Community Video Report (Winter 1974)

reviews:§ Caution: media newsletters can become a way of life If.the newsletter business is any indication, there is indeed an information explosion, if not an information glut. We have received dozens of newsletters, varying ‘from local community people to virtually every specialty in the communications field. What follows are comments on some of these periodicals from the perspective of our needs, for whatever that’s worth. We hope it will assist you in determining how you can best meet your information needs. Cable Cablelines is a monthly newsletter from Cable Communications Resource Center (CRC), 1900 L Street, N.W., Washington, 20037, that is devoted to minority involvement in communications, particularly cable television. We find it extremely: informative, well-written and comprehensive in the minority field, as well as useful for general urban-oriented issues. Rates aren’t listed. . . Notes from the Center is precisely that: notes from the Cable Television Information Center, Urban Institute, 2100 M Street, N.W., D.C. 20037. The first of this quarterly newsletter came to us in January, and seemed to cover the views of the Ford Foundation-funded group that was set up to help municipal governments with cable franchising. No rates listed. .". . The NCTA Bulletin is a 4-to-8 page biweekly put out by the PR department of the cable industry trade association and should be viewed as such. It covers the issues of primary concern to those running CATV systems, including the FCC, Congress, access, programming, and the more mundane, if important, subjects like copyright, rates, etc. Free: 918 16th Street, N.W., D.C. 20006. ... Urban Telecommunications Forum is a monthly, nonprofit newsletter that functions as a review of current research and ‘state-of-the-art of broadband systems for government, business, ‘cities, institutions,and ‘community groups. _Emphasis is on papers by “‘experts’’ who have an urban affairs orientation. Excellent way to keep up on recent studies, conferences and issues. $12 for individuals, $22 for organizations, $9 for students: 276 Riverside Drive, NY, NY 10025.... ; CATelevision is a monthly newsletter on cable in Ohio available from Mershon Center, Ohio State Univ., 199 W. 10th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201... .Philadelphia Cable News, edited by Lois Brown who is also the principal in Metrotel Cable Co., costs $10, $5 for students, from 1223 W. Jefferson, Phila., Pa. 19122... .Blue Sky is another mimeo local effort, this one for the Rocky Mountain region ($10 institutional, $5 individual) bi-monthly, from P.O. Box 791, Boulder, Colo., 80302.... Cable Information is a monthly put out by the Broadcasting and Film Commission, National Council of Churches, Room 852, 475 Riverside Drive, NYC, 10027 ($10/year) and is one of the best, low-cost national newsletters in the field. Covers access and franchising particularly well... . CableLibraries is a new bi-monthly ($15) newsletter dealing with the specific libraryorientation. Also covers federal regulation and other significant issues. Published by American Society for Information Science in cooperation with the American Library Association, Suite 804, 1140 Conn. Ave., N.W., D.C. 20036....Of the commercial, and rather expensive newsletters, by far the best is Broadband Communications Report, an impressive attempt to keep you abreast of applied urbanetechnology. It-is: bi-weekly, costs $60/year, from 274 Madison Avenue, NY. 10016... .Cable Report is an offshoot of the Chicago Journalism Review that is professional journalist-civil libertarian Jerrold Oppenheim’s product. Excellent coverage, particularly of the politics of franchising. ($10/year) from Room 607, 192 N. Clark, Chicago, Ill. 60601. ... Access Videotools is a hardware-oriented catalog along the lines of the Whole Earth series that gives state-of-the-art info about video equipment: CTL Electronics, 86 W. Broadway, NY 10007. $1/copy..... Of course, there is Radical Software, which is, by now, erratically produced and somewhat uneven in quality. It tries to deal with different aspects of the videotape scene and was originally a trailblazer. ($12.50 for nine issues, from Suite 1304, 440 Park Avenue South, NY, 10016. Higher rates for back issues). ...If you’re into video, don’t miss Video Exchange Directory, a really grassroots-produced compendium ot working video groups in the U.S and Canada, from Intermedia, Box 8690, Station H, Vancouver, B.C., Canada... .Joint Media Productions is a catalog that offers access to the public for media groups to tell their story. Distributed through commercial book channels by John Muir publications, PO Box 801, Mill Valley, Calif. 