In his next budget, Mayor Dave may attempt to deny us our portion of PEG-Access fees paid for by cable subscribers!
The Mayor is rumored to have suggested that this money instead be put into the general fund and then have the Government Channel assume Public-Access responsibilities! Sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?
We may close our doors as soon as January and say goodbye to Free Speech!
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CHECK OUT OUR SAVE WYOU
PETITION
!!!!!!!!!!!CLICK ABOVE!!!!!!!!!!!
Or read the html write-up HERE
Print one out, get it filled with the signatures of your friends, co-workers, and neighbors, and drop it off at the station immediately. The Mayor will submit the first draft of his public-access-killing budget on October 7th!
Also, write your alder and tell them what you think of the idea! You can cc us at info@wyou.org. HERE's a clickable map of the Alder's districts. Remind them that in America free speech is supposed to get respect, and that means open access of the television medium to ALL members of the community, not just commercial and government interests.
1 comment:
I'm going to sign your petition. I feel strongly that every community (especially mine) should have access to community broadcasting.
I have been holding back my opinion about the station for a while now. Since this is pretty much the last stop before it bites the dust, the least I could to is tell you what I think needs to improve.
If I were Mayor Dave and I took a look at that channel, I would not want to give it funding. If anything, I'd want to be payed for the time I wasted watching it.
In no way do I mean that as an insult to the station. I think that the station is important for our free speech, as I said before. However, just like any freedom, even free speech should have some structure.
For example, I think it was a few months ago, that I was excited to see that WYOU was going to be airing films for some kind of a film festival broadcast. During the hours of this film festival, I decided to turn to WYOU on my TV so I could watch some of these films. I didn't expect them to be spectacular, but I did expect them to at least show some decent amount of effort, skill, style, or something. What I saw contributed further to my worry about the station. I was embarassed that the video I saw was even airing.
I understand that it is difficult to provide a place where people are free to air their content on television, but also be selective about what airs. However, I feel that it is the duty of any television station to have certain requirements for the content they broadcast, and to preview recorded material before it's aired. No all material can be previewed, and with this acknowledgement I'd suggest a penalty for airing inappropriate material (as it does not meet the requirements).
I have seen the following on WYOU:
copyrighted material, a film containing nudity, lengthy uninteresting content, and other things that I cannot recall at the moment.
I'm certain you are aware these things have been broadcast on the station before. This needs to be stopped. Interesting material needs to be aired regularly. Restrictions need to be put on content providers in order to ensure quality and legality.
Also, when I first joined WYOU, I had some encounters with people who worked there that were very unprofessional. I checked out a camera, the person who assisted me knew nothing about the equipment, and I was not treated well. After finally leaving with the camera and shooting some footage, I spent hours attempting to import the footage to me computer. I brought the camera back a few days later to tell the staff about this problem. I discovered that the staff was fully aware of the problem to begin with and I was not informed. I was told that I would need to come all the way across town to the East side where the station is located and use the tape decks every time I wanted to import footage. This is because all of their camera equipment did not work properly (was broken by a member of WYOU who was not ever penalized for having destroyed the DV Firewire part of all the cameras). Needless to say, this frustrated me.
Thank you for providing a place for the community to broadcast their material. What I have said in this comment is meant in no way to have a negative impact on the station. My only intent is to help you improve your broadcasting so you can keep the station and make it better.
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