The Camera or the Gun
Presented by
Clifford JACOBS
To The Light Millennium
On Public Access TV: Programs can contain nudity as long as its not obscene. Commercial
advertising is also not allowed on the channels, otherwise
you are free to do and say whatever you want.
Clifford
JACOBS, Deputy Executive Director of QPTV, during his
presentation,
"The Camera or the Gun" at the Marmara-Manhattan
Hotel on February 25, 2004.
(Photo:
Figen Bingül)
If you went to those communities and asked a thirteen
year old where can you find a video camera or where
can you log onto the Internet, they can not give you
an answer. But if you ask that same child where can
you purchase a gun, they can tell you where to go.
Good evening. I welcome you and thank you for being
here this evening. I must give special thanks to Bircan
Unver for giving me this opportunity to address you
tonight. This presentation grew out of a conversation
that I had with Bircan over lunch one afternoon. In
the course of that conversation I said to Bircan that
there are communities in New York where the youth of
this city do not have access to the internet or to video
cameras. That If you went to those communities and asked
a thirteen year old where can you find a video camera
or where can you log onto the Internet, they can not
give you an answer. But if you ask that same child where
can you purchase a gun, they can tell you where to go.
I also told her that I grew up in a neighborhood where
there was such a thing as a community gun. If you could
not afford to buy a gun, you could, in affect, rent
one. You could rent a gun for a day for a fee, use it
and return it when you were done, I am sure that bullets
were extra.
The thoughts and opinions that I am going to share with
you this evening are truly my own. They do not reflect
the opinions of Queens Public Television.
Who
can forget the image of a lone Chinese student with
his shopping bags confronting and bringing to a complete
halt a line of tanks?
In
1989 Chinese students protested against civil rights
abuses by the Chinese government in Tianenmen Square
in Beijing, China. The Chinese government immediately
blacked out all news coverage of the event. The first
images that we saw were still photographs. At that time
Sony had just introduced the first version of its Mavica
digital camera which records on a 3.5" floppy disc.
The images were uploaded to a computer and sent around
the world via the internet. Who can forget the image
of a lone Chinese student with his shopping bags confronting
and bringing to a complete halt a line of tanks? These
images were instrumental in influencing public opinion
about civil rights abuses in China. Will it be the Camera
or the Gun?
Three years later, in another part of the world George Holliday
was home in Los Angeles getting acquainted with his
newly purchased video camera. His wife heard screams
outside, and went to the balcony of their condominium
to see what the commotion was all about. She told her
husband that something serious was taking place outside,
and that he should bring his camera. The images he recorded
shocked the nation and the name Rodney King Jr. became
a part of History. The Camera or the Gun.
Perhaps the best known and most widely seen and shocking images
ever captured were those recorded by Abraham Zapruder
on November 22, 1963. Whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted
alone or whether there was a conspiracy to assassinate
Kennedy is still, somewhat, uncertain.
Perhaps the best known and most widely seen and shocking images
ever captured were those recorded by Abraham Zapruder
on November 22, 1963. Whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted
alone or whether there was a conspiracy to assassinate
Kennedy is still, somewhat, uncertain. However, what
is certain is that on that fateful day the individual
or individuals responsible for the murder of JFK never
considered that his death would be captured on film.
Again I ask you what is more powerful, the camera or
the gun?
Television changed for me forever on that fateful day in November
of 1963. Prior to that time television was fun. Like
many American youth I watched the Mickey Mouse Show,
the cartoon Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse and Billy
Bang Bang and his Brother Butch and their Bang Bang
Western Movies. But on November 24th my brother woke
me up to tell me that the police were transferring Oswald
to the county jail. I ran to the TV and watched in horror
as Jack Ruby murdered Oswald on live TV.
When my parents bought their first television they, like most people,
watched whatever programs were broadcast, they could
not influence what was seen and what was not seen. By
the time I became a teenager, television started changing
its program line-up to appeal to the desires of the
community. Bill Cosby was the first African American
to be featured in a TV series, I Spy. Later Dianne Carroll
stared in Julia a show about a single parent African
American nurse. Then the flood gates opened, shows featured
characters of very diverse ethnicities. We had Colombo
with Peter Falk, Banacek with George Peppard, Kojak
with Telly Savalas, and Chico and the Man with Freddy
Prinze. Television executives could no longer ignore
a public that demanded programming that reflected who
they are.
Ahmet
ERTEGUN, Chairman of the Atlantic Records and the American
Turkish Society
attended the event. (Photo: Bircan Ünver)
Today we are no longer at the mercy of commercial television...
Today we are no longer at the mercy of commercial television.
