* Develop educational workshops, throughout the state on many topics. MassAccess has been educating the public and its members since 1997. Educational workshop topics include cable refranchising, copyright issues, community access startups, production workshops, and ask the lawyers sessions.
* Provide assistance to access centers and interested persons with start up questions, franchising issues, and general production and administrative questions.
* Produce a quarterly newsletter with articles about access television, new technology, and issues and problems that affect centers daily.
* Monitor legislation at the state level to make sure that access remains a viable and healthy entity in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
* Educate the general public and state legislators about who we are and what we do.
* Support each other by keeping the access community connected and informed.
The Massachusetts Chapter of the Alliance for Community Media, which later became MassAccess, was formed in 1990 by Rika Welsh, who at the time, was chairman of the Regional Board of the NFLCP (National Federation of Local Cable Programmers) which later became the Alliance for Community Media.
The purpose of forming the Mass Chapter was to provide grassroots support to small access centers in Massachusetts, and to network resources. The first Board Chair was Cal Branch, followed by Linda Fuller. In the fall of 1992, during Phil Tsouros's tenure as Chair, the Mass Chapter initiated local organizing and seminars such as "Meet the Deadline" and started a newsletter that promoted the shared interests of access centers across the state.
Carl Pride gave the Mass Chapter a more clearly defined sense of direction during his tenure as Chair. He inspired the creation of multiple workshops across the state as well as giving the Mass Chapter a legitimized presence under the NFLCP and at Regional/ National conventions. Carl created working relationships with people all over the state and developed a working board. The meetings were held regularly for the first time and communications improved.
The next chair, Deb Rogers established relationships with key figures in the Alliance, nationally and regionally. She spearheaded two successful, full-day conferences, one in Fitchburg in 1994 and the other in Greenfield in 1995. During this period, finances of the Chapter reached an all-time high due the success of the conferences and newsletter sales. Also during Debbie's tenure as Chair, the Mass. Chapter helped to organize the National Convention in Boston (Summer of 1995) and was recognized by the National Board as Chapter of the Year. For the 1995 Convention, Mass Access sold T-Shirts, arranged access center tours, and had a trade show booth that increased their visibility. These activities also increased financial stability.
For the next several years, the chapter sold T-shirts and tried to boost funding for scholarships to the National ACM conference and to underwrite the quarterly newsletter, Mass Talk.
In 1995, Chair Bob Miot extended the mission of the chapter and reintroduced the Meet and Greet idea of taking board meetings around the state. During his two year tenure, the chapter met all over, and increased its visibility. A 1996 march on the Statehouse underlined this visibility when the chapter organized a rally to fight proposed statewide franchising, proposed by cable providers. Overwhelming numbers of testimonies by advocates for access and municipalities bent on preserving their autonomy convinced legislators to defeat the article.
In 1997 under Chair Nancy Richard's leadership, the Mass Chapter became MassAccess. The system of holding workshops and meetings around the state continued and grew. And the board started to grow in numbers as well. MassAccess helped to shape the way in which the National Board and the Chapters interacted. Under the chairmanship of Paul Berg and Keith Thibault the level of professionalism of the group grew, and MassAccess's reputation as a model for grassroots advocacy grew with it.
In 2003, Mass Access became an affiliate of the Alliance for Community Media, promoting the long-established relationship to a new level.
Now, 21 years after Rika Welsh founded the Chapter, MassAccess was reorganized in 2011 as a separate 501c3 organization under Chair Bob Kelly as Massachusetts Community Media, Inc. otherwise still known as MasssAccess.
MassAccess continue to grow, adapt, and redefine itself. The changing landscape of technology and legislation in Massachusetts and around the country have a significant impact on our movement, and on our professions. We are move visible and more mature than we were ten years ago and it seems as though the work MassAccess does is even more important now than it was in the beginning.
The MassAccess Board of Directors is comprised of access center executive directors, general managers, and chief technical people and other MA members from across the Commonwealth.
Download a copy of MassAccess By-Laws HERE
The Board meets every six to eight weeks throughout the year, and all members of MassAccess are invited to attend any meeting - upcoming meeting dates are posted below.
