place at 7:30PM at the Urbana City Council Chambers (ground floor of the Urbana City Building) 400 S. Vine St., Urbana (across the street from Lincoln Square Mall). Please attend to demonstrate the widespread community support for this effort.
Background:
UPTV is our local public-access cable TV station, but it is (unfortunately) run by the City of Urbana and is thus subject to control by the Mayor of Urbana, Tod Satterthwaite.
While there is a UPTV Commission (appointed by the mayor), which advises the mayor on public-access policy and procedures, the mayor (as dictated by Urbana City Code) has final say on the station's operation.
"Democracy Now!" was first formally proposed to UPTV for weekday cablecasting via satellite on May 6, 2004 in a meeting between myself (Randall Cotton), Chris Foster (UPTV Coordinator) and his supervisor Bill DeJarnette (IS Manager). Associated equipment and programming costs were to be donated to the City. There was clear verbal agreement that this would be implemented ("We know that we can do it", wrote Chris Foster in a May 17, 2004 e-mail).
Subsequently, however, mayor Tod Satterthwaite learned of this proposal and began blocking it, appearing in person at each subsequent UPTV Commission meeting to oppose "Democracy Now!" broadcasts on UPTV and refusing to allow his staff to sign the paperwork and acquire the equipment necessary for "Democracy Now!" broadcasts.
In response, a major petition campaign was mounted and over 1200 signatures from local residents were submitted to the UPTV Commission in support of "Democracy Now!”. Still, the mayor continued his obstruction. Then, on September 13th, 2004, in the presence of an overflow crowd of supporters at the Urbana City Council chambers, the UPTV Commission voted unanimously in favor of policy changes designed in part to explicitly allow for the broadcast of "Democracy Now!" on UPTV. The mayor rejected those changes on September 20th, 2004. Subsequently, six separate meetings took place between members of the UPTV Commission and the mayor, focusing on these and other policy changes and it appears that after these extensive discussions, those changes were finally accepted by the mayor. However, the mayor has still failed to commit to signing the necessary paperwork and has yet to direct UPTV staff to proceed with acquiring and installing the necessary equipment.
So core supporters of this effort have turned to the Urbana City Council, who can directly order the City to take action, bypassing the mayor. One or more agenda items dealing with the issue of “Democracy Now!” are expected for the 7:30PM November 22nd City Council meeting. A strong public turnout in support of “Democracy Now!” is essential to influence the City Council to take positive action. The council may even vote on a resolution that explicitly orders city staff (including the mayor) to take all steps necessary to begin broadcasts of “Democracy Now!” by a specific date.
Please attend in support of this effort – 7:30PM, Monday November 22nd at the Urbana City Council Chambers (ground floor of the Urbana City Building) 400 S. Vine St., Urbana (across the street from Lincoln Square Mall). |
See also:
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display_any/20138
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display_any/18720
|
This work is in the public domain |
Comments
|
Re: CALL TO ACTION! Urbana City Council to address UPTV broadcast of "Democracy Now!", 7:30PM Monday, November 22nd. |
by Julia
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
15 Nov 2004
|
I haven't been following this story. Can you tell us:
1. What equipment do you need to install in order to broadcast "Democracy Now?"
2. Can this equipment be used to obtain and/or show other programs in the future or is it specific to this particular program?
3. Is the cable commission writing policies that apply only to "Democracy Now" or are the policy changes going to be in effect for all future programming on UPTV?
Thanks in advance for any info you can provide. |
|
Re: CALL TO ACTION! Urbana City Council to address UPTV broadcast of "Democracy Now!", 7:30PM Monday, November 22nd. |
by HappyLib
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Nov 2004
|
|
Has it occured to anyone that as soon as this goes on the air, the Champaign County Chapter of the Coalition for Traditional Values is going to start insisting that the City run direct feeds from Robertson and Fawell. |
|
So? |
by not afraid of freedom of the press
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Nov 2004
|
|
and your point is???? |
|
Re: CALL TO ACTION! Urbana City Council to address UPTV broadcast of "Democracy Now!", 7:30PM Monday, November 22nd. |
by casablanca
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Nov 2004
|
|
Is "Democracy Now?" an un-biased show about democracy? If no, then will you support "Creationism Now?" show, if there are people who want it? Thanks for thinking. |
|
In response to Julia... |
by Randall Cotton
recotton (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
17 Nov 2004
|
1. The necessary equipment is a "Dish Network"-compatible satellite antenna and receiver (the same consumer equipment used for residential "Dish Network" digital satellite system service). "Democracy Now" would be received via "Free Speech TV", which is channel 9415 on the "Dish Network" system.
