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New approach to community media

Thursday, 10 July 2008

A NEW TV station that is being launched next week is promising to bring a totally new approach to community media.
Barry Lennon, from Bayside, is the scheduler with Dublin Community TV (DCTV), which will make its debut on July 16.
Barry promises that the channel will be totally unique, as the first station will be entirely owned and controlled by the people of Dublin.
“We hope to bring empowerment, participation and diversity to Dublin communities by facilitating the creation of programmes by local groups,” Barry told Northside People.
“At the moment we have a couple of full time people working for the station and have had a test channel running on NTL channel 802 since last year.
“We are a non-profit organisation and all of our funding comes through grants; in fact we are the only TV station in Ireland that won’t run advertising.”
Barry is looking forward to the challenge of taking on a busy schedule.
“One of the programmes is titled ‘Give Me The Camera’,” he stated.
“This is where we show college material, along with up and coming filmmakers.
“Another programme, ‘Independent Media’, is where we show various types of video activism and Indymedia material that is produced both nationally and internationally.
“We have recently started broadcasting a block of programming for the deaf and hard of hearing community, some of which is purely signed with no subtitles.”
The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) will also run adult literacy and education programming daily.
“A lot of the material is funded by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) sound and vision fund,” added Barry.
“And I do some work as a producer for some of our programmes.
“We have been producing lots of content and filming different series covering aspects of life in Dublin, from working in immigrant communities to helping kids in Tallaght produce their own short film.
“The focus is always on community empowerment.”
The channel’s long-term vision is to have a number of local community centres producing content, alongside a central transmission centre.
DCTV have already worked with Northside-based Near TV whose seven part series, ‘Northside Focus’, will be showcasing groups and their activities locally.
Near TV productions was set up in 2005 to work alongside DCTV to produce quality television, focusing on the Northside.
Their first series aims to show the positive aspects of life and counter the negative attention certain areas can get from the media.
Topics covered in the series include providing help for people with dementia in Raheny, racing Scalectrix cars in Artane, teaching children how to dance in Clontarf and a church centre that gives time, space and resources to keep children educated in Darndale.
DCTV sees its main aims as providing practical skill sharing among marginalised groups, encouraging participation of Dubliners in development and governance, connecting dispersed communities and encouraging non-mainstream views and ideas.
Ciaran Moore, manager of Dublin Community Television, explained the structure of their unique organisation.
“We can show programmes that nobody else would think of making,” said Mr Moore.
“In some ways, the structure of DCTV means we have more freedom than any other broadcaster with no advertisers to answer to.
“At the same time, we have the membership of the station constantly involved, making suggestions and trying new things.”
Mr Moore said that over the next few months, the priority would be to expand their membership.
“Our aim will be to make more communities and activists aware of the potential of community television and to look at ways to facilitate these people in making their own programmes,” he added.
“Our focus is on finding new and innovative ways to make television relevant again.”
DCTV will be launching on July 16 at 1pm on channel 802 on the NTL digital network.
Minister for Communications, Eamon Ryan, will attend the launch.

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