Mailing Address:
MassAccess
23 Needham Street
Newton, MA 02461
To contact MassAccess about specific topics, go to Contact Us or you can contact any board member directly below > >
Upcoming Board Meetings
Fri., May 18, 2012 at 10 AM in Fall River
Sometime between July 30th and Aug. 3rd meet at ACM International Conference, Chicago, IL
Fri., Sept. 7, 2012 Retreat at Cape Cod Media Center
Fri., Oct. 19, 2012 Mini Conference -location TBD
Thurs., Nov. 1 - Sat., Nov. 3 -ACM Northeast Region Conference-Plymouth, MA
Fri., Dec. 7, 2012 at 10 AM in Amherst or Burlington
Bob Kelly, Chair
bobk@newtv.org
Newton Media Center
23 Needham Street
Newton Highlands MA 02461-0192
(617) 965-7200
Amy Palmerino, Vice-Chair
Conference Chair
amy@stonehamtv.org
Stoneham Community Television
53 Central St.
Stoneham, MA 02180
(781) 438-8340
Linda Sandhu, Secretary
lindasandhu@aol.com
Cape Cod Community Media Center
307 Whites Path
South Yarmouth, MA
(508) 394-2388
Terry Duenas, Public Policy Chair
MyMassTV Sub-Committee
tduenas@capemedia.org
Cape Cod Community Media Center
307 Whites Path
South Yarmouth, MA
(508) 394-2388
Jeff Hansell, Organizational Development Chair
MyMassTV Sub-Committee
jeff@belmontmedia.org
Belmont Media Center
9 Lexington Street
Belmont, MA 02478
617-484-2443
Shelly Kamanitz, Treasurer
shellyk@newtv.org
Newton Media Center
23 Needham Street
Newton Highlands MA 02461-0192
(617) 965-7200
Jim Lescault
director@amherstmedia.org
Amherst Media
246 College Street
Amherst, MA 01002
(413) 259-3300
Bill Nay, Info Services Chair
MyMassTV Sub-Committee
bnay@ci.shrewsbury.ma.us
Shrewsbury Media Connection
15 Parker Road
Shrewsbury, MA 01545
(508) 841-8650
Keith Thibault
Representative to the ACM-NE Region
kthibaul@bristol.mass.edu
Fall River Community Television
77 Elsbree St.
Fall River, MA 02720
(508) 678-2811 x2354
Description of Committees
Info Services: Newsletter, mailings, website, TV program announcements, all general communications with members and the general public.
MyMassTV Sub-Committee works to keep the statewide program sharing server up to date, keeps membership informed on server use, policies and all other issues regarding the server.
Public Policy: Monitors state legislation that affects community access and reports back to the board, membership and the general public about it.
Conferences: Organizes up to two day-long workshops per year designed to inform and educate its members and the general public.
Meet & Greet Sub-Committee arranges board meetings in locations around the state, usually by invitation of the host site, so that access board members can meet with new people and answer questions about access and the ACM.
Membership: Coordinates member services, organizes the mailing of renewal notices, oversees delivery of member services, maintains the membership database.
Scholarship Sub-Committee is formed when needed to award scholarships and disbanded after the task is completed.
Nominating Sub-Committee is formed when needed to nominate board members and officers and disbanded after the task is completed.
Organizational Development: Reviews by-laws when needed, coordinates board development and strategic planning project.
Access Startup Kit
..............................................................................................................
Mass Access has a large number of experienced members involved in operating access centers for many years. This collective wisdom was put together in the Access Startup Kit to assist newly formed access corporations to jump-start their centers. The Startup Kit is available to all members in the "Members Only" section of this site.
The startup kit contains:
* Information on what to purchase and where to purchase it
* How to administer your access center
* How to reach out and work with the community
* How to build/renovate your facility
* Sample forms, policies and procedures,
even sample job descriptions
Startup Kit Order Form
Excerpts from the Startup Kit:
PHILOSOPHIES...
PEG access TV is the modern-day soap box on which Americans - protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in exercising their freedom of expression – may exercise their right of free speech. Freedom of speech has been extensively defined by U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and any start-up access center is advised to be well-versed in these. Briefly, we know that freedom of speech does not protect the right to cry “Fire!” in a crowded theater – unless, of course, there is a fire! Likewise, the FCC and the Supreme Court have defined pornography and obscenity, and the distribution of such material is entirely prohibited (see www.fcc.gov). There is no free speech defense for the distribution of pornography except by private corporations to private individuals who solicit such material, and this right has been questioned in a number of internet site cases. Finally, while up on a soapbox, whether boxwood or electronic, no one is permitted to commit a violation of local, state or federal laws. Most often, this lawful restriction of speech refers to libel, slander, invasion of privacy, gambling schemes, consumer fraud, and copyrighted material misuse.
A community media center excels when it serves the role of facilitator of free expression by soliciting or facilitating all points of view, educating its participants about the responsibilities implicit in free speech, and providing its hardware and training resources to all, equally, without regard of any content or point of view.