2. Yes, this equipment can be used to broadcast any "Free Speech TV" programming free of charge once this arrangement is in place. If retransmission rights were somehow granted for other channels, those could also be scheduled for cablecast on UPTV.
3. The policy changes that have been hashed out between the mayor and the UPTV Commission are comprehensive, but contain provisions which explicitly provide for satellite-based series broadcasts such as "Democracy Now!". This overhaul of the UPTV Public Access Policy and Procedures was spurred on in great part due to the public demand for DN!. |
|
In response to HappyLib... |
by Randall Cotton
recotton (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
17 Nov 2004
|
There are two positions you can take on free speech. You either support free speech including for the views you despise, or you don't support free speech.
What's your position? |
|
In response to casablanca... |
by Randall Cotton
recotton (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
17 Nov 2004
|
"Democracy Now!" is a non-profit, independent alternative news and analysis show that is free from corporate, government or military bias. It has an established reputation for stalwart watchdog reporting. The show is called "Democracy Now!" because of its underlying philosophy that in order for Democracy to work, people need to have easy access to truly independent, diverse sources of news.
Regarding "Creationism Now!", I support free speech. I would not oppose any public-access television programming. |
|
Re: CALL TO ACTION! Urbana City Council to address UPTV broadcast of "Democracy Now!", 7:30PM Monday, November 22nd. |
by Julia
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
Thank you, Randall, for the information. Just two more questions:
If an individual or group wants to put a satellite-based series on UPTV, what are the basic steps they need to follow to get approval under the new policy?
Is there a provision in the new policy that includes notifying the public that this series is about to be added to the cable programming and asking for comment?
I'm not referring specifically to "Democracy Now" but to all shows that may be proposed. |
|
UPTV Always Posts Its Agendas and Minutes |
by not afraid of freedom of the press
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
Julia writes:
"Is there a provision in the new policy that includes notifying the public that this series is about to be added to the cable programming and asking for comment?"
Are you suggesting that there needs to be anything done other than the already very public way in which the cable commission operates?
You sound like a bad echo of Tod, always trying to come up with yet another reason to suppress freedom of the press and expression. |
|
Re: CALL TO ACTION! Urbana City Council to address UPTV broadcast of "Democracy Now!", 7:30PM Monday, November 22nd. |
by Julia
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
Dear Not Afraid,
I happen to think the Democracy Now !program will be good addition to the UPTV programming. I just wanted to know what the new policies are and how they will work.
Asking questions is not an attempt to "suppress freedom of the press and expression". Asking questions is a fundamental expression of freedom and a fundamental responsibility of democracy.
You could have simply provided a link to the UPTV site instead of an insult. |
|
Why I Noted That in the Way I Did |
by not afraid of freedom of the press
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
Julia,
I've seen your asking seemingly innocent questions end up mostly carrying the mayor's water before. My apologies if I misunderstood your motivations this time. |
|
No Need To Be Bumptious |
by HappyLib
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
Of course, I support free speech, but I also think that in an age when we are being force fed content from national media we ought to preserve UPTV for locally produced content. My fear is that local stuff is now going to be crowded out by national stuff which has a gazillion other channels to come into our living room. Small is beautiful.
On a side note, as progressives we ought to be smart enough not to fall into the binary thinking of Bush and Co. The First Amendment is not and never has been an absolutist doctrine. Saying "Do you support the First Amendment: Yes or No?" is an attempt to silence discussion rather than engage in a reasoned debate over whether permitting national programming on the only outlet we have for locally produced content. |
|
Second response to Julia... |
by Randall Cotton
recotton (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
Q: If an individual or group wants to put a satellite-based series on UPTV, what are the basic steps they need to follow to get approval under the new policy?
