[Advisors] Fwd: CACTUS: New Study Calls for More Coherent Approach to Community Media in Digital Environment

[Marita Moll]

I think public access internet sites are (should be considered as) part 
of community media.  Not sure if this is addressed in this report.  If 
anybody has time to look at it and suggest a way for us to comment, 
please do.  I have considered attending this conference which will be 
held in Ottawa in late Nov.

Marita
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	CACTUS: New Study Calls for More Coherent Approach to 
Community Media in Digital Environment
Date: 	Wed, 28 Oct 2015 04:48:54 -0400
From: 	Cathy Edwards <cathy at timescape.ca>
To: 	Cathy Edwards <cathy at timescape.ca>



October 28, 2015 (Ottawa) ? A coalition of media stakeholders published 
a draft report yesterday that calls for further research as well as a 
more coherent approach to community media in the digital envirionment.  
The group, calling itself the Community Media Policy Working, is made up 
of community media practitioners and academics and is supported by 
high-profile figures like former Chair of the Standing Committee on 
Canadian Heritage, Clifford Lincoln, and former Chair of the Working 
group on Broadcasting Policy, Florian Sauvageau.  The report entitled 
Community Media in the Digital Era:  Relic or Renewal, is based on an 
online survey and focus groups that were conducted in August and 
September of this year and which was distributed throughout community 
media networks.
The study unearthed a pattern of closures of community media 
organizations over the last decade and observes, ?The current policy 
approach by the CRTC to community media is a legacy of analogue, mass 
media broadcasting technologies and practices that isolated community 
media according to their platform of distribution . . . A more 
comprehensive inquiry into digital technologies and the community media 
sector that takes into account technological convergence is long 
overdue.?   When asked about the continued relevance of community media 
in a time when most Canadians have access to the Internet and social 
media, an overwhelming 96% of respondents to the survey said that formal 
policies and funding are still necessary to support community media 
organizations.  Reasons cited included the need for local institutions 
with community-elected boards of directors that can provide editorial 
guidance and training in digital media, are aware of community needs, 
and are answerable to communities for the coverage and consistent local 
reflection they offer.
Interestingly, the report also concludes that current policy goals for 
community media as articulated by the Canadian Radio-Television and 
Telecommunications Commission (the CRTC) are in alignment with what the 
sector wants.  If there are gaps, it's in the implementation ?The 
challenge for the sector and for agencies whose policies impact 
community media is ... not only to update policy goals in the digital 
environment, but to review the methods for achieving existing goals."
Catherine Edwards, the spokesperson for the Canadian Association of 
Community Television Users and Stations, one of the stakeholders 
participating in the Working Group commented, ?The report is timely, as 
the CRTC begins its review of local and community TV.?   The Working 
Group hopes to generate specific policy proposals over the next month, 
in the lead-up to the Community Media Convergence, a conference to be 
held at Carleton University in Ottawa on Nov. 22-24, at which 
stakeholders and researchers interested in community media will have the 
opportunity to debate and finalize the proposals.
The report is posted on the web site of the conference at 
www.ComMediaConverge.ca/survey <http://www.ComMediaConverge.ca/survey>.  
The site also hosts a forum where the public can offer comments and 
feedback.
CACTUS contact:   (819) 456-2237.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
<https://www.avast.com/antivirus> 	

This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus 
<https://www.avast.com/antivirus> protection is active.



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://victoria.tc.ca/pipermail/advisors/attachments/20151028/854554b7/attachment.html>