EQUIPMENT...
Master control is the area where your station’s video and audio signals are routed to the cable company’s (or companies, if there are more than one in the community or district) head end. That signal is then sent out to the cable subscribers. The cable companies should provide the access center with the equipment it takes to get the signals to their head end. This equipment usually consists of signal modulators, fiber connections, etc. They (the cable operator) should also provide the center with equipment (usually demodulators) to send signals back to master control. These are necessary for the cable company to receive signals back to the playback area from remote live drops (such as city council/selectman’s chambers, schools, etc.) for recording or live cablecasting. You need to ensure that the cable operator provides the access center with a subscriber return feed, simply a regular cable line such as the one you receive in your home, so the master control operator can see how your signal is being fed to the cable subscribers (quality control).
Playback source equipment will usually consist of some format of tape, DVD, hard drive,and live sources, such as studio and remote feeds. What is chosen here should be consistent with the types of portable and editing equipment that is purchased. Generally, community sponsors submitting imported programming (programs produced somewhere other than you the local access center) will ask you what format you’d like their program on.
Cablecasting equipment to consider
• An audio/video switcher or router (chooses which piece(s) of equipment to play out).
• An automation system (for unattended playback of your programming).
• A community bulletin board system (a messaging system for displaying graphic pages).
• Monitors (for cuing of your playback devices).
• Televisions (usually one per each PEG channel, for monitoring of the subscriber signal).
• Waveform monitors.
• Vectorscopes.
• Time base corrector (TBC). A time base corrector or frame sync should be placed.
before each modulator and/or after each source.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS.....
The Board of Directors ideally may consist of a cross section of the community. Board members may be appointed by the Issuing Authority, the Cable Advisory Committee, elected from the Organization's membership or a combination of all of the above.
The Board of Directors generally develop organization by-laws, goals and objectives and with the Director, put together operational policies.
The Executive Director is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the access center.
At minimum, the Director should report to the Board at every Board Meeting. If they meet quarterly, the Board may require the Director to report monthly by mail or email. Or, the Board may prefer that the Director report only financial matters monthly, but hold the other reports until Board Meetings. Some Boards require all materials to go out ten days in advance of a meeting to allow Board Members time to read everything before the meeting. Other Boards only require a few days, or none at all. The Board sets the rules by formal vote for the Director to follow regarding reports.
PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION (First-Come, First Served)...
This standard, set when PEG Access television was in its infancy, was created to make the distribution of equipment and resources fair to everyone in the community. Essentially, the philosophy encourages everyone to use the facility on a first come – first serve basis. If you reserve specific equipment for a specific time and date, no one can come along later and requisition your equipment claiming that their need is greater or their project is more important. In addition, members of the access center or citizens of the community, depending on how the access center determines its membership, are treated equally by the staff, with no one group given preference over another.
This philosophy is still practiced in public access with a few caveats. One of these is that there are segments of the population, particularly those that are underserved minorities that, because of their situation, cannot compete with other groups within a community and get fair access. In this case, these groups may need a few extra concessions to get their message out to the community. Examples of this might be extra staff help at the beginning of their training, special appointment hours to serve members working two or three jobs, or perhaps special classes in their native language. In any case, no group within the community is more important than another. We just want to make sure everyone gets the same opportunity to use public access.
What are the benefits of membership to MassAccess?
Membership Rates 2011 (includes 6 people)
MassAccess
23 Needham Street
Newton, MA 02461
Questions? Contact Us
About Community Access Television
A Brief History of Community Access Television
Today there are as many stories about how community access television began, as there are community access TV stations in the United States.
There is a nearly apocryphal video program called "Everyone's Channel," a copy of which any member of MassAccess could provide on request. Part of the story involves the beginning of cable TV itself, and some Pennsylvania coal miners who couldn't watch the ballgame in their local bar because a hill, that was their mine shaft, stood in the way of over-the-air broadcast signals. In response to this and countless other communities beyond the reach of broadcast television, pioneering entrepreneurs built community antenna TV systems (CATV) where broadcast waves could not go. Instead, cables hooked up to antennae on high spots or tall buildings carried the broadcasts to TV's. These CATV entrepreneurs were the men and women who began what we call Cable TV today.
Quickly thereafter, two facts converged: CATV operators learned they could carry more channels - as many as twelve - than broadcasters were providing (6-8 in the 1950's and 1960's), and in communities where local CATV operators built the nascent cable systems, people thought "Can they cover our local issues like broadcast affiliates do in big cities?"
