Will things get better or worse or is incivility status quo?
Public discourse, Rich Hanley, Quinnipiac University associate journalism professor said, is “a huge chunk of civic society” but online discourse often devolves into “a cycle of rage people get caught up in.”
The rage, foul language and lack of empathy is nothing new, … and was clear in the early days of the internet. “The whole idea of free and open discussion, the great democracy of forums, but the rules of decorum and respect disappeared and became foul.”
I live in a rather conservative suburban community. Calling it my town does not land well on my ears. I prefer to be from Greater New Haven.
It does NOT have the ‘walk for blocks and inhale humanity feel’ of communities like Portland or Providence, Boston or St. Louis. What it does have is hiking trails and some artisan shops, great local bakers and potential. The potential lies in areas where our community data exceeds the norms and kindness can make-a-difference; challenges like opioid addiction, racism and food and housing insecurity.
It has the most wonderful public library, an incredible variety of eateries, wineries, a repertory theater, chorus, YMCA, farms with CSAs and orchards. There is a thriving senior center that I have been old enough to join for some time now, but have not. It is home to an internationally recognized private school with which I have no true connections. I do have a few strong indirect connections that I have had no good reason to leverage. And, of course, there is this place I am trying to bring into its potential (with the help of others); the community TV station. #YourTownYourStation#YourVoice
Do the work and it will speak for itself.
Chalked on my message board is “A king, a czar, an emperor, a few godfathers and Peter Pan live here.” I need to add ‘maven’: the accumulator of knowledge, simplifier of process, and enabler of story.
For Community TV there is a bitter-root anchored in stories that precede my arrival in town. They remain wrapped in mysteries about parody, slander and fear. It makes organizational survival hard and the ability to succeed ever more daunting. There is a constancy to roadblocks. The reality is that one public harasser can set the work back way-too-quickly and has. I have been the target of harassment twice and bullied by town elders a few times. As a counterpoint, I have also been a best friend to ‘the other” often and a life-line to more than I can count. Herein is both the problem and the solution: the vulnerability of connections. To build community the work is making a human connection with both the disavowed and the bullies.
Our community building TV work is more than providing tools & stage. It requires an attitude that says ‘Our doors are open for just-works.’
I must remain optimistic that together with those who come through the doors we can dispel bitter-roots that rage & rumors magnify and uplift stories that humanize us all.
All of humanity has the capacity to embody Freeman. But the question is do all humans have the social and emotional skills? Do you have what it takes to be a card carrying ambassador of free speech as Freeman P. Quinn, 1st? It requires a commitment to the open expression of ideas and civil engagement with others. It requires an awareness of story as a transformative tool involving discernment and active listening. To rightfully embrace free speech, one must also embrace justice. An abiding commitment to justice, and understanding the boundaries of speech in pursuit of justice, is challenging.
Judge Holmes’ dictum that “falsely” shouting fire in a crowded theater (1919) is not protected speech was intended to explain that the First Amendment is not absolute.
It is obvious that unrestricted liberty of utterance cannot have been intended, but the familiar formula that “liberty does mean license” is of little help in solving concrete situations. The Present Status of Freedom of Speech under the Federal Constitution Harvard Law Review Vol. 41, No. 4 (Feb., 1928), pp. 525-528
It was not until 1969 that a higher bar for what could be punished by the government was set. Speech that is “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.” is not protected speech.
Toward informed Free Speech
In this era of FAKE, the protection of free speech is more vital. It might be argued, “A man who stands in a theatre and warns the audience that there are not enough fire exits,” should be given access to the stage. But, what if the fire code is met and the speaker is actively spreading misinformation packaged to look like it has reliable sources? FAKE is a threat to democracy. It is not protected with proof of actual malice, “That is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth.” But intent, proof and truth can be quite entangled when forms of expression need ‘breathing’ space to survive.
Free Speech at the Core of Community TV?
