Producing Access in Medford?

– Joe Viglione

There’s a DVD of a Medford Hockey game that has not aired on Channel 3, yet the City Council applauded the hockey players the same night they had this interaction with Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. Isn’t a hockey game by Medford’s sports’ team just as important as a TV show which gets controversy for the station? Too many people use the First Amendment to attract attention to a station – they push the boundaries, not for outreach, but just to stir things up. That isn’t Public Access, that’s sophomoric abuse of the Comcast ratepayer funds for the sport of those who took control of the station.

Many communities have term limits for access Board members ACROSS THE BOARD…Thorn wants to vote out City Councilors…shouldn’t the PUBLIC which PAYS FOR access TV have the same right? Mayor McGlynn, the Issuing Authority, said as much before he went up for re-election and won. Any Board of Directors of a public station refusing to let the ratepayers have a fair and free election is obviously concerned that they won’t be voted back in. (The Board of MCC claims to be a private corporation, by the way, though their claim is truly questionable).

Community Media – community programming – should be about the community. The potholes, the crosswalks, homeless animals. This TV station does a little ‘dabbling’, you might get a parade once every ten years, and the long-time Board of Directors will claim it is not their responsibility…so the public loses.

MCC has had its fun with Access TV for over 25 years. It is time to give some of the 55,000 people in Medford, some with far more experience in access TV (dozens of people), the opportunity to do something different. So many communities have benefited from term limits…even when there is a great regime installed, term limits still give the community fresh eyes and new ideas. Let’s be kind to the Board of TV3 Medford with the benefit of the doubt: Maybe they have the best interests at heart, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Medford needs a strong and vibrant board of access TV professionals and a veteran Access station manager with longer hours and more community programming.

Even the mention of all new faces on the Corporation Board makes the current Board of TV 3 bristle with anger…and that speaks volumes about how territorial they are. But when you really compare how the stations are run in neighboring towns, Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. is way down on the list as one of the weakest and one of the most controversial (and not in a good way) stations in Massachusetts. Too much controversy, too much complaining by the Board and by elected officials and by residents is not harmony. TV3 Medford doesn’t want harmony, it wants exclusion, not inclusion, and the Mayor has to listen to the chorus of voices too scared to go down to TV 3 Medford…too afraid to get a letter like the late Mary Fiorello got telling her why she really didn’t want to be a member. Frank Pilleri signed his name to it. That’s not access TV. That’s just selfish.

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