We can now create our own TV programs by taking advantage
of Public Access where you are the producer. Public
Access television functions in a way similar to a public
library. Instead of checking out books, you can check
out video equipment and tape your own programs. While
it is still true, in the words of Orwell that Big Brother
is watching us, it is also true that now we can watch
Big Brother. Let me give you the background on how public
access came to be.
Television was originally a broadcast medium. Television
signals were broadcast from a station and via an antennae
the signal was sent to your home. In order to receive
the signal you had to have in addition to a tv set an
antennae or what we use to call a pair of "rabbit
ears". The idea is the same as your car radio.
You receive radio waves through the antenna attached
to your automobile which are sent to your radio tuner.
Each radio station uses a different frequency . You
change radio stations by dialing up different frequencies.
Broadcast television worked in the same way. CBS, NBC,
ABC, PBS and the other stations would broadcast their
signals according to a designated frequency. Using the
tuner on your tv set you would change channels and tune
into the frequency of the desired station. The rabbit
ears allowed you to get better reception. This was all
paid for by advertising. Television was never free.
Advertisers bought commercial time in order to sell
their products. They chose to buy commercial time during
the airing of programs viewed by potential consumers
of their particular product. For example, Soap Operas
are known as such because the manufacturers of soap
products advertised their products during the broadcast
of daytime tv dramas. At that time of day women who
were homemakers raising a family would be home and presumably
they would watch these day time dramas, because they
were the ones who were more likely to purchase such
items as soap and soap powder for the family's use.
That type of targeted advertising still exists today.
During the Super Bowl Football game, you are more likely
to see commercials for beer, razor blades and shaving
cream than you are going to see for fabric softener.
So every time you go to the grocery store your purchases
are influenced by the commercials that you saw while
watching your favorite programs.
...We have the birth of CATV or community antenna television.
The time was 1949.
Now with broadcasting a signal there were always problems with
the reception. Weather conditions and airplanes could
drastically affect your reception. There was one such
community, Lansford Pennsylvania. This community was
nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains. They were
only able to receive the signal of one broadcast station
because they were too far away from the antenna that
transmitted the signal. Robert Tarlton a tv sales and
service operator, and a very enterprising individual,
got permission to erect a receiving antenna on a hill
overlooking the community. The new antenna was powerful
enough to receive the original signal and then re-transmit
that signal to the homes of the people who lived in
the valley. This was accomplished by running cables
from the second antenna located on the hill to the homes
located in the valley. Thus we have the birth of CATV
or community antenna television. The time was 1949.
By using a cable or fiber optics you can send more information
through a single wire. Initially Broadcast television
only carried about eight channels, ABC, NBC, CBS, WOR,
WPIX, WNET, and two Spanish language channels on UHF
(ultra high frequency), the other channels being VHF
(very high frequency). With the advent of cable television
something extraordinary happened . Not only could you
send more information down a single wire you could also
narrow cast. It was no longer necessary to appeal to
a broad cross section of the public. Individual channels
could be created for special interests. Such as the
Weather Channel, the Movie Channel, twenty four hour
a day news channels, financial news, music videos. The
other thing that happened was that a movie going audience
who wanted to watch their favorite films again on television
did not want their movies to be interrupted by commercials,
nor did they want scenes from the movie deleted or censored.
And yes, they were willing to pay a price to experience
their favorite movie just like the first time: complete
and unedited and uninterrupted. HBO, SHOWTIME, and WOMETCO
were created to fill that need. And of course now with
Pay-per-View you can virtually watch anything you want
any time you want.
As of 2004, virtually all forms of media is controlled
by ten companies.
During the early days of television, the networks were pretty independent
of each other. When you watched the nightly news each
station had a different point of view. Even the camera
angles were different. There was competition among the
networks to get the scoop on the story of the day. Healthy
competition fostered a diversity of opinion as networks
vied for a market share of the viewing audience. Each
network seemed to have unique personality. ABC seemed
to be more liberal, NBC appeared to be more conservative,
while CBS with Walter Cronkite as its anchor appeared
to be more balanced. Today most news outfits carry a
feed, which means everyone is using the same footage
provided by the same camera. Just switch from station
to station while watching the news and you will see
the same camera shots on each channel. News reporting
no longer serves the interests of the people, but must
appeal to the dictates of corporate or government interests.
As of 2004, virtually all forms of media is controlled
by ten companies. Every movie, television program, radio
station, magazine, book, newspaper, cd, dvd, cell phone
company, is controlled by ten companies in America.
The Big Ten are as follows: AOL/TIME WARNER: revenue
$36.2 billion; GENERAL ELECTRIC: revenue $129.9 billion;
VIACOM revenue $20 billion; WALT DISNEY: revenue $25.4
billion; LIBERTY MEDIA CORPORATION: revenue $42 billion;
AT&T: revenue $66 billion; NEWS CORPORATION: revenue
$11.6billion; BERTELSMANN: revenue $16.5 billion; VIVENDI:
revenue 37.2 billion; and SONY: revenue 53.8 billion.
