Community Access Programming - Essay Example

Traditional media is often attributed to as massively responsible for the proliferation of cultural stereotypes and prejudices. Even with its treatment of factual programming, the traditional media has been accused of striving either to sensationalise or to commercialise its representations of facts and real events. Although the effects of these misrepresentations may not be direct, scholars contend that there are subtle and indirect consequences these inaccurate portrayals convey to the judgements of viewers (Murphy 166). During the first half of the last century, however, experts contend that community access programming should be advocated in order to increase participation of the community, eliminate stereotypes and democratise media production. The BBC Community Programme Unit and its programme Video Nation pioneered one of the most successful community access programming which considerably facilitated the democratisation of factual mass media. Video Nation has achieved significant strides in the propagation of democratic media in that not only did it help lessen cultural stereotypes but it also allowed participation and empowerment of ordinary citizens to control factual media programming. In the past, democratisation of factual media programming had been thought to be improbable. Democratisation, in this sense, implies a collective undertaking (Dahlgren 2), "joining people from virtually all social sectors to a common cause." Dahlgren contends that democracy is a part of a 'public sphere' (8) where media should highlight the need for citizen participation. Through their access to reliable data from a variety of sources as well as the inclusion of diverse point of views and opinion on current events, citizens will be able to shape their independent views on significant issues which will prepare them for the maximisation of political participation (Dahlgren 9). Dahlgren lists four dimensions to which the notion of 'public sphere' in the media can be applied. These include: media institution, media representation, social structure and socio-cultural interaction. Media institution includes the media's organization, financing and regulation with regards its journalistic coverage. The optimization of this institution is needed in order for the media to achieve democratisation. The most significant consideration here is the absence of constraint on coverage and communication and thus, restrictions by the government or by the media itself on programming are deemed impediments. Media representation on the other hand, refers to how the media treats its subject matter as well as how it portrays and presents its topics (Dahlgren 15). Traditional media has been criticised often for its distortion of facts and information in order to achieve commercial success. As the media is a form of business, it frequently aims at marketing most of its programmes including the ones related to public affairs. It often trivializes even the most important of issues or sensationalises petty events. Clearly, the reduction of this form of traditional media representation must be achieved in order to create a balance between the aims of the media to be able to continue its business and its role to advance participatory democracy. The fundamental features of social structures, on the other hand, involve gender, race and ethnicity, class or social status. The democratisation of these social structures implies the accessibility of the media within the varying social constructions. Another important issue is the accommodation of the citizens in the lower rung of society in media programming. In democratisation, it is important that citizens from diverse social structure be given power and control on what they want to view or how they want to view certain programmes. This also brings about the issue of socio-cultural interaction. For instance, are the citizens of various class, gender and ethnicity given the chance to get involved in discussions and debates on significant issues Are their points of view on pressing issues considered or given weight (Dahlgren 16-19) The inclusion and participation of the public in mass media production should therefore be given consideration in the shaping of well-informed citizenry. This form of public participation for the purpose of democratisation should be the goal of the media. Thomas, for instance believes that participatory communication is significant in that it topples social, political and economic power imbalances. In addition, for communication to be effectual, it should encompass participation, dialogue and reciprocity. "Authentic participation would then enable the subjects involved in this dialogic encounter to unveil reality for themselves" (Thomas 51). Participatory communication, thereby, constitutes a considerable factor in democratisation. On the other hand, Carpentier asserts that access, participation and self-management account for complete democratisation (5). Access connotes the available prospects in choosing appropriate and significant programs as well as to acquire a medium for feedback (Carpentier 5). Servaes defines participation as the 'higher level of public involvement in communication systems' (Servaes in Carpentier 5). This is also implies the contribution of the citizenry on the production process, management and planning of programs. The denotation of participation does not just comprise public decision-making but also self-management which connotes the formation of policies and plans regarding communication (Servaes 85 in Carpentier 5-6). The term participation however, is also diverse in meaning, and it is likewise significant to categorise the types of participation in the media. Carpentier classifies participation as 'complete, real and authentic' in contrast 'partial, fake and pseudo.' Partial participation is defined as 'a process where two or more parties influence each other in decision-making' except that the finality is left for only one party to decide (Pateman 70). On the other hand, full participation is the process in which individual members are endowed equal power to establish the finality of decisions (Pateman 71). Hence, it is apparent that the line of