Community TV is hyper-local, non-commercial and a tool of democracy providing resources to citizens in support of free speech. This also means at no or low cost. The commitment to uninhibited, robust and wide-open debate on public issues such as safety in public places is fundamental. Similarly, there is a commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Human dignity is inviolable.
Another difference is that TV production is labor and technology-intensive. TV production usually requires a team effort. And providing free or no cost resources often involves volunteers on these teams. Can anyone volunteer? Ideally yes, but realistically no. All volunteers must respect the inherent principles of free speech, its relationship to the dignity of all people, and embrace just behavior and adopted practices.
Some free speech boundaries are less clear when the interaction is through media rather than in a physical proximity. For example, when using social media, we are not usually supporting face-to-face discourse. Unlike social media, content distributed as TV is not an anonymous voice.
Volunteerism is at the core of citizen media!
Volunteers are priceless. With our commitment and approach they are also an investment. Our approach involves supporting volunteer goals, and mutually beneficial outcomes for the organization. Most receive college, or community service, credits.
Selecting our volunteers is the role of the Executive Director. Volunteer selection is multifaceted. Volunteers are vetted. A volunteer assessment is similar to being hired for a job. The Q & A would initially identify how familiar the prospective candidate is with the organization. What do the candidates already know about community media in general or WPAA-TV in particular? Have they watched any shows? Have they checked out our website before calling or writing? Do they know people who have been involved who can recommend them? Have they helped a producer? Do they know what skills they have which might be useful? Do they have predictable days and times that can be incorporated into our process?
The Benchmark: Can you be Freeman?
All volunteer inquiries do not result in a match. There are many reasons for not selecting a volunteer. Some candidates do not have skills we can confidently deploy. Others cannot work within our scheduling. Some cannot be independent enough.
The most important benchmark is #AnyOneCanBeFreeman. Can a prospective volunteer be the face of the organization we want Wallingford to see? We do not have a crystal ball but conversation can reveal enough. This is what we try to discern. Does the candidate exemplify our values? Does their personal life have evidence of pushing the limits of free speech with inflammatory or fighting words whether they be colorful, foolish, vicious, dramatic or quixotic? Is there some certainty they can aspire to our core competencies in the fulfillment of the duties they become accountable for?
Do you have what it takes to be a card-carrying ambassador?
Reference: Even the architect evolved his understanding California Law Review Vol 80 Issue 2 March 1992 Justice Holmes and the Modernization of Free Speech Jurisprudence: The Human Dimension by G. Edward White
Most Prized Right Zechariah Chafee, Jr., Free Speech in the United States (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941)
If you are a filmmaker and want to know more about opportunities at WPAA-TV check out the guidelines at Film Initiative at studioW. Or consider participating in our 3-minute movie challenges throughout the year.
3-Minute Movie Challenge
The program More.Than.TV Make Movies is now three times a year. It includes underwriting qualifying films for festivals. Three of the 2017 3-minute movies have been submitted to the Alliance for Community Media Hometown Video Festival. We wish the following movies good luck.
06492rocks 3 Minute Movie about Wallingford CT Producer: Emma Higgens (Age 10);
Dinner Time 1st production by youth team Ugly Chicken Wings Media Group Dennis Courtland King Jr, Tyler & Zachary & Aidan Koenig, and
something from The Sparrow Falling: The Council Scene.
If you missed the TV play of the sneak peeks of last year The Sparrow Falling you will need to be a Video Festival Judge to see it before it appears in a future episode.
Good luck to all of you.
Policy and Programs encourage film & movie making
Wallingford Public Access Association’s active support of filmmakers is now part of the mission. It was codified in policy in 2017 such that
Filmmakers are not required to be Wallingford residents. Use of any tools & stage resources by nonresidents will be subject to the guidelines of the Filmmaker Initiative in place at the time of reservation/application inclusive of a film proposal in lieu of Program Plan. Revenue seeking ventures will be subject to partnership agreements.
However, special conditions of support really began in 2013. The first policy change eased some very essential community TV requirements for filmmakers entering festivals. With proof 1st play as TV requirements could be waived. First play exemptions can be approved for documented film festival entries.
