Noreen Navin, Sydney
After being inundated with email and letters protesting the suspension of Actively Radical TV's programs from Community TV Channel 31, Television Sydney (TVS) met with three members of ARTV on April 20 to inform them of the conditions ARTV would have to adhere to to be allowed back on air.
Laurie Patton and Henri De Gorter from TVS have demanded that: ARTV, a community volunteer organisation, take out defamation insurance, despite the fact that TVS has its own; ARTV has each program vetted by a solicitor and provide written confirmation that the program be clear of defamation; written advice be sought from a senior council in some instances; all producers be provided with training on defamation; and other legal issues.
ARTV spokesperson John Reynolds told Green Left Weekly, "ARTV produces programs on a weekly basis and the cost of a lawyer's time each week is concerning. But, ARTV believes that a progressive perspective is desperately needed on television and so is reluctantly agreeing to the conditions." He added that this is a dangerous precedent which, if universally applied to community TV groups, would drive community media groups away from the TV station.
TVS management's treatment of ARTV calls into question the purpose of community TV. TVS management is on record as saying it has no obligation to community TV providers, such as ARTV, and that ARTV had no right to be broadcast on Channel 31.
The codes of practice for community media, formulated by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, include a number of general principles that apply to community broadcasters across Australia, including: pursuing the principles of democracy, access and equity, especially to people and issues under-represented in other media; enhancing the diversity of programming choices available; and demonstrating independence in programming, as well as in editorial and management decisions.
"TVS's treatment of ARTV seems to contravene these principles, particularly as progressive views are indisputedly under-represented elsewhere", Reynolds told GLW. "TVS's own constitution states that it will 'broadcast programs that will engage, inform, educate and entertain ... with priority being given to issues of social justice'."
Channel 31 has been one of the few outlets where dissenting and radical viewpoints were reported. For instance, the Palestine report, a weekly update of the struggles of the Palestinian people suffering under US-backed Israeli occupation, has never been replicated on Australian media. ARTV also produced a Community Focus series for Channel 31, on state and federal governments' funding cuts to public schools, TAFE and universities. Other programs have been made on industrial relations struggles, student unionism, refugee and Indigenous rights, international solidarity, civil liberties, and local community actions and campaigns.
"ARTV is increasingly concerned about the future of community TV and the capacity for community groups to participate in this medium. It must not become another TV station controlled and run by elites", Reynolds concluded.
[Noreen Navin is an Actively Radical TV member.]
From Green Left Weekly, May 10, 2006.
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