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Community TV Trust and The 3% Proposal |
 Oh Little Town, half hour film shot in Bethlehem
 Internet serving the arts
 Against the odds, there is local TV in Bethlehem
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PSP: The 3% Proposal Community TV Trust [CTVT] accepted the challenge from Ofcom and submitted a hypothetical tender in the autumn consultation exercise conducted around the issue of Public Service Broadcasting. "PSP: The 3% Proposal" celebrates the success of the 'Southwark.TV' model of open access community media and proposes to roll out sixty such projects across the UK. When one considers that for one hour of PSP television, you could run an entire Southwark.TV project for a year, the proposal demands attention. Having had its funding withdrawn in the summer, Southwark.TV continues to run, support and expand. At December 2004, two years on from the mapping phase which began the project, the Southwark.TV website now has fifty partners - which was the long term aim. The four overseas partners add challenging dimensions to the feel and perceived purpose of the project. For some, boundaries are crossed. For others, the local-global paradigm of the internet is expressed by this mixing of parochial and international. Whatever the stance one adopts, the working model of 'Southwark.TV' is set to be copied and employed elsewhere. CTVT is planning a project for the UK Somali population ... a bi-lingual website linking in with media training programmes and video production projects designed to serve the Somali community. This inverts the model of 'Southwark.TV' by working with just one culture across a wide geographical area (UK). In Cornwall, plans are evolving for CTVT to be part of a countywide initiative that would link media training and webpublishing with youth work and regeneration issues.How might one impact beneficially on life in Cornwall ? In Palestine CTVT recently had meetings with British Council, UNICEF and UNDP-PAPP to introduce plans for a West Bank project that will launch in Ramallah. All three agencies were clearly interested in the proposal to build a bi-lingual website, embrace multiple organisations and schools in West Bank towns, and thereby create a networking machine that celebrates contemporary arts and culture of the Palestinian people. And all of this for both the local people, for the Palestinian diaspora and the international community. We look forward very much to 2005 when in particular we aim to produce a series of one hour TV programmes under the title "SOUTHWARK HOUR" presenting a mix of local issues debated in front of camera and locally made films. The Community Channel is close to finalising transmission dates for this project at time of writing. Community media as a public service knows no bounds. If anyone reading this editorial feels inspired to serve one of our overseas projects, please write in. There are wonderful people in Myanmar and Palestine who would welcome you with open arms. Come to think of it, the same goes for Southwark and Cornwall. Take your pick. Warmest season's greetings, Chris Haydon Director Community TV Trust & Southwark.TV |