Discussion of all things related to Public Domain

[Tom Poe <tompoe AT studioforrecording.org>]

If there was a diverse, competitive media industry in our country, and, 
if there was a lot of interest in the Washington, DC, anti-war march, 
viewers would be treated to both better coverage of the event (we would 
have been on live tv!), and analysis of the event (our impressions would 
be audio and visual material for analysts to use).  The media hates that 
idea.

Media consolidation doesn't permit us such a luxury, today.  Instead, we 
have to settle for public access tv and radio to get "heard" or "seen". 
 The media hates that idea.

If you want to create a tv show, today, you can create a broadcast 
quality show right out of the box, using a digital camera that runs 
between $2500 and $5000.  That's pretty cheap.  The day is not far off, 
when those same cameras will cost less than $1000.  The equipment for 
editing and creating the tv show, including the fade-ins, fade-outs, 
special effects, printed graphics, etc, costs nothing, as it is freely 
available.  The computer is able to be purchased from a store for less 
than $400, or better, donated by someone who is upgrading their 
computer.  Big media hates that!

In other words, technology, today, allows even the poorest of the poor 
to bring diversity and competition to radio and tv networks.  Did I 
mention, media hates the thought of that happening?

But, how do we get our programs out to the world?  Right now, we 
continue to rely on our local governments to protect our public lands, 
and to insist that cable and phone companies return to the community, 
public education, and public government access stations, by controlling 
who can put up poles, or run lines along our public right of way.  So 
far, we have hopefully, gotten the best deal we can, negotiated by our 
local governments.  Tomorrow, though, we'll need to expand these 
contracts with the cable and phone companies to enable neighborhoods to 
participate, as the number of stations we know as local access stations 
increases.  Remember, we'll be moving forward, and the quality of the 
shows on local access tv and radio will improve, as the use of high 
quality technology becomes available to everyone, rich or poor.

Wait just a minute.  There are three bills pending in our national 
government chambers:
S1504
HR3146
S1349

Together, these three bills will eliminate local government control over 
public lands.  That control will be transferred to two, maybe three or 
four corporate CEO types.  The franchise fees will be eliminated, no 
more funding for local access tv and radio will be provided, and what we 
see and hear, will be even more tightly controlled by white house 
administration policies.  If you thought the administration censorship 
was bad before, wait until the day after these bills are passed.

It's difficult to know what we're missing, if we don't hear or see it. 
For example, how many know about the Vietnam Veteran that visited the 
Vietnam Memorial on September 24, 2005, while waiting for the march to 
get underway?  He was standing in front of the Vietnam Memorial, his 
Veterans For Peace (VFP) flag in hand, crying silently, as the moment 
overtook his emotions.  The authorities came up to him, and told him to 
remove the flag from the area . . . .

How many understand we currently utilize bombs in Iraq that contain 
Agent Orange mixed with deleted Uranium, DU Weapons?  These are the 
worst of the worst of Weapons of Mass Destruction.  The official 
position of the administration is that these weapons do not hurt our 
troops or innocent Iraqis (cute, eh?).  Are those not items of news we 
might just want to know more about?  In a country where the media is 
consolidated into the hands of a few, we are told what we see and hear. 
 I want our little CD project to be completed.  I want us to work 
together, and become proficient at putting little CD projects together. 
 Why?  Because, soon, we'll be able to have a lot of fun, while we 
contribute to what others can see and hear, that's why.  But, we will 
have a much tougher time doing that, if these three bills pass.
[END RANT]
Tom

--
Open Studios, Charles City, Iowa, USA
www.ibiblio.org/studioforrecording/
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