Updates about some films
At this time support of filmmakers is random. Our location, studio and resources can be used, When support happens it means much to those filmmakers. We provided the space and catering for producer and former intern Deanna P.
The largest project to date has been The Sparrow Falling. Episode One was released on Halloween with a screening at WPAA-TV. The filming component of the project took 180 days and involved 100 participants. Episode Two of Ten will soon be released. The last day of filming was March 9th with this post of gratitude. To Follow The Sparrow Falling join this Facebook Group. To View: Subscribe
He is 22. His prospects for employment elsewhere are diminished by his capacity to focus. He tells me “I choose to work here in User Support because it makes-a-difference.” He will gladly chatter about how the shows he schedules to play as TV are important to watch until he is reminded: Yes, it is time to schedule those shows.
AARP Purpose Prize Stories tell of thousands being served through organizations seeded and nurtured by individuals 50-plus. My cost-benefit mind does somersaults at the idea of serving thousands in meaningful life-changing ways. I am curious about the connections, teams, dollars and obstacles that are dynamics within each of these stories. I also wonder how many 50-plus individuals facing a down-turned economy created themselves paying jobs. In my heart I applaud those who turned a personal loss or wound into something worthy. The stories are inspiring and I look forward to reading about more each year. And yes, I do wonder what would I do with a “purpose prize” that is different than what I choose to do daily?
To keep this hyper-local experiment in democracy, Community TV , going it takes a few others to be committed along with me to this idea of exploring, creating and informing in the public interest. However, I am keenly aware that if I did not show up each day this experiment would not be all it can be and that choosing each day to ‘be present’ is good; but still not enough.
Fifty Thousand Dollars
When I made this post I was feeling with intensity that we may have lost 365 days of closeness to the goal to be mortgage-free because of unexpected ghost-like equipment breakdowns. I mused that if I could win a purpose-prize or find some other means to raise $50,000 I would encourage the governance team to check off one strategic goal related to sustainability: To finalize ownership of the property at 28 So Orchard St. Wallingford CT.
Being debt-free would enable a strategic plan now targeted to start in 2022 to support more programs with modest increases in staff. The hours for that 22 year old could be more than 10 per week and others who may still not have discovered us could become part of a team making informing connection to each other and their community with televised stories. In reality it may not be a whole lot different — except for one thing keeping the doors open would no longer be depending on me.
I choose daily to serve my community keenly aware that it matters more that community voices are heard and make-a-difference one connection at a time after I am gone.
Susan Adele Huizenga (Volunteer) Executive Director
As I reflect on my year with WPAA-TV, I open a large manila envelope that contains review comments about the 2016 Video Festival Reel which was edited to represent what made 2016 different during our year together.
The reel was submitted with this description of 2016. We hope you enjoy your video visit to wpaa.tv viewing our compilation reel: More.Than.TV
About our year 2016:
More.Than.TV was adopted in a strategic planning session. In an Aha moment our board realized the new logo [a ‘play-button’ between our organization abbreviation WPAA (Wallingford Public Access Association) and TV] essentially said what we want to be, when typed: WPAA > TV. Yes, we are ‘greater than’ TV.
What constitutes More.Than.TV
In January, we launched Destination Station to attract performance artists and filmmakers. By April, a local producer started a bi-monthly/audience welcome show, Music with Purpose. Both attracted dozens of new visitors per show in addition to versatile talent, Be The Music, our hyper-local loop of music by local musicians, concurrently got a boost when we added musicians performing at WPAA-TV to those eligible to be our alternative to a radio station backdrop to local messages.
Word did get out. Filmmakers began to understand that our equipment was available at no charge, and we distributed content with a duration other than 30, 60 or 120 minutes. Some used our studio, others borrowed remote equipment or editing tools to make short films. By Christmas, a newly forming ensemble of actors joined a local producer on a 10-episode film for 2017 release, The Sparrow Falling. The initial 20 seconds show tease “the orb” was re-purposed art from our #PowerfulWildFree4Arts sculpture exhibit.
