EDITORIAL:
Community TV - ready, steady, go!
Over the past few months we have seen quick and steady progress
on the proposals for a Dublin community channel. Since the Report on the feasibility
of a Dublin community TV channel* was published earlier this summer, the DCTV
Interim Steering Committee have been highly visible in their campaigning and
organising efforts.
The Day for Community TV workshop on 15th November brought together community
organisations in Dublin and beyond to plan and discuss their concerns and programme
content for community television.
The Lord Mayor hosted a Breakfast where plans for the channel were presented
to potential funders and sponsors, and commitments to resource and support the
venture were actively sought.
An Expression of Interest has been submitted to the Broadcasting Commission,
and
A License Application is being prepared for a Community Content Contract.
The Minister's recent announcement that 5% of the licence fee should be allocated for community based content is also heartening.
It is time to pull together to get our community TV up and running. Representatives of groups coming from across the 32 counties attended the workshop on the 15th - which demonstrates the potential of the channel even before it is on the go! Content Groups are developing lively and innovative programming ideas drawing on their experience and aspirations. A truly community-driven TV channel is beginning to happen.
Hopefully there will be more Expressions of Interest arriving in the next round, and the next six months of work for the Dublin Channel will provide a solid precedent that communities around the country can build on to create more community TV stations.
This issue of Tracking aims to bring you up to date with these recent developments as well as keeping our links with what is happening on the global level. Tracking has been produced by the Community Media Network Community Employment Project since the first issue in 1995. If the pressure on CE continues, the future of Tracking is uncertain. However, we carry on regardless and plan to do another issue for Spring '03. We would particularly like to hear about community photographic projects, so contact us at tracking@cmn.ie with your stories and pictures.
*"Building Community Through Television - A
Plan for Dublin Community Television"
is available in pdf version at www.dublin.ie for hard copy contact DCTV Secretariat,
c/o CMN, 34 North Frederick Street, Dublin 1; Tel: 878 3344
EDITORIAL TEAM
Co-ordinator:
Margaret Gillan
Editorial Assistants:
Mojisola Oduola-Falola
Margaret Murphy
Lisa Martin
Web Support:
Brian Dunne
IT support:
Noel O' Conner
John Mulready
Ian White
Disclaimer:
The views in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the views of all CMN members, FAS, or other groups and individuals supporting
TRACKING