Add to this mix the academicians and philosophers of media and culture who came up in the 60's. Marshall McLuhan said "the medium is the message," talked of a "global village," and a man named George Stoney felt that the time was ripe for his film documentary students to do more than make personal statements. He wondered whether they could teach "ordinary people" to make their own TV programs.
Although he detests the term, George Stoney is the father of Public Access Television.
Born in 1916, George Stoney studied journalism at the University of North Carolina and at New York University. After working as a freelance journalist, an information officer for the Farm Security Administration, and a photo intelligence officer in World War II, he joined the Southern Educational Film Service as a writer and director in 1946. In 1950, he formed his own company, and by 1980 had made over 40 films on subjects ranging from birth control, insurance, and the mentally ill, to the nature of the Baha'i faith and the situation of indigenous people in Canada. An early advocate of video as a tool for social change, Stoney was the Executive Producer of the National Film Board of Canada's Challenge for Change/Societe Nouvelle from 1966-70. In 1972, Stoney co-founded the Alternate Media Center with Red Burns at New York University, which trained the first generation of public access producers/activists. In 1976, George was a founder of the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers, today known as the Alliance for Community Media. In Massachusetts, Rika Welsh was one of these early "Johnny Appleseeds" of public access, and continues fighting for community media today.
Mr. Stoney was instrumental in getting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mandate that cable operators modestly fund public access for equipment, training, and airtime. "That was in 1972, and at that time the people on the FCC weren't beholden to the broadcast industry," he says. "Now the broadcasters can own the cablecasters."
In Manhattan, George was instrumental in the founding of the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, one of greater New York's many access centers. And even today, if you attend an ACM International Conference, you can easily meet and talk with George Stoney, now 89 years old, and he can tell you all of what we don't have room for here!
The all-encompassing image that fits community access TV everywhere is that our Bill of Rights protects individual citizens' rights to free speech, and that in the electronic media present, the ancient soapbox is now provided by public access TV and Internet videoblogging.
The history of public access contains a key element: public-private partnerships. Unlike telephone, gas and electric, cable television is not essential, not a "lifeline" service. Therefore, the U.S. Congress decided that the for-profit cable operators should be able to provide benefits to the local communities in which they string their cables. These benefits have taken shape as community media centers. This "give back" by cable operators has become mutually beneficial. Communities get a vital media communications resource, and cable operators get exclusive, locally targeted programs which help sell their product in exchange for their access to the community's public rights of way.
Today, public, educational and governmental access television stations across America, and around the world, annually produce more hours of original, non-repeated programming than ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox Network combined,
The Alliance for Community Media
The Alliance for Community Media is committed to assuring everyone's access to electronic media. The Alliance advances this goal through public education, a progressive legislative and regulatory agenda, coalition building and grassroots organizing.
A nonprofit, national membership organization founded in 1976, the Alliance represents over 1,000 Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access organizations and community media centers throughout the country. It also represents the interests of millions of people who, through their local religious, community and charitable groups, use PEG access to communicate with their memberships and the community as a whole.
Local community groups, public schools, religious institutions, colleges and universities, government officials, the disabled, and second language communities as well as national institutions such as NASA, the US Department of Education, and the US Army, to name a few, all use PEG facilities and equipment to advance their causes through cable television and the Internet.
The Alliance for Community Media provides critical support services for these community media centers and for the primarily volunteer staff that keep these electronic outposts of democracy in operation. The Alliance's activities in providing technical assistance, grassroots organizing and opportunities to share experience promote the broader goals of supporting our nation's communities and families and promoting effective communication through community use of media.
The Alliance's public policy program is dedicated to promoting legislation and regulation which supports PEG access. To achieve this, the Alliance works with Congress, state legislatures, the Federal Communications Commission, state public utilities commissions, and coalition partners and brings suits when necessary in courts around the country.
How Can They Show That on TV?
Community Access Television is for everyone. It is programmed by residents who choose to place programming. Most of the programming you see on these access channels is actually produced by members of the community the channel serves -- either private individuals, community-based organizations, or the town government.
Community access television is an electronic forum for free expression by the residents of town or towns the center serves. Sometimes, viewers say "There ought to be a law about what I saw on the station last night!" There IS a law: the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and its guarantee that "Congress shall pass no law abridging the freedom of speech..." Basically, any resident of the town the center serves is free to say or do anything he or she wants on their own program, provided that they can assure us that their program does nor contain any illegal content.
We have agreed to maintain a public forum for the free expression of ideas -- even ideas you or I might not agree with! -- as long as we prohibit all of the following types of content in programs:
1. Commercials or advertising
2. Libel or slander
3. Obscenity and pornography
4. Any violation of copyrights, publicity rights, or invasion of privacy
5. Any violation of FCC regulations
6. any violation of any local, state, or federal law.