Supporting nonprofits and finding more ways to engage local business was our counterpoint to the arts. Some businesses joined with producers, civic groups and citizens to make a Holiday Greeting, a decade-old WPAA tradition. Others participated in a new show CommUnity Conversations. Some did event Public Service Announcements. (PSA) In August, #In2Languages, a four-way community-outreach and business collaboration, was successfully launched. #In2Languages uses free Global News content in English from German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, available to all Access Stations, with locally donor-funded versions of the same content in Spanish.
In 2016, WPAA-TV was sought out as a host training location for differently-abled individuals. Our graphics and audio capabilities were enhanced with these affiliations. We included some new promotional graphics at the end of our submission for overall excellence with samples of announcements including our own programs such as #GoodEnough2Share.
About the video festival
As a judging location, we take this festival and the commitment to judging very seriously.
Our score was two out of five in the criteria about representing different segments of our community. Two comments in support of this low score merely said, “needs more diversity.” Nothing explained what was perceived as missing. This was perplexing. In addition to having content in two languages, we considered that being inclusive was our strength.
A 20-minute reel represents about 3,000 plus hours of content. Our reel had the following: Types of programs Performance, Talk Shows, PSAs, Four different styles of film, Animation, LIVE, Remote, and Community Message Graphics; Ages Kids, Youth, Seniors and everything in between; Religion Christian, Jewish, Muslim; Issues Fitness, Mental Health, Business-Local, Manufacturing and Nonprofit, At-Risk Children, Veterans, African Dream; and Race More representative than our community.
Topics ranged from Medieval History to event promotion to role of nonprofits in the community to celebrating community.
I agree that our producers did not take great care about ‘audio cable visibility…’ but to identify WPAA-TV as lacking diversity… Makes me wonder if I need to represent the people on the margins rather than what walks in the door to be considered achieving our mission with excellence.
WPAA Corporate Statement of Purpose To provide all manner of support for the creation and distribution of non-commercial community media
What are our communities of interest? Actually, there are a few: the people engaging with what is happening locally, the people developing their media skills, and our peers supporting the creation and distribution of content.
Four decades of technology and communications transformation means there is no status quo regarding outside forces that impact the creation and distribution of community media. This means relevancy needs to connect to an assessment of the original vision, the make-up of communities, and the cultural influences on communications. What this means on the ground at WPAA-TV is that policy is subject to change, that decisions and regulations of the past are subject to reassessment, and that we cannot assume we will remain funded or that our communities of concerns, skills, and interest will consider us relevant.
Seizing Opportunities
It has been said that we are flexible for whatever or whoever walks in the door. In so many ways this is true and vital to our ability to serve. Essential to the success of our adaptive process is curiosity, impulse control, the ability to create space between thinking and re(action) and the checking of egos at the door. We adapt to be relevant. However, there are policies and responsibilities that we adhere to for fairness, good stewardship of the tools & stage, and to ensure organizational viability.
Can agility beGET Failure?
An agile organization plans and adapts. An agile senior is one with keen mental acuity. Agile is a Project Management Methodology marked by short phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans intended to support quick and nimble forward movement. Effective outcomes in agile change processes paradoxically rely on a firmly established vision, goals and norms as well as adaptive leadership by both the administrator and governance team. To move quickly and easily has great value when a toddler is learning to walk, but once you are able to walk you need to know where you want to go to turn walking into success.
Community TV attracts egos like bears to honey so being prepared for their impact, good or bad, is critical to a station’s successful outcomes. Community TV, by design, helps people discover and use their voices, collectively. Egotistical people can disrupt the discovery process intended to be available to everyone. There is real potential for one emphatic person who lacks skills or experience or framework for communication, or buy-in to a shared vision, or openness to alternatives, to implode a team experience.