democratisation that the media and the public must strive for is full or authentic participation which denotes the presence of power equality. White contends that full cooperation is evident when the 'local elite and the people are working cooperatively' where the decision making process and the 'action to be taken are left for the people to control (White 17). Full participation, as a consequence, according to Servaes 'directly addresses power' and regulates its distribution in society. The emphasis in power in relation to full participation is pivotal in that power and control are significant notions which enhance understanding of 'the diversity of expectation... and outcome of participation' (White 17). But has this form of democratisation through full and authentic participation probable The idea of endowing common people full participation in media production was thought of to be implausible even in highly industrialised and democratised societies. The British experience, however belie this assertion. In 1992, the Video Nation project was conceptualised in order to afford materials to a variety of media outputs that had not yet been created. The plan is to make available video cameras or camcorders to a selected audience and train them to film aspects of their everyday lives. The predecessor of this project was BBC's Community Programme Unit conceptualised in 1973 but disappeared from the airwaves in the late 90's. It featured short documentaries called Video Diaries, a one hour autobiographical and subjective documentaries in first person. It addresses its audience directly and was created by non-professionals. Its initial program showed a football fan describing his experiences at a World Cup soccer match. It is quite interesting to note that the production process of this program was aimed at the maximisation of the author's control of the program output. The videos were edited in their presence and the crucial decisions on the finality of the works remained in the discretion of their creators (Carpentier 13-14). Borrowing much of its concepts from its predecessors, the Video Nation program is founded on tripartite principles: Emphasis on the aspects of daily lives of ordinary citizens, emphasis on the cultural diversity of modern British society and the granting of higher control to the participants over production issues and decisions. It can be noted that the endowment of the control of the production process as well as the 'partnership' that exists between the production team and the participants were a rare occurrence in media practice. This is apparent in Video Nation's initial programming where it pointed out that ordinary people will be 'asked to focus on subjects of personal relevance,' encompassing subject matter that touches on family, ethnic identity and the experiences that come with it, employment or the lack thereof, racial prejudices and law (Carpentier 18). One of the most notable features of Video Nation production process was the sharing of the editorial control by the production team and the participants. This is observed through the endowment of a 'higher degree of power' to the contributor than is commonly afforded by the media. The participants are considered 'equal partners' and the media professionals are viewed as facilitators of public participation (Carpentier 24). Also notable is the dissolution of the media's traditional role as 'the gatekeeper' transforming into a 'gate-opener.' The extent of the contributor's control over output can also be observed in the domain of editing. In the past, media practitioners refused the presence of the participants in the actual editing. This aspect of media culture, however, slowly waned especially during the production process of Video Nation wherein participants can refuse the changes made by the production team. Furthermore, the production staffs involved in the program kept an 'open' attitude with regards the issue of editing materials, choosing to exercise care and restraint on their extent of intervention. Carpentier notes that this can be observed in the lack of background music and 'fancy editing' applied on the videos (25). Another prominent contribution of Video Nation is its deconstruction of the terms 'ordinary' and 'everyday.' As what the production team had gleaned from the programs, 'ordinary people' are not members of the professional media - a categorisation that is less hostile than when the term is contrasted with the connotations of the word 'elite' (Carpentier 19). Apparent here is the gradual easing down of stereotypical responses which marked the class-conscious British society in the past. The implication of this novel notion is that Video Nation allowed for the inclusion of 'ordinary' people within the realm and diversity of cultures and cultural categories which were marked distinctions of the British society. The embracing of the commoners as a part of the political landscape asserts the concept of cultural citizenship that centres on the partaking of the political through 'communicational exchange of ideas of selfhood and citizenship, rights and differences (Hartley 162). This allowed for the redefinition of citizenship and resulted to the emphasis on civic and cultural education which was originally the goal of a responsible television. The political purpose of the program, which is to emancipate individuals through participatory democracy, cannot be ignored in that the short programs included in Video Nation cannot be separated from the political realm. This is because a plethora of themes that touches on the private aspects of our daily activities carry public themes that are in many aspects, political in nature (Dovey 128). They endow the viewing public individual perspectives with regards public issues that the participants encountered in their everyday lives - including incidents which greatly evoke shared human experiences. Furthermore, since the inception of Video Nation, the issue of cultural diversity, understanding of these differences and addressing stereotypes have been brought to light. This is founded on the principle that cultural diversity which is a hallmark of the British society must be aptly and correctly represented. Birt contends that Video