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Message 7 (170 lines) From mtb.und.ac.za!PEPPAS Tue May  9
20:25:49 1995 Return-Path: <PEPPAS@mtb.und.ac.za> From: Mr Mikhail
Peppas <PEPPAS@mtb.und.ac.za> To: videaz@web.apc.org (Vinny Mohr)
Date: Tue, 9 May 1995 20:35:04 +0200 (SAST) Subject: Re: Clips
article and Hi Return-receipt-to: "Mr Mikhail Peppas"
<PEPPAS@mtb.und.ac.za> Priority: normal X-mailer: PMail v3.0
(R1a)

Public Access Television in South Africa

Television in South Africa is changing drastically and in the
process a new participatory TV culture is emerging. These new
directions include the introduction of public access television -
- which will allow the public to not only watch TV but also to
make it. These new opportunities for community media will be
highlighted at the Visual Voice Confest '95 to be hosted by the
Centre for Cultural and Media Studies at the University of Natal
in Durban, South Africa. The events take place around the anchor
weekend of June 24/25.

The Confests have as a central focus the cultural dimension of
visual communication but highlight a specific theme each year. The
theme for Confest '95 is 'The Role of Community Access Media in
Reconstruction and Development.' This links directly into the new
electronic media scenario -- and relates to 1995 being called "The
Year of Broadcasting in South Africa". This achievement will be
emphasised at Confest '95 by what could probably be the first test
transmission of community TV in South Africa -- the station is
called Greater Durban Television (GDTV) and has as its punchline
"Giving Voice to the Voiceless".

The planned experimental broadcast of GDTV marks the culmination
of years of struggle by numerous oppositional community groups to
democratise the airwaves. It was a bleak period dominated by an
apartheid regime which controlled the media with an iron fist and
restricted television to a virtual propaganda station for
Government ideology. One of the major agitators for the
introduction of Public Access Television in South Africa is the
community based Film and Allied Workers Organisation (FAWO) which
began developing community television during the early years of
its work in restructuring the film and broadcasting industries.

FAWOs involvement in organising the Jabulani! Freedom of the
Airwaves Conference (The Netherlands, 1991) resulted in a
resolution that community or participatory broadcasting be defined
as "immediate and be controlled by members of a community of
interest, or a geographical community, to express their concerns,
needs and aspirations without outside intereference, subject to
the regulation of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA)" --
the regulatory body set up by the new democratic government to
co-ordinate the opening up of the airwaves. The conference noted
that no community broadcasting sector has existed previously in
South Africa and that the development of this sector is a
priority. The conference also endorced the notion of training
people in broadcasting and video making skills -- which led to
proposals for film and video access centres to operate in
conjunction with community television.

FAWO is also acting as the central facilitating body in the
development of a Community Television Network in South Africa
through a process of networkings and consultation,. Relations of
support and co-operation have also been established with
international community television structures. This community
networking has enabled FAWO, in the role of joint-convenor of the
GDTV test broadcast, to bring considerable grassroots support to
the volunteer groups participating in this pioneering attempt at
community access television.

The aim of the experimental broadcast is to provide a technical
model for a public access station, as well as to make people in
the Grater Durban area aware of the potentials of such media. The
organisers hope this will eventually lead to the establishment of
a public access television station in Durban. Negotiations are
underway with the IBA for the granting of what is termed a
'special events short- term licence' for the experimental
broadcast. A test pattern will be transmitted from the station's
University location from June 17 while programme broadcasts are
planned from June 22 to June 30.

The experimental broadcast is being run on an entirely voluntary
basis, with a small amount of funding from the convening
organisations. The equipment required for the ground-breaking
transmission has been sponsored by various video companies,
technikons, the university and community-based organisations.

The GDTV conveners believe that community access media have a
vital role to play in "Giving Voice to the Voiceless" and in
aiding the Government of National Unity's Reconstruction and
Development Programme. It is expected that the international
community TV specialists who are presenting at the Visual Voice
Confest '95 will provide valuable input and assist with making the
experimental test transmission a highlight on the road to
community access media in South Africa.

Lumko Mtimde, of the National Community Radio Forum, has stated
that, "Our communities have been deprived of a fundamental right
to education, to talk to each other and listen to the
truth...Community radio is a community voice. It can begin to
address imbalances through facilitating debates and discussions,
linking them up with other community radio stations, assessing
such debates and discussions at regional level and networking them
nationally. This will ensure upward mobility instead of downward
mobility of important community needs and demands... communmity
radio can be used to develop a culture of human rights at
grassroots level and can be a valuable medium for informal
education."  These objectives are in line with the aims of the
broader spectrum of community access media and effectively
describle what GDTV sees as the role of Community Television in
society.

Forwarded by Videazimut

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