94941... Challenge for Change Access, NFB, PO Box 6100, Montreal, 101, Quebec is the excellent and graphically superior newsletter from the National Film Board video program (real must!!) Free, published 3 or 4 times/year....Media and Consumer is a monthly 16-page tabloid paper that provides excellent coverage of the media’s coverage of consumer issues. Slick and comprehensive media and advertising criticism. $12/year. from PO Box 1225, Radio City Station, NY, NY 10019....Community Access TV is a tabloid newspaper published by Johnny Videotape (Alan Frederickson) with an advocacy perspective toward the access field, both cable and broadcast. Ten issues, $10. From 695 30th Avenue, Apt E, Santa Cruz, Calif 95060. ...The Originator, P.O. Box 416, Malvern, Pa. 19355, monthly for $20 is an attempt to tie together all the cable programming ‘efforts around the country—religious, educational, access, ete Education, Misc. Two journals stand out in the educational field: The JCET NEWS, published by the Joint Council on Educational Telecommunications, and largely the product of in the media information glut erratically published) called Radical Software, especially the number called Guerilla TV, which has been issued as a separate book. (by Michael Shamburg and Raindance Corp.—Gordon & Breach Science Publishers). Another good source on video, especially its potential as a creative medium is the recent issue of Arts Canada on videoart (Oct. 1973, Vol. XXX, no. 4, issue 182/183). In order to get a handle on the field of broadcast television, the beginner should read one or both of former FCC Commissioner Nick Johnson’s books—How To Tdlk Back to Your Television Set and Test Pattern for Living. (Bantam Books). To get the “‘other’ and official. version, write for a free booklet about the history of the Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20554. They also have lists of other documents available. One national church group, the Office of Communications, United Church of Christ, has taken the lead in the whole field of citizen access to the broadcast media, and they make available a wide range of materials on the subject, including: Guide to Citizen Action in Radio and Television, by Marsha O’Bannon Prowitt; A Lawyer’s Sourcebook—Representing the Audience in Broadcast Proceedings by Robert W. Bennett; and Guide to Universtanding Broadcast License Applications and other FCC Forms by Ralph M. Jennings. From UCC, 289 Park Avenue, South, N.Y., N.Y. 10010. For the serious student, there is no real substitute for the actual laws affecting the communications field. These are primarily the 1934 Communications Act, as amended, and the various administrative decisions of the FCC—the 1972 rules on cabie television, for example, which govern the development of all new CATV systems in the country as of March, 1972. These are available from the Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., by title. However, when dealing with a relatively complicated subject like cable television, it is useful to have some analysis and comprehensiveness. No single item really does the job, and nothing is really ever current that is put down in print. But to start, a good list would include: The Wired Nation by Ralph Lee Smith (Harper/ Colophon), the 1971 long-article which was an early and somwhat overly optimistic look at the history and future of the medium; Cable TV: A Guide to Citizen Action by Wicklein and Price, a United Church of ® a a iV ings; NO! # prodigious and knowledgeable Frank Norwood. (1126 16th NW Wash., DC 20036, $45/year); and ETV Newsletter, one of several Tepfer publications on different communications industries (607 Main Street, Ridgefield, Conn. 06877) Synergy Access is a ‘“‘global newsletter on futuristic. communications, media, and networking’ ‘published bi-monthly — for $S/year. Covers new-age oriented uses of technology rather well. From 21st Century Media, 606 Fifth Avenue, E. Northport, NY 11731....Futures Conditional is monthly and tries to do some of the same sort of thing but is less successful and more expensive ($36) from our comparison. PO Box 1531, Wickenburg, Az. 85358... .New World Newsletter, published by Committee for the Future, is also interested in futures. ($10/year, including membership to Committee) from 2325 Porter St. N.W., Washington, 20008.....The Futurist is from World Future Society, 4916 St. Elmo, Bethesda, Md. 20014. It’s a slick magazine that deals with all subjects in the future. ($10/year).... Media Report To Women is a jam-packed mimeo product from Donna Allen and the staff of Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press, ($10/year for women, $15/institutions & men until Equal Rights Amend ‘ment is passed. 3306 Ross Place, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008). It keeps up with what different women are doing and how different media policy issues affect women. ...CPB Newsletter, 888 16th Street, N.W., D.C. 20006, is the house organ of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is ieee Christ publication oriented toward the citizen-activist. Also extremely valuable is the book edited by Charles Tate called Cable Television in the Cities—Minority ownership, community control and Public Access (Urban Institute). All three suffer the disadvantage of being substantially written even before the 1972 FCC rules were adopted, and should be read in their historical context. A more recent book that attempts to cover all the major issues is the RAND Corporation’s CATV:Handbook for Decision-Makers, by Walter Baer (avail. direct from RAND at 1700 Main Street, Santa Monica, Calif). Aimed at officials and others involved in the cable TV franchising process, it is extremely specific and useful, and avoids many of the sort of self-serving generalizations that pepper most industryoriented studies.