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Many
of us are already using smart devices like iPhones, for our fix of media and
news. Community media needs to live
there, too. Accessible, open source
tools are important to reach diverse audiences cost-effectively.
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While
no one owns the internet, we all pay tolls to use the on and off ramps. Guaranteeing affordable broadband access, with
no content interference or volume discrimination, is critical policy for
survival and flourishing of community media.
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Spectrum
use is moving from fixed frequencies, to open and unlicensed spaces. Non-commercial service should be encouraged to
devise creative schemes for digital spectrum
use, regardless of platform.
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Thousands
of dedicated volunteers keep community media running. Instead of dismissing them, public media needs to recognize and
support them. Some of the results will be brilliant.
Current
proposals to shape responsive public media are hardly new - it's only the technology that's new. We should blame Lew Hill.
According
to public broadcast historian Ralph Engelman, The history of public and community broadcasting after WWII begins
with KPFA. The
goal of KPFA was to "promote the full distribution of public information; and
comprehensive news on matters vitally affecting the community."
That was
more than 50 years ago. Sounds just like
The Knight Commission Report,
calling for media to " maximize relevant and credible information [to] promote
engagement with the public life of the community.
But KPFA almost
didn't happen. Hill wanted an AM station,
and he was unhappy when he had to settle for an FM channel. The FCC was also unhappy. It didn't want to give him a station at all,
but reluctantly handed over a non-com license, even though the Pacifica
Foundation was not a school, and clearly professed an unusual educational mission.
Hill
wanted to do something radically different with radio, AND lucky for us, the FCC decided to
let him. No one could have known that it
was a transformative moment.
The point
here is that we don't know where innovation might come from, especially with groups
operating outside the institutions of the time.
For
example, during the cold war, it was a grassroots group that used global telecommunication
satellites, to link regular US
and Soviet citizens and students in a series of interactive telecasts called 'Space Bridges'.
And the
first live, national, remote broadcast using the public radio satellite system,
aired a demonstration from the steps of the Pentagon, pulled together by an ad
hoc network of producers, and distributed free to community and college
stations around the country.
As soon
as portapaks allowed video to leave the TV studio, guerrilla television was lugging
them around, in the streets and every other place, which also helped pave the
way for public access.
Then there is 'indymedia'. The first IMC internet site was cobbled
together by a small group of 'geeks' to cover WTO protests. By posting video, audio and photos from
anyone who wanted to contribute, they transformed the concept of news coverage
and launched a global phenomenon.
I can't leave out promoting local culture, like KOCZ, the LP
station in Opelousas LA, dedicated to preserving zydeco, its home-town
music.
This only works because thousands of volunteers love
making media. Community media outlets
are hotbeds of training, and distinguished veterans have won Oscars, Emmys, Grammys,
Pulitzers, Peabodys, Dupont Awards, and Macarthur Genius Fellowships, just for
starters.
But volunteer programmers are largely devalued in public
broadcasting, which abandoned support for production training and diversity a
long time ago. If nothing else, today's
public media needs to recognize this ignored resource and harness its dynamic
potential.
Are there
lessons from this evolving landscape?
- Nurture unconventional uses
of technology - At every instance, community
media has devised ways to seize the tech, put it in the hands of more
people, and push the limits to reaching new audiences. This has implications for both policy
positions and for operating structures.
2. Expand
platforms - the Community Media Center in Grand Rapids MI, is a pioneering access center AND internet provider, radio
broadcaster, theater, and community computer center -- co-located with the
public library! You can't get more
public than that.
3. Invite
innovative regulatory policies - LPFM was
a creative approach to carve out new service, from slivers of unused space on
the spectrum. There are a lot more ideas
like that around.
- Bottom up, NOT just top down - many successful networks grew from
ad hoc collaborations born from shared needs - not from the top down. But
it can't be forced. For better or
worse, many community media groups simply won't participate.
Even with
its many faults (and there are plenty) community media can be creative and
dynamic. It should be recognized, not
marginalized, and offered incentives - to improve service, build stronger
partnerships, join with other initiatives, and be free to innovate.
#
# #
Nan Rubin
Community
Media Services
Prometheus
Radio Project
P.O.
42158
Philadelphia PA 19101
215-727-9620
http://prometheusradio.org/