Guidelines and documented processes, often considered oppressive by the egoistic, are essential for transformative uncharted discovery. Every encounter can be a learning opportunity that feeds the institutional knowledge of the organization. Agile sans vision, or openness to learning by all, can be the reason that efforts to thrive can sometimes fail to survive. Process matters; improved process matters more. Equitable beneficial engagement is the vision agility must support.
Can ‘Status Quo’ be Disruptive FOR THE GOOD?
Community TV is compelled to move forward on two different footings: one geared toward efficiency and stability and the other innovation and change. Is there some aspect of doing the same things, maintaining the status quo that disrupts progress toward these ends? Is there intrinsic value in some status quo behavior? Societal transformation will happen due to the sheer ability to carry a computer in one’s pocket. Can clinging to the status quo, in an environment where the pace of change and the expectations of a population are enabled, be disruptive or retarded? It is widely assumed that status quo behavior is a barrier to change, that change is not readily adopted, and change can lead to either failure or success. Inertia can lead to opportunity costs losses, because in reality, outside forces are moving.
As survival and strategic direction is assessed it is the status quo values of democracy and equity and service that still frame any discussion of relevancy.
Crowd sourcing of ideas AND RESOURCES
Collaborative engagement has appeal in a world of diminished resources. It also appeals to funders. But it is not without its pitfalls. Small organizations, almost by definition, have limited resources. In a more connected world, engagement and collaboration are potential tools to overcome resource limits. However, it is essential to identify shared visions early in the collaboration process as these opportunities are also resource consumers and being on the giving without the receiving end of a collaboration not only feels bad it can create more imbalance. Alliances need to include an assessment of mission similarities, conflicts and opportunities. It is not as simple as a chat and a handshake to keep forward momentum and achieve outcomes across multiple domains of interest. As rules and/or policies help manage within the limits so do memoranda of understanding.
Having individuals and organization partners hypothetically infers the plausibility of relevancy. But if the only commitment of the partnering is promotion of the service you are providing is not happening, then you are merely a service provider not a partner or collaborator. Actions ultimately determine relevancy.
The largest 2017 film project The Sparrow Falling involved over 80 talented community volunteers including writers, actors, stage crew and video production and effects. The bulk of the filming was done over an eight month period with dates or consecutive days reserved for shoots ranging from 2 to 18 hours long. In addition to providing studioW as tools and stage inclusive of a 4-K camera the producer had one wpaa-tv volunteer for audio/visual tech support throughout. Through a Partnership Agreement with the writer/producer supplemental support inclusive of craft services, props, set items, college intern supervision, shout-outs for crew and background actors, and more helped keep this artist collective of sparrows moving forward.
Here is episode one of ten from this film project..
Two other short films are currently in production. These projects have used tools like the green screen, teleprompter, lights and have had scenes staged on location.
What Board Members had to say about this initiative.
I am comfortable with the guidelines developed from this 1st years experience. They should help ensure the overall success of additional film venture as well as safeguard the space for the primary users local citizens that make TV. C. Huizenga
Collaboration – getting people to share information and co-create solutions is critical to a healthy community’s success. However, it is not always easy to achieve. Our biases impact how we form first impressions, decide with whom to work, whose ideas we listen to, determine to whom we provide opportunities, and more. Bias can cause us to make an unfair value judgment about people who differ from us. Most people like to think of themselves as ‘good citizens’ who rationally evaluate all the information. Actually, our good-citizen intentions are often tethered to our normally helpful, lazy, hard-wired brains. #InformationLiteracy
The lazy brain naturally creates shortcuts that favor bias. To have a positive impact, how do you inform your judgments and decisions and foster inclusion and collaboration? Sharing stories, active listening and deepening questions are tools for community engagement that can lessen the laziness of our brains. All these tools, or muscles, can be built up by participating in Story Circles with strangers. Story Circles are community events that create safe and facilitated opportunities for self and community discovery most often related to a large project or community theme.
