Multidirectional Media

by Michael Max Knobbe

Public Access to Media & Technology

Public Access Media/Television and other types of community technology centers provide training, access to technology, locally generated content, inform on local issues, while promoting democracy, education, diversity, and community development.

Democracy in a Digital Age

Public, Educational, and Governmental Access (“PEG”) is an important commitment to the people of the United States. PEG channels support community development and provide an important means of civic participation.

Through public access facilities and channels across this great nation, a voice is given to those who have no access to traditional media. Media production training and other workshops are offered to the public along with free access to technology, media production equipment, studios, and channels. At BronxNet and throughout New York City (“NYC”), people completing the training can utilize media production equipment at no cost to produce content to share with their neighbors through the communities’ media channels. This is part of democracy in a digital age. Together NYC’s public access centers have provided media production training to more than 20,000 people. The public access channels of NYC cablecast programs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, airing over 80,000 hours of non-repeat local programming a year. Programming is also shared on the web.

Local Access for Global Connectivity

New York City’s vibrant diversity is reflected on BronxNet and all of the city’s public access channels. Public access producers on BronxNet produce programs featuring news and information about Bronx residents who come from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Ghana, Albania, Italy, Ireland, Thailand and many more countries. In addition to Spanish and English, BronxNet producers share programs in many languages, including Garifuna, a Central American language rooted in African culture, Thai, Albanian, Hindi, and more. On QPTV you will find programming in Russian, Greek, Romanian, French, and Urdu. Many languages including Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean can be heard and American Sign Language can be seen on MNN. Italian, Armenian, German, and several Chinese dialects are spoken on BCAT, which has a broad spectrum of cultures featured, and a strong amount of West Indian Patois and Creole programs. In a city where 170 languages are spoken, residents can find important information in their native languages, and on their community channels. Local content is shared around the world encouraging intercontinental along with neighborhood dialogue on programs where live call-in and other capabilities are available.

Public Safety: Crisis Mangement

PEG plays a vital role in public safety, providing emergency management information and alerts on a highly local level. Weather emergencies, amber alerts, road closings, and information about school closings are communicated through PEG channels across America. The Jersey Access Group member stations are particularly adept at communicating important local and relevant information through bulletin boards, programs, text crawls, and PSA’s. PEG centers in New Jersey and elsewhere provide access to the local municipalities, police departments, and the Office of Emergency Management to post crisis management and other information on the channels.

BronxNet

BronxNet produces award-winning programming by, for, and about the Bronx. Locally produced programs concerning health, education, public affairs, arts, and culture inform the public and help connect the Bronx to the world. We bring great people and organizations into our studios and send our cameras out into the neighborhoods for BronxNet’s regularly produced magazine programs and interactive call-in shows. Local elected leaders often appear on a broad array of programs to discuss topics important to the community, and many officials update viewers with programs they host.

BronxNet has worked with hundreds of non-profit organizations and agencies to produce programming that helps build support and audiences, while contributing to community development. Examples of the projects produced and facilitated by BronxNet include: Bronx Chamber of Commerce forums that contribute to the economic vitality of the Bronx; multi-cultural artistic presentations at Hostos Center for Arts & Culture and Pregones Theater that provide a way for local artists to showcase their work and build audiences; NY Blood Center blood drive announcements that help save lives; health questions that are answered on “HealthBeat” produced with Bronx-Lebanon Hospital; programming that informs on and is by and about the differently-abled special needs communities, along with internships through partnerships with the JFK Institute for Worker Education & the CUNY Youth Transition Project; a documentary on the Hunts Point Economic Development Corporation that showcases the world’s largest food distribution center while dispelling myths about Hunts Point and the South Bronx; programs that showcase the borough’s cultural institutions – both small and large – from the intimate En Foco Gallery to the world renowned New York Botanical Garden. In sharing the stories of the people of the Bronx, BronxNet teamed up with Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños of Hunter College, and the Bronx Historical Society to produce “Migration: The Puerto Rican Experience” the first in a series of documentaries about the history, culture, and spirit of the Puerto Rican people in NYC.

In the 2000 US Census, the Bronx was amongst the bottom three counties, and was perhaps the most undercounted County in the nation. For the US Census 2010, BronxNet formed a model partnership with the US Census Bureau to produce programs, work with organizations and celebrities, and train high school students to produce PSA’s to broadcast the importance of being counted. The data already shows that the ‘Big Push’ in the Bronx has worked for Census 2010.

