available to all for a nominal fee, have become what Anthony Riddle, executive director of the Alliance for Community Media in Washington, calls "the public square in the electronic age."

said by B :

I'd be interested in what numbers public access channels pull. I'd think they were teeny tiny / nonexistent.

The real "public square in the electronic age", as most know, is the Internet. And with the advent of audio and video (still wishing for a better vogue word) "podcasting", that's where people turn for interesting obscure stuff.

I really, really don't much care about "public access television".

-- B

said by calvoiper :

I particularly don't think that subscribers should be forced to underwrite the dissemination of ideas with which they may not agree. Public access may be great in some communities--in which case it should be ranked in budget priorities along with police, fire, and street repair. In those terms, we'll see if it merits public funding.

said by SRFireside :

The Internet is hardly a "public square in the electronic age" if you ask me. A public square denotes a local area where people gather or at least hear things in passing. On the Internet you have to specifically find a website, then download/stream whatever audio/visual content there is. Hardly something you can catch in passing. A cable channel on the other hand can be picked up by anybody in the area while they are channel surfing. Might sound like a stretch, but I caught onto Austin public access by channel surfing. Something that just wouldn't happen online.

said by marigolds :

Public access is not funded by the government. It is funded by cable subscribers through pass through fees, but those funds are paid directly from the cable company to a non-governmental public access provider.

said by calvoiper :

If you gave cable consumers the choice of not paying for public access, they wouldn't, and it would die.

said by marigolds :

You do have that choice. That is how pass through fees work.

said by B :

My point is that for people who wish to have their say and produce content for audiences, it's ridiculous to play in a little pool of local TV when they can publish to the country or the world.

said by SRFireside :

Freedom of speech means the freedom to be heard.

said by calvoiper :

No, I don't. It's a mandatory fee that I have to pay if I want cable--it's not an option that I can decline to pay.

said by SRFireside :

Everybody has a right to be heard. Maybe not on television, but they have that right. You have a problem with your government? You have the right to speak up and bear your grievances. You have a problem with a company? You have the right to take it up to their office, and if they don't listen you have the right to take it to the media. In a democracy nobody is supposed to be silenced.