If you see something on an access channel which does not fall into one of the above categories, but which upsets you anyway, you have the right to become a member and learn how to produce your own program or message on the channel, to counteract the programming that upset you. As Supreme Court Justice Brandeis said: "...avert the evil by the process of education... the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."
If you'd like to know how the FCC defines obscenity, and the very different type of content called "indecency," you may read their Consumer Fact Sheet at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html.
Community Access Television FAQs
What is local access television?
Federal law provides that states or local communities may require a license or negotiate a non-exclusive cable franchise with cable TV operators wishing to market their services locally. As part of the provisions of such a license or franchise agreement, cities and towns may require the cable operator to provide what the Telecommunications Act of 1997 calls “public, educational, or government (PEG) access” channels on the local channel lineup, for unrestricted use by citizens, school districts and municipalities. In Massachusetts, many such existing agreements also require that certain equipment and funding be given to the towns. The laws provide and court cases have upheld that such channels provide equal access to all potential users, and that they are public electronic forums for free expression.
Is there only one kind of access station in Massachusetts?
No. There are almost as many different types of access centers as there are cities and towns, since they are set up to meet individual community needs. Potential users are best advised to contact their city or town hall and ask for information on who to contact about the local cable access center, studio or station.
How do access centers operate?
There are three basic operating structures possible for access centers:
* Operated by an independent non-profit corporation
* Operated by a municipality or by a school
* Operated by a cable company
Also, under any one of these operating structures, the access center may be only a “public access” facility where individual citizens or groups have equal access and produce their own TV programs. It may be only an “education TV facility,” usually affiliated or located in a school primarily used for educational purposes. It may be only a “municipal” or “government” access facility usually housed in a town building and operated for municipal communications purposes by the city or town. Or, finally, an access center may be a multi-purposed facility. Many access centers in the Commonwealth are responsible for all types of access, “P” “E” and “G.” Again, local government officials are the best first call for such information. The Massachusetts Cable TV Division can also help at (617) 305-3580 or http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaagencylanding&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Government&L...
So, what do access centers do? Do they produce TV shows for all these users?
No. This is perhaps the most misunderstood role of PEG access operations. Access centers are TV studios, but unlike broadcast stations, they are not usually staffed with TV producers, camera operators, and technicians. An access center is more like a combination school and equipment library where individuals and organizations are trained how to use TV production equipment, how to make TV shows, and then are provided the free use of equipment and cable channel time to produce and air their shows.
But the cable company runs my town access center, and they produce shows! How come?
Many access centers, regardless of how they are operated, have certain requirements under the agreements with the local community to produce certain programs, like Annual Town Meeting, or even coverage of a local parade. But these requirements are specific to the community, and they do not change the fact that citizens may make their own programs. They also do not mean that the access center is like an independent TV production company, available to carry out every request for programming. Many access centers are an interesting mix of all these things, but all access centers have a common goal of facilitating the production of TV programs - of, by and for the local community.
So, why don’t all access centers just produce all the programs?
Most independent or municipal access centers are funded by a small cable license fee (usually from 1 to 5% of the local cable company’s revenues) which pays for facility upkeep, utilities, and a small part-time or full-time staff – usually 1 to 3 people, although some urban centers have several more. And it is these employees’ job to manage the public resources, train people in TV production skills, and facilitate the telecast of programs on the local channels. It is neither possible nor appropriate for them to be in the TV production business, for access TV is “Do It Yourself” TV.
If access centers don’t produce shows, how can elected officials and government employees get important programs on the air?
Community volunteers who either want to hone their skills in TV Production, or have an interest in the program topic or content do much of the programming produced at access centers. So, parents of athletes often produce high school football games. The League of Women Voters may cover a town meeting. A town department may find an interested worker in the department to prepare information for a department program or service that needs publicizing. Many access centers recruit college and high school interns to help produce programs. Several state and local elected officials already produce shows in their districts using such volunteers, as well as getting help from their communications or public information staffers, and supporters. These and other community-based resources are the primary means of getting programs or events videotaped in local access centers. The local access center staff can provide any elected official or municipal employee with the information and contacts necessary to begin production of a local show.
Isn’t it hard to produce a TV show?
TV production is not a complicated as you might think, and the skills necessary to produce simple but effect TV shows are well within the grasp of most people in the community. Access centers across the state have people ages 9 to 90, from every educational or career background doing hands-on TV production.