Community Video Report (Spring 1974)

‘newstapes:3 Community newstapes— antidote to TV news By Gerardine Wurzburg When we turn our TV sets on each evening to watch the news, we are given a pared down vision of what the ‘‘news” is, formulated by the organizations (networks) that produce it. In order to maintain its audiences’ attention, the news is packaged so that the sports lovers will not be bored by the international news, and the people who thrive off weather maps will be kept tuned in by the lively and supposedly ‘‘human” banter of the newscasters. The startling fact is that television is now both the chief source of news and the mostbelieved source of news for most of the population. Although to the normal viewer it all looks reasonable, the packaging of the news reveals a subtle distortion of facts, including footage of occurrences unrelated to the story, editing footage to tell the story with a particular slant, and editing a story as a form of social control. A helpful book for educating television watchers on the news they are digesting is News From Nowhere, Television and the News, by Edward Jay Epstein (New York: Random House, 1974, 273 pages). The book centers on studying ‘‘the effect of the processes of a news organization on the news product.”’ Based on research and interviews done during 1968-69, it provides an interesting background to news coverage of Vietnam, Nixon’s arrival as president, and Agnew’s attack on the media. The important issue of television news is our understanding of the role of the communications medium in a ‘free society.”” The responsibility of the networks in producing news is part of the concept of public interest, as the FCC and the courts have defined it over the years, which broadly covers three areas. The first premise is that the basic purpose of broadcasting is ‘‘the development of an informed public opinion through the dissemination of the public news and ideas concerning the vital public issues of the day.” The second assumption is that these ideas and information come from diverse and antagonistic sources, and finally, it is assumed that broadcasting is a predominately local institution. WCVC Starts News Coverage of Adams Morgan Watching the TV news in Washington, D.C., it is clear that coverage of local news, including the Adams-Morgan area, is peripheral, and when done, portrayed incompletely, without research work to understand the history of an issue. So the few news issues that the stations carry about our neighborhood, tend to end up as visual teasers of short length, that heighthen out of proportion one aspect of an issue, and whose presentation is often in a vacuum that makes involvement of people impossible. It was from this inadequacy of local news coverage that the Washington Community Video Center began experimenting with providing its own newstapes on the AdamsMorgan Community. As an additional aspect, AM has a large Spanish-speaking community, and our newstapes are in Spanish as well as English. In this first month of experimenting we have tightened our direction, and are trying various means of distribution and involvement of the neighborhood in the production. Our distribution has been based on two methods: the first source, is placing the monitor in our storefront window, with a speaker running outside, benches are placed on the sidewalk; the second, is bringing the monitor and playback deck to places that people normally congregate: including restaurants, community centers, and other neighborhood locations. As we try out distribution areas, we are evaluating each location’s effectiveness. Gale Rebhan, a student at Antioch is working on this survey as part of her undergraduate studies. When we have our cable system installed (See article, p..1), our distribution network will be more defined and permanent. When preparing these newstapes, we are designing them within a time frame of ten minutes, so that we can put the tapes on ten-minute cassette loops, for continuous playback. Some of the tapes have been designed specifically for the Spanish-speaking community, whereas others are for the whole community. These broad issue tapes are dubbed in English and Spanish. Community Production In conjunction with the Latin American Youth Center, Gerardine Wurzburg has begun training high school people from the Latin community, in video production. They are being trained to develop, write, and film, news on their community. Five high school men and women are involved in this, and meet three afternoons a week for training. When school is out for the summer they will be working full-time. Through a government program, they are being paid for this training at the Center. Our First Newstapes The first newstape we did was decided upon on short notice. The Mayor was at a local elementary school, for the Arbor Day treeplanting ceremony. After that he was approached by several citizens who were concerned about an incident of apparently unprovoked police brutality against an important community leader and her family. In terms of shooting style, we are editing in the camera for most of the tapes because we want them to be seen immediately and do not want to make the newstape production tax our editing system. With these considerations, we are shooting within the camera, with results that are successful, since we are conscious of the sound and picture relations. This requires somewhat alert camera operators, and a great deal of coordination between the interviewer/sound operator and the person doing camerawork. The next tape we did, was also done on short notice. Students from the Mellow Yellow school were boycotting the local Ben Franklin S & 10 cent Store. The store had started a policy that required children to be accompanied by an adult. The kids formed a ee picket line, and boycott in response to the edict. In the tape there is a discussion between the woman who manages the store, and several of the kids. This tape was also played in our store window, in addition to being seen many times by the kids involved, and report ers from local newspapers. A scripted tape was done in Spanish about several important Latin community institutions that many people are unaware of. Included was a short portrait of the Latin Youth Center, the free legal service groupAYUDA, and a basic information graphic about places