|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Media |
|
Censorship Revisited |
Current rating: 0 |
by Dave Berliner
Email: daveberliner (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!) |
14 Jan 2005
|
|
The CU-Cable and Telecom Commission will address issues of Censorship at it's next meeting this Wednesday Jan 19, 2004 at 4:30. |
The draft version of the policy regarding political content on UPTV will be discussed at the next meeting of the Champaign-Urbana Cable Television & Telecommunications Commission.
The contention rests in the definition of public access programming. Currently, public access cannot limit political content but if the definition of a public access program is changed then censorship may take a strong hold on democratic rights to expression. Without a community standard backed by a public interest, deregulation or rigid censorship could determine what you see of local programming.
A little background is that this has continuously come up as old business on the CU-Cable TV and Telecom Commissions agenda and remains on the back burner of a major franchise renewal, city election and a web based conference hosted by Voice over IP. This could be a moot point in the development of public services such as public access TV and community bandwidth. Currently, the municipal code reads the administration of the city shall operate and administer UPTV in all respects, said Randall Cotton.. While we are lucky that the current UPTV commission is quite responsive and responsible to the public, that may not always be the case because the members of the commission are appointed by, you guessed it, the mayor of Urbana.
Mayoral Candidate Laurel Prussing is seeking improved relationships with citizens, boards, commissions and government agencies. Now is the time to ask the appropriate questions of the candidates. Will they have responsible media policies? Will there be room for opposing positions on the Urbana City Council.
 censored.mp3 (144 k) Randall Cotton
The issue of media reform is one that will not be quickly solved. Responsible expansion of public media services needs to be addressed in a way that can allow businesses and citizens to communicate their wants and needs without fear of persecution. |
This work is in the public domain |
|
Re: Censorship Revisited |
by dave
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 Jan 2005
|
|
I have a confession to make. I have friends that are republicans and I value their friendship. 4 more years of Bush is bad but it couldn't be worse than 3 and 1/2 of Cheney. Agitate for social change and awareness and leave this partisan bullshit for corporate interests. |