Nation purports to embrace cultural diversity with 'dignity and respect' (13). Video Nation's producers likewise affirm a parallel principle in that television networks such as the BBC must strive to find new means of 'reflecting' diverse outlooks and point of views, lifestyles and attitudes that make up the British society. The Video Nation project was successful in achieving the aforesaid goals. BBC's delineation of this diversity is represented in its inception of television shorts, a collage of television screens, symbolizing each participant that comprise a crowd of faces of the Video Nation (Carpentier 20). Aside from its emphasis on representing cultural diversity, Video Nation also aimed at the elimination of cultural stereotypes which was propagated by the traditional media. The show's producers asserted that much of factual programming on television depict people as 'two dimensional' often portraying them in stereotypical and restricted fashion (Carpentier 21). For Video Nation, social fragmentation resulting from stereotypes need to be addressed through the confrontation of our similarities against an individual's differences. Through this portrayal of cultural diversity, societal unity and the sense of nationhood can be achieved. This goal of national unity can be clearly observed in the output of Video Nation through their democratised selection strategy which involved exhaustive research on groups and individuals who were inappropriately depicted or lacked representation. This shows that the Video Nation project's aim to democratise the media and strive for full participation is genuine. The legitimacy of Video Nation's and BBC's goals to democratise the media as well as encourage full participation of ordinary individuals, minorities, ethnic groups and other members of the society that make up the political divide is laudable. As the impact of traditional media in the political, social and cultural perceptions of individuals all over the world remains unalterable, the government and the media itself must find ways to break the cycle of cultural stereotypes, ethnic racial prejudice, sexism and ignorance which persist even in the age of information technology. Although it is not fair to point to the media as the culprit for the propagation of ignorance, the media has considerable contributions to the proliferation these ills. The media's selectivity of the shows and news that sell rather than the emphasis on the promulgation of materials that inform but does not instruct individuals how to think or assess the material has also adversely affected societies. The media ignored the importance of full participation of the individual - an indispensable aspect of the democratic process. For democracy to work, ordinary citizens which usually comprise the bulk of society, must strive to shape independent views on relevant issues that confront the democratic political landscape. The goals of the traditional media, for instance, to propagate views they think are more 'logical' and 'beneficial' results, indirectly and most of the time unintentionally, to the formation of a unitary mode of thinking and handling of issues. For democracy to work, diversity in opinion and approach to problem solving must be encouraged. Hence, the main consideration of countries in which media is deregulated is that, it would be difficult to achieve full participation of individuals in factual programming because depicting 'ordinary lives' in the media, whose sole purpose is to sell, might not appeal to the majority of viewers. BBC of course has treated this differently since it is a government owned entity and does not solely strive for commercial appeal and profits. Hence, the challenge for governments and the media all over the world is not only the imposition of regulation or deregulation on media industries to achieve the balance in programming considered essential for democratisation but also if the public ownership of the media can be maximised to cement direct democracy and full participation. On the other hand, BBC's Video Nation has illustrated that the aforementioned goals are not impossible to achieve. Video Nation's community access programming likewise strengthened the view that the production of factual mass media can be democratised and utilised to its full advantage. Its focus on the lives of ordinary people and at the same time bestowing respect on the individual's artistry, politics and social leanings, its avoidance of stereotypes and its emphasis on the empowerment of the ordinary people only confirm that factual mass media can be democratised - resulting to the empowerment of the ordinary individual. WORKS CITED Birt, J.,. The prize and the price. The Social, Political and Cultural Consequences of the Digital Age, The NewStatesman Media Lecture at Banqueting House, Whitehall, 6 July 1999.(1999) Downloaded on 1 June 2002 from http://www0.bbc.co.uk/info/speech/The_Prize_and_the_Price.pdf Carpentier, N. 'The BBC's Video Nation as a participatory media practice: Signifying everyday life, cultural diversity and participation in an online community', International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol.6, No4: (2003) 425-447 Dahlgren, P. "Television and the public sphere. Citizenship, democracy and the media." London: Sage. (1995) Dovey, J. 'Camcorder Cults' in Freakshow: First Person Media and Factual Television, London: Pluto, (2000) Hartley, John,. Uses of Television. London & New York: Routledge (1999) Johnson, F. 'Vox Pop: The BBC's Community Programme Unit', http://mwg.org/portal/fredjohnson/writing.html,(originally published in The Independent, June 1991). (1991) Murphy, Sheila T. "THE IMPACT OF FACTUAL VERSUS FICTIONAL MEDIA PORTRAYALS ON CULTURAL STEREOTYPES." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 560 (1998): 165. Pateman, C. Participation and democratic theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1972) Thomas, P. " Participatory development communication: philosophical premises. in: S. A. White(ed.), Participatory communication: working for change and development, 49-59. Beverly Hills: Sage. (1994) White, S." Participatory communication: working for change and development." Beverly Hills: Sage. (1994) Read More