Introduction - BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM
The Community TV Trust [CTVT] promotes the local use of media and new media. Self esteem and general personal empowerment come from participating in local media making. also aiding social inclusion, and cross-cultural understanding in communities. Where Ofcom used to call us 'citizen-consumers' and regulate Public Service Broadcasting (PSB), CTVT sees 'producers' and Public Service Media (PSM). Individuals, groups and schools are increasingly active. In south London they are participating in CTVT's unique community media project, "Southwark.TV" [www.southwark.tv] (see below) - a CMS website where currently fifty schools and community organisations publish their own multimedia, receive basic support in IT, video and multimedia production, attend screenings, work on or participate in occasional TV productions. Thus CTVT is promoting media literacy, active citizenship and social cohesion ... it sounds too good to be true but it is all there.
www.communitytvtrust.org/
Public access television in the United States is a form of Citizen media, similar to Canada's Community channel, Australia's Community television and other models of media created by private citizens.
Due to the 1984 Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act, US cable companies are required to fund local organizations to provide training and access to media technology and cable distribution on the local cable systems. This legislation was intended to enrich communities with the opportunity to produce community-initiated programming and address local issues and concerns on the electronic medium. In its conception, Public access television pertained only to the cable television technology of the times, but many Public access organizations now include television, radio and the internet within the spectrum of communications. Public access television is one type of PEG access, short for Public, Educational, and Governmental, the three traditional structures of access within a municipality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_access_television