Training & Content Creation by and for Young People

The newest BronxNet Channel and the Training Program for Future Media Professionals are part of a 21st century multi-platform knowledge industry offering media services, training, and access to technology for young people, students, schools, educators, youth organizations and the community to produce and share content by, for and about young people.

Since its inception, BronxNet has collaborated closely with high schools and colleges – most notably – Lehman College where BronxNet is based. Students from the High School for Community Research & Learning produced a program about a scientific study of the Bronx River. John F. Kennedy High School students produce the program the Knight Network on BronxNet. The BronxNet Training Program for Future Media Professionals has provided hands-on training, through internships, to over two thousand high school and college students in videography, postproduction, writing, and producing. This workforce development opportunity has helped many students build valuable skills and fast-track their careers, including those pursuing opportunities in media. BronxNet interns have acquired key positions behind and in front of the camera at major media outlets including CBS-TV, ESPN, ABC-TV, Univision, BET, and CNN as a result of the training and experience they received. Anchors and reporters including Darlene Rodriguez at NBC-TV, Dean Memminger at NY1, and Nicole Johnson at FOX 5, started their careers in television at BronxNet. Many young people who started their media careers through training and access at BronxNet have received industry recognition, including national and local Emmy Awards, and have started their own media related enterprises.

Lehman College, Hostos Community College and their Center for Arts and Culture – along with several other colleges and educational facilities – are among the institutions that have embarked on jointly-produced projects with BronxNet. Lehman College students and faculty, in partnership with and/or under the guidance of BronxNet professionals, have produced dozens of regularly featured public affairs programs. One such program is “The Bronx Journal on BronxNet”, a model program based on the school’s multilingual newspaper and produced by students under the guidance of Lehman College distinguished professor Miguel Perez and BronxNet professional staff. BronxNet’s relationship with Hostos Community College’s Center for Arts and Culture and Lehman College’s arts programs have generated award-winning, wide-ranging arts programming as well as documentaries on the history of the people of the Bronx.

New Dedicated Channels by for & about Young People

A 21st century multi-platform knowledge industry offering media services, training, and access to technology for young people, students, schools, educators, youth organizations and the community to produce and share content by, for and about young people.

The channel will involve young people in the democratic process which is at the heart of public access television, giving them a platform to give a voice to their ideas, thoughts, creative visions and hope for the future; a place to interact with their world, both locally and beyond.

The channel will serve as an educational and social environment for young people and others to expand their horizons, gain knowledge, and increase awareness of the issues that affect young people, using local voices to create global connections.

The Challenge

The training, services, local content, and media access that PEG provides are needed now, more than ever, as communities across the nation are being left behind in a rapidly changing media environment. Media consolidation diminishes the local voice and leads to homogenous, centralized programming. Even as media distribution migrates across different platforms, now, more than ever, we have to strengthen the commitment to our communities. Currently PEG is not yet available on satellite television or as video on demand on cable systems. More alarming there is no policy in place yet for support mechanisms for PEG in a broadband landscape. There is terrific potential for more interactivity and greater civic participation and multi-directional media through local access as technologies develop.

Multidirectional Television: Public Multimedia Networks

PEG access television provides a vital forum for local independent media, media literacy, and education. PEG serves as a bridge between constituents and our leaders, contributes to community development, and is a manifestation of our democracy in a digital age. As content migrates across platforms, and as we build advanced technologies, broadband & bandwidth, it is natural and vital that services, training, interactive content, and technology are enhanced and available for the public. Any comprehensive forward thinking broadband strategy and policy should include and support networked, outfitted and staffed public space to offer evolving PEG services. Public Access Centers are becoming Public Multimedia Networks that generate content, provide workforce development, and connect neighborhoods across the urban centers and towns of our great nation. Digital functionality, interactivity, video on demand, multicasting, and high definition are ideally suited for 21^st century PEG access services, while fulfilling the needs of communities in a digital age.

Giving Voice to the Community, Providing Training, Sharing Important Ultra-Local Information, Connecting Constituents to their Elected Leaders

Strengthening Missions of:

Universities, Schools, Public Libraries, Municipal Spaces, Hospitals, Community Centers, Concert Halls & Theaters, Museums, Galleries, Attractions, Senior Centers, Organizations, Business-

Promoting Community Development….