George Stoney discusses the untapped power of community access media

Using technology to foster social justice and activism is Stoney's passion. "Community access is still relevant. We need to get people together and get them involved in community affairs."

Stoney has been a powerful force in the community access media movement, co-founding the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers (NFLCP) in 1976, an advocacy association for public access and community programming on cable TV. He still serves on the board for Manhattan Neighborhood Network and is active in the Alliance for Community Media.

He was instrumental in getting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mandate that cable operators modestly fund public access to equipment and airtime. "That was in 1972, and at that time the people on the FCC weren't beholden to the broadcast industry," he says. "Now the broadcasters can own the cablecasters."

"In 1979, the Supreme Court said the FCC had no right to require cable franchises to provide public access," Stoney says. "The Court said Congress hadn't authorized the extra tax on cable franchises but that it would be legal if it were written into each individual franchise."

The lesson: "The nature of the franchise controls so much of what public access can do."

As an example of the lesson Stoney cites New York City. "In each of the five boroughs you have a separate access center — that's the way [the cable franchise] is set up." All the money from franchise fees for public access goes to the borough president, he says. "In Manhattan, the borough president appoints two of 18 board members and has a hands-off approach to the program. In Brooklyn, the borough president appoints all of the board members and has a tremendous say in how it operates."

While such situations can result in political grandstanding, community access also offers viewpoints not seen on commercial or even non-commercial television. "Look at Freespeech TV," Stoney says. "It circulates relevant tapes all around the country to public access centers." Host Amy Goodman is on five mornings a week and Stoney thinks she's done a "wonderful job" of adapting her feisty radio show to television.

He scoffs at complaints by franchise owners that community access is a money-loser, pointing out that cable companies have made money. "The only reason they are showing losses now is because ownership has changed hands so often, and each time they escalate the value so they're carrying a lot of debt," he says. Stoney acknowledges that servicing the debt incurred by overpaying definitely reduces revenues but so does keeping a legal team busy fighting minimal community access regulations.

"I've seen it in some of the best places in the country," he says. "Cable companies come in and keep the legal process going a couple of years and then bankrupt the community access center by forcing them to pay lawyers."

Has the influence of the Internet eroded support for community access? "It's getting the attention of a lot of people but it doesn't replace the need for group action," Stoney says, "So much of the Internet is individual stuff." As for the Indymedia phenomena, he says, "I think it's fine, but it isn't going to replace community-produced tape."

Stoney says a good community access coordinator is the key to success. "It calls for some very savvy administration on the part of the access centers to build a sense of community that makes this thing work."

Strategies to accomplish this task vary, he says. "Some community access places have people who have been volunteering to put on programs and help people make programs for years. It's been their avocation. In other places they've discouraged that and use professional staff."

Renowned as a documentary filmmaker, Stoney has written, directed and produced more than 50 documentaries and television series. This experience is a solid basis for his lifelong interest in education. "You can't do successful community access without training," he says.

Stoney lost his tenured position at New York University when he turned 70 but maintains an office there. "I've continued teaching on an annual contract basis at the pleasure of the president for the last 17 years," he says with pride. "They have me listed as a teacher this fall."

His job is to teach the basics. "And some people just don't get it. We've got a few people at Manhattan Neighborhood Network who have a daily program and they get such good guests but they talk over them all the time. I find myself yelling at the TV, 'Let 'em talk!'"

The basics include critical thinking skills and determining the validity of an information source. "That's one of the greatest hazards of the Internet," Stoney said. "I have students all the time printing stuff off the Web and handing it in as a response to an assignment. I ask, 'What's the source? What's the authenticity of it?' and they usually answer, 'I don't know.'"

He admits he is at a loss for what to do about that problem. But he's got some definite ideas about other technical issues like handheld digital video units and computer editing capabilities. "They certainly are great. So many people have their own cameras, but even if they have editing software on their computers at home they lack the kind of group discussions and leadership that makes their stuff look competent and carry a full message," he says.

Stoney says the films that students make today aren't as good as 10 years ago. "But it has nothing to do with the technology. It has to do with the maturity of the students," he says.

"NYU gets so many students straight from the suburbs who have been molding their résumés to get into some name-brand schools but they have no life experience. They're afraid to go out in the streets, not because it's dangerous, but because they're timid. So they produce superficial stuff," he says.

"Take my documentary workshop," Stoney points out. "If you talked only about the technology I taught 10 years ago, we'd be out of date. But how to tell a story, how to critique, how to arrange playback, how to use materials to promote dialogue — that hasn't changed at all. That's what we need to put emphasis on."

Thomas P. Healy is a journalist in Indianapolis and publisher of Branches magazine.