PIAC Legacy: Reaction from the Public

Lost in the din of impeachment hearings and air raids last week, a great opportunity was wasted in Washington. The Gore Commission, charged with assessing television broadcasters' responsibilities in the digital era, had the chance to make a powerful contribution to the future of television as a social and educational resource. The Gore Report, released Dec. 18, proved instead to be a diluted document, its principles tainted by the pervasive influence of the broadcast lobby.

Use of multi-billion dollar spectrum space was granted to broadcasters last year by the Federal Communications Commission to take advantage of innovations in digital technology. Beyond much-touted high definition television, broadcasters will be able to "multicast" several channels in the space of a single current channel, tailor interactive advertising to individual viewers, and offer internet, paging and cellular services.

What do broadcasters owe the public in return for additional profits they stand to make via the publicly owned airwaves? Broadcasters need to provide airtime and funds to support community use. Like the broadcast spectrum, Chicago's lakefront is a publicly owned resource. If plans for Chicago's lakefront had been turned over to private developers, the public today might have only limited access to Lake Michigan, and only a fraction of the park all Chicagoans enjoy.

Admirably, the Gore Commission recommends that broadcasters set aside channels for educational and noncommercial use, or pay into a fund to support noncommercial programming. But the Commission calls for voluntary compliance on the part of broadcasters instead of any genuine obligations, and in the name of experimentation offers a two-year moratorium before even voluntary standards are applied.

Encouraging broadcasters to voluntarily pave the way for public use of the new spectrum space sounds great but has no historical precedent. Today, nonprofit organizations, institutions and community groups struggle for access to costly, inaccessible commercial television. They must use other means, like public access television, to link citizens with much needed local resources and services in areas such as health care, education, arts and cultural opportunities, jobs and training. Local, community-based programming from a variety of voices must be incorporated into the digital broadcasting formula before every segment of the spectrum has been filled for maximum advertising return.

Cable companies in Chicago and elsewhere set aside channels and funding for use by citizens and nonprofits through public access stations. Now that broadcasters have the power to offer multichannel programming like their competitors in the cable industry, they should be held to similar standards of public service. If the energy of the nonprofit sector was channeled into broadcasting, the rewards would be immeasurable. Imagine the growth of civil society that could occur if broadcast television was conceived not just as an assembly line for the manufacture, distribution and consumption of products, but as a fully interactive and participatory communications resource.

Barbara Popovic
Executive Director
Chicago Access Corporation
322 S. Green
Chicago, IL 60607-3544
(312) 738-1400
FAX: (312) 738-2519
E-mail: Popovic@anet-chi.com

Thom Clark
President
Community Media Workshop
c/o Columbia College
600 S. Michigan
Chicago, IL 60605-1996
(312) 344-6400
FAX: (312) 344-6404
E-mail: ThomNews@aol.com

Joan Gunzberg
Executive Director
Arts & Business Council of Chicago
70 E. Lake St. Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60601-5907
(312) 372-1876
FAX: (312) 372-1102
E-mail: info@artsbiz-chicago.org

The above was sent to letters to the editor of the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Herald, Daily Southtown, Lerner, the Chicago Defender and Crain's Chicago Business, as well as the Sun-Times' Robert Feder, Steve Huntley, Mary Mitchell and the Trib's Marcia Lythcott, Jim Kirk, Eric Zorn, Stephen Chapman and Tim Jones.