The sixties also provided us with the first televised war: Viet
Nam
The sixties also provided us with the first televised
war: Viet Nam. Americans at home had never seen war
up-close. The first and second World Wars, the Korean
War were not experienced by Americans every night via
television. But during the Viet Nam era war came into
our homes. While sitting down to dinner each evening
Americans were bombarded with ghastly images of suffering
and death on both sides of the battle lines. Journalists
were allowed on the frontlines and gave us images of
war, up-close and personal. I believe that because of
those images what little popular support for the war
that existed was eroded. Americans took to the streets
protesting America's involvement in Viet Nam. From that
time to the present war is reported in a totally different
fashion. The American Government can no longer wage
wars without the support of the American people. If
you control how the war is reported, you can control
the opinions of the public. From Grenada to Panama,
from Kuwait to Bosnia, and from Afghanistan to Iraq
we are given censored coverage of international conflicts.
War is too profitable and important to be influenced
by the voice of the people. War coverage and reporting
of war today has become nothing more than a video game
with point of view images of bombs hitting their targets
from a distance.
The Kennedy Nixon debate in 1960 forever changed the
way we view campaigns for the Presidency.
Coverage of Presidential elections have also been greatly
influenced by the power of the visual image. The Kennedy
Nixon debate in 1960 forever changed the way we view
campaigns for the Presidency. But it also changed the
way such campaigns are covered by the news media. Going
into the debate Nixon had an edge over Kennedy. He was
a vice- President and had an excellent reputation as
a skillful debater. Those who listened to the debate
on the radio believed that Nixon had won. Those who
watched the debate on television declared Kennedy the
victor. Nixon was not an attractive figure on tv. During
the debate he was seen wiping sweat from his forehead
as Kennedy kept the pressure on him. Kennedy was young,
good looking, and well tailored his gray suit matching
the backdrop perfectly. How you look as a presidential
candidate is as important as what you say. Just ask
Howard Dean. Abraham Lincoln would never get elected
in this age of televised campaigns. He was tall, droll,
laconic and brooding. Not tv material. Teddy Roosevelt
on the other would have been terrific tv material. Larger
than life, adventurous, robust and commanding, television
would have accentuated his qualities making him a media
celebrity. Today a candidate for the Presidency must
not only grasp the facts and the issues, he or she must
also be ready for prime time television. Dan Qualye,
Spiro Agnew, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford were not
good tv material. Reagan, Arnold Schwartzenneger, Jesse
Ventura and Hillary Clinton are good for television.
Watch closely. But don't just watch, get involved.
Public Access Television is an opportunity for you to get involved
in community media. Public Access Centers have equipment
and studios and will train you how to use the equipment
so that you can produce programs for the community.
Usually there is a small fee for the workshop, but everything
else is free. There are no charges for using the equipment
and facilities. Nor is there a fee for channel time.
Programs are not nor can they be screened prior to cablecast.
Which is to say that there is no censorship of programming
on Public Access channels. Access centers are constantly
dealing with First Amendment issues as they relate,
particularly, to free speech.
Big Brother is still watching.
Of course you can not engage in an activity that is illegal. If
you can be arrested for engaging in an illegal act in
public, then you can also be arrested for performing
that act on television. For example you can not threaten
the life of the President of the United States. I know
of a producer who made what seemed to be a threat on
Clinton's life, and the Secret Service and demanded
to see the program that had aired only twelve hours
before. Big Brother is still watching. Another producer
was showing his viewers how to make crack cocaine in
your kitchen at home, he was arrested and his show was
taken off the air. Programs can contain nudity as long
as its not obscene. Commercial advertising is also not
allowed on the channels, otherwise you are free to do
and say whatever you want.
So I conclude by giving you forty five words of tremendous
importance for every American Citizen:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
- . -
RESOURCES:
Nichols, J. & McChesney R., It’s the Media, Stupid, Seven
Stories Press,
New York, N.Y. 2000
McChesney R., Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy,
Seven Stories Press, New York, N.Y. 1997
Oringel, Robert & Buske, Sue Miller, The Access
Manager’s Handbook:
A Guide for Managing Community Television,
Butterworth Publishers, Stoneham Ma. 1987
WEB SITES:
www.nowfoundation.org/issues/communications/tv/mediacontrol.html
www.takebackthemedia.com/owners.html
www.openchannel.se/cat/link53.htm
www.fac.org
www.alliancecm.org/
For Media Release of the event:
The
Camera or the Gun: How to produce your own television
programs?
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