[opendtv] Re: Blog: We've Only Just Begun
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Mark A. Aitken" <maitken@xxxxxxxxxx>, opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 07:43:57 -0400
At 1:36 PM -0400 5/9/11, Mark A. Aitken wrote:
Depends on a definition of "thriving"... ;-)
Were it not for local news as the first/primary "local" product of
many stations, it would be harder to compete as an industry and have
a social understanding of what "local broadcasting" even means. I
say harder because what local stations have (compared to most of our
'competitors') is "boots on the ground. People in the markets that
take the time for face time. Without local broadcasters, who would
be there to support the local blood-drive, the fund-raisers for the
needy, al of the local events that paint the complete picture of
what local broadcasting has that the 'other' wireless folks do not.
Just some things to think about...
More things to think about.
Mark did not directly address the question, as Sinclair stations are
typically affiliated with a broadcast network. Only a small
percentage of independent stations in the U.S. offer local news, and
to the best of my knowledge these stations are not "thriving."
There is no question that having boots on the ground is an important
factor when it comes to broadcaster claims about the importance of
"localism." It would be a stretch, however, to claim that without
those broadcasters local businesses and organizations would not have
access to the resources needed to reach the public. Clearly
broadcasters have competition in this area, and it is important to
distinguish between Radio and TV, as IMHO local radio has far greater
reach in their communities than local TV broadcasts.
But an even more important issue in this discussion is how technology
is affecting local communities, businesses and organizations. For
example, via the Internet, a local newspaper can deliver ANYTHING
that a local TV broadcaster can offer via the Internet. A local
organization can reach the public directly without needing to rely on
a middleman. And via social networks it is now easy and commonplace
to promote events and causes.
The other wireless folks may not be trying to make money creating
local content, but they are very much involved in enabling