A: Well, if the series is already available via satellite to UPTV and they have retransmission rights for it, it would just be a matter of submitting a routine programming request. You would have to be a UPTV member (which only requires filling out an application) and an Urbana resident or a qualifying non-profit organization (non-Urbana residents may not sponsor outside series programming).
If UPTV does not have access, via satellite, to the programming series you want, you would generally be responsible for providing all necessary equipment and programming costs as well as any other efforts required to gain access to the programming for retransmission by UPTV. And keep in mind that UPTV can't guarantee that new equipment can always be installed. Their capacity is not unlimited.
Also keep in mind that I don't speak for UPTV. And the new policy changes are not yet in effect.
Q: Is there a provision in the new policy that includes notifying the public that this series is about to be added to the cable programming and asking for comment? I'm not referring specifically to "Democracy Now" but to all shows that may be proposed.
A: Nope. Of course, as we've seen, if the mayor has a mind to, since he controls the station, he can use all sorts of bureaucratic tricks to effectively censor programming. This can only be fixed by taking control of public-access TV away from the mayor (and giving it to the public, perhaps by establishing a member-run non-profit organization). But that's a fight for another day =8-) |
|
Second response to HappyLib |
by Randall Cotton
recotton (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
HappyLib sez:
Of course, I support free speech, but I also think that in an age when we are being force fed content from national media we ought to preserve UPTV for locally produced content.
I would agree we are being force fed content from national *corporate* media (with its attendant biases and commercialism), but there is a staggering dearth of independent, non-profit national programming, especially compared to other industrialized countries like Britain. One way to compensate for that is for the public to put such programming on local public-access TV. Having said that, I don't deny the importance of locally-produced programming and UPTV explicitly gives such programming higher priority.
HappyLib sez:
My fear is that local stuff is now going to be crowded out by national stuff which has a gazillion other channels to come into our living room. Small is beautiful.
Clearly you are uninformed as to how underutilized UPTV is. Half of the airtime is occupied by either the text-based public service announcement "bulletin board" or repeats of city meetings. Another 20 hours per week is filled with nationally-based satellite-fed educational programming from the Annenberg Channel which was never requested by the public. The mayor has spoken in the past (News-Gazette, Sep. 14th,2004) as if UPTV was straining to accomodate an overwhelming array of programming. It's a calculated lie. Don't fall for it. Check out the schedule for yourself at:
http://city.urbana.il.us/urbana/finance/is/uptv/schedule/Main.html
And again, locally-produced programming clearly takes precedence in UPTV policies anyway.
HappyLib sez:
On a side note, as progressives we ought to be smart enough not to fall into the binary thinking of Bush and Co. The First Amendment is not and never has been an absolutist doctrine. Saying "Do you support the First Amendment: Yes or No?" is an attempt to silence discussion rather than engage in a reasoned debate over whether permitting national programming on the only outlet we have for locally produced content.
Were you aware that if the public-access channels become heavily utilized, Insight is obligated to provide additional channels? Your fears are unfounded - it seems to me you're falling for the mayor's scare tactics and that's a shame. |
|
Another UPTV utilization statistic for HappyLib |
by Randall Cotton
recotton (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
I just checked the UPTV schedule for the current week and found that under 7% of the airtime was scheduled for member-requested public-access programming.
Convinced yet? |
|
Response to Randall and HappyLib |
by Julia
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
Thank you, Randall, for the information.
I can understand HappyLib's concern about replacing locally produced shows with national programming; I'm guessing there's probably room for both types on UPTV right now. If the balance between local and national shows is periodically reviewed and if the cable commission/mayor/general public are committed to emphasizing local lprogramming over national, then couldn't UPTV continue to be a community-based resource occasionally spiced up with national perspectives? |
|
Follow-Up to Randall |
by Julia
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
|
|
I'm convinced! |
|