to learn English for free. The next tape we did had a very specific focus. The D.C. City Council has imposed a temporary freeze on rents until August. A complete rent control bill is up for vote later this summer, and the housing issue has reached crisis proportions in Adams-Morgan. The tape is an account—through interviews with people involved in the housing issue on a community and citywide level, and a natration—designed to educate people in the community about their rights under the current rent freeze, and the importance of the Rent Control Bill. This tape was edited, and is available in English and Spanish. Future The responsibility of attempting to provide a news service to your community is an immense one, that requires a commitment to researching thoroughly the issues, and a desire to unveil the feelings of the community on various issues. As we continue this experiment, we will keep you posted on the problems we run into, and involvement that develops from the community. Probably one of the most valuable aspects of these newstapes, is the interchange it has opened between the Center and groups that we have been involved with in the tapes. This will lead to further involvement in the future. AY AND! LESBIAN VIDEO MAKERS FROM NEW YORK i A get-together and videotape screening for Washington gay people, featuring Ps e showing of tapes by the following New York gay video makers: LOVE: Lesbians ra > Organized Around Video Experience, Rudi Stern, GAA Video. Titles include “Lesbians at Gay Price March, 1973,” and “Gay Price.” Several of the N following the screening Bth | Using an edited video tape of an average day at Harvard Street School, we will look at the ways in which an open classroom environment affects the emotional development of children EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN Gth Workshop discussion will be led by parents and “teachers of Har vard Street School in Adams Morgan Starts 8p.m AN OPEN CLASSROOM ‘ALTERNATIVE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES — First screening of two videotapes: Solar Foam Home, which shows a house “Lesbian Musicians Jam,” as 5 26i (JUNE VIDEO “Coming Out,” tists will be present for a discussion Meeting of the Adams® Morgan Communications committee to discuss progress being made on wiring up our neighborhood with cable television. EOS Open to the public. Discussion will begin at 8 p.m. We will also show recent Community Newstapes made in June S4WOD NOISIAITL nav | iNVDYOW—SWVAGV OL under construction in McLean utilizing polyeurethane foam and solar heating. Interviews with owner and architect Roy Mason. Also: alternative technologies being developed in Adams-Morgan by Community Technology and Institute for Local Self-Reliance, who will co-sponsor the discussion f nea: Every Thursday, 8 p.m.at WCVC storefront _ 2414 18th St, NW WCVC video tapelog: recent additions In the past several months WCVC has produced a large number of excellent tapes that relate specifically to the Adams-Morgan community where our storefront is located. IT’S OUR PARK: Recounts the history of Community Park West, a privately owned tract of land that citizens converted into a park over the last 10 years. The tape is being used to support the purchase of the land by the city, and establishing the tract as a permanent recreational facility. Produced by Grady Watts, the tape was edited from hours of footage, into a clear 7 minute piece that should be helpful to other groups concerned with the need for inner city parkland. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE FREE SCHOOL: A % hour edited tape on the Harvard St. School in Washington, D.C., a free school for children from the ages 5-9. This tape was done by Vicki Costello. COLUMBIA ROAD CHILDREN’S CENTER: A visual account of the early morning experience of the young child after the parent leaves them at the day care center. The tape was done for use in a workshop among day care teachers, and was also shown to the children. The Columbia Road Children’s Center is a bi-lingual day care facility in Washington D.C. This 20-minute tape was done by Gerardine Wurzburg. Newstapes—A listing of our first tapes on community news (see article on NEWS). Produced by Gerardine Wurzburg. All tapes are 10 minutes. ARBOR DAY: Mayor Walter Washington comes to the H. D. Cooke School for the Arbor Day Tree planting ceremony, and is confronted by local citizens about a case of police brutality. NOTICIAS PARA LA COMMUNIDAD LATINA: This tape introduces people to several important institutions in the Spanish speaking community: The Latin Youth Center, AYUDA—free legal service, and places to learn English. In Spanish. RENT CONTROL: In Spanish and English. Explains the rent-freeze imposed by the D.C. City Council, and the issues involved in the Rent Control Bill that will be voted on soon. The tape tells about what tenants in Adams-Morgan are doing to fight the condominium conversion flood, and the struggle to get landlords to maintain buildings according to city codes. Included in the tape are interviews with a member of the newly formed Adams-Morgan Tenants Union, the lawyer defending several tenants in landlord/tenant court, and the head of D.C. PIRG, discussing the citywide Housing Coalition. SELF-HELP: A 2 hour tape produced with women from the Washington Free Clinic, and women from the WCVC: Vicki Costello and Gerry Wurzburg. Shows a patient coming in to be fitted for a diaphragm. Para-medic dis cusses with the patient her decision to have a ; : ene diaphragm, a medical history is taken, and a fitting is done. A very clear and helpful tape for women self-help groups, and clinics concerned with patient education. WOMEN AND SPIRITUALITY: A tape by Vicki Costello done at a conference on the subject, at George Washington University. A .total of one hour of programming: 1) % hour edited remarks by Dr. Rosemary Reuther, feminist theologian, on sexist ideology within Christianity; 2) % hour discussion on spiritual/feminist convictions, among four women: a Catholic nun, 2 ex-wives of ministers, and a college student. SOLAR FOAM HOME: A tape that Nick DeMartino did with his students from Antioch College, at a home in a Virginia suburb designed by Roy Mason and built of polyurethane foam. It will be heated with solar collectors. Interviews with owner and architect.