Haberstroh: TV3 is “Closed Shop”
TV3, the Public Access station in Medford has been audited, and the results aren’t pretty. For years the management of TV3 has tried to sweep the fiscal health, community outreach, and membership problems under the rug. The vibrancy that is Public Access across the country is a closed shop in Medford.
Actually a “closed shop†would mean the management of TV3 have the decency to put a “closed†sign on the shop. In fact TV3 gives shopkeepers across America a bad name. Shopkeepers keep their books well enough to find receipts for simple purchases. Shopkeepers follow acceptable accountants standards. Shopkeepers keep an inventory of what property or equipment they own. TV3 management does none of this, and they are playing with your money. Nearly 100,000 dollars a year goes to Public Access in Medford.
The TV3 management’s agenda is clear – to run Public Access anyway they see fit, and they don’t give hoot of what the members, city councilors, the public at large or the Mayor says. But many citizens of Medford know how Public Access is run in other towns and we are not fooled.
Jaws dropped and an audible wow could be heard when, testifying six months ago at a public hearing at Medford City Hall, the Malden Public Access Executive Director mentioned he had 200 members! The gasps and shock of the seventy five people who were at the hearing to express their collective dismay at how poorly the station was being run were surprised that a Public Access station could have that many members. Many at the hearing spoke of the constant bad management, abuse of members, and how volatile the situation the station has become. The people at the hearing, and many more, who feared reprisal, have been waiting six months for a report from the judge that we were told would take a month!
In my opinion Medford has never had a true Public Access station. The Mayor should hire a consultant to build a new board from people that understand access. It is not enough that you have particular skill that the board needs to be a board member. The litmus test should be – do understand Public Access.
Public Access has long history that was borne from the responsibility to serve all of the community. Public Access puts media in the hands of the disenfranchised and consumers of media to create their own media, and it’s constantly seeking those people out. You miss the point and the boat, if your only thought is – well that’s why we have YouTube. Anyone can point a camera – that’s not Public Access. And anyone who works professionally in Public Access and community media understands this simple point.
Public Access is about media literacy and education and that should be fully vested and incorporated into the mission of every Public Access Station. Public Access gives a voice to every corner of the community and is active and vigilant in shining a light into those corners.
This ridiculous situation has gone on way to long. That the Mayor can let this situation run on so long is really out of character, it is time for the Mayor to pull the plug. By that I mean to rescind the contract that the city has with TV3. That’s right, start new. No elections with this board or this membership. The Mayor should hire an outside consultant to right the ship, re-write bylaws, re-write policies and procedures, and throw away the keys until this rat’s hole is fumigated.
Matthew Haberstroh, a former advisor to the TV3 board, has been a Medford resident for the last 12 years and was a former producer and staff person for Somerville Community Access Television, PBS/WGBH, History and Discovery Channel, and is currently a producer for Boston Productions.
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