It is more common than not that people, maybe even yourself, feel like you’re the only sane one in a world gone crazy. People resist challenging information, often without realizing it, by applying confirmation bias, accepting information that confirms what is already believed and ignoring everything else. This is easy to do if those interacting agree among themselves. Any kind of basic reasoning can be biased. Information from another perspective is often classified as wrong. There is an inherent fear that a better understanding might change your beliefs. This can be so, but understanding does not necessarily equate to agreeing.
Heuristics, the tools of the lazy brain, are cognitive rules of thumb, hard-wired mental shortcuts that everyone uses every day in routine decision making and judgment. Heuristics are normally helpful – indeed, they are crucial to getting through the myriad of decisions we face every day without overthinking every choice. But they’re imperfect and often irrational. They can be traps, even perilous. The shortcuts that allow us to navigate each day with ease are the same ones that can potentially trip us up in our ordinary judgments and choices, in everything from health, to finance, to romance, to behaving with an awareness of others.
Some believe that Story Circles are an enjoyable way to give your lazy brain a vacation from bias and help you realize the humanness that we all share.
Post election update: The Mayor Wallingford had in 1993 is still Mayor for 2018-19. Mr. Sullivan no longer has the privilege to serve on the Town Council. New members of the Board of Education may be open to reviewing how to deploy the Ed Channel for the greater good. Community TV (P.E.G.) in Wallingford is unlike any other town in CT: Administered in silos, financed inequitably, staffed with decades of expertise. The local 2017 election had the potential of making P.E.G. more relevant, cost-effective and a sustainable resource for non-profits, government and residents.
Mr. Sullivan was not reelected in 2017
Since elected to Town Council Mr. Sullivan had the lowest engagement with WPAA -TV of the council members serving at the onset of the election. Ironic since Mr. Sullivan was a formerly a WPAA-TV Board member. He served for several years prior to the implementation of ATT Uverse (now Frontier). While on the Board he used the resources of WPAA to host several variations of John Sullivan shows. He bashed WPAA’s potential to acquire and renovate downtown space (2008). He actively blocked opportunities to discuss regional funding sunset provisions (2012) that continues to send $20,000 annually of cable fees (WPAA-TV funding source) to other towns. He has engaged in other unsavory things like publicly stating current volunteers are “profiting” off the enterprise. This candidate has the most knowledge about the challenges and potential of the resource, yet he chooses to go beyond remaining neutral to being an obstacle for WPAA’s growth & sustainability. As a WPAA Board member was it his duty to make WPAA resources available to the community? Conflict of Interest Policies are now in place for producers servicing as Board Members.
The Mayor was reelected in 2017.
Local leadership has the leverage to do harm or improve community resources. In 1993 when the current Mayor took action to split P.E.G; subsequently the Mayor has taken regulatory or legal action against WPAA-TV on several occasions.
In 2015, outraged over our public art program because it had graffiti elements he disabled the use of a mural in the Wallingford Health Initiative Program. In 2016 he ranted against WPAA in a discussion of government TV being on YouTube for transparency. Old but challenging stories continue to impede cost-effective collaborative of P.E.G. services. A deeper look at “G” the town’s government TV operation can be revealing. The WGTV location is coveted space that might have better community use than being a studio 5 times a month. WGTV is taxpayer-funded at a rate higher than any other CT town except GrotonTV while providing significantly less services. Ironically, Groton is a library-based Municipal Channel similar to what Wallingford was before 1993.
Party control changes hands: New to BOE is Erin Corso, Ray Ross, Tammy Raccio and Patty Pursell.
The Education Channel is described as “ostensibly not functioning” by school staff in the know. Should the Education Channel be the life-long learning resource intended; or can we engage in regulatory conversations to have the cable company buy the channel back and reinvest revenues in local services?
WPAA-TV has moderate support across party lines, however, active promotion and use this election season was only by new candidates for office. We are certain that new leadership at the top will remove the stigma of working with us by members of both parties.
New to the council is Gina Morgenstein.These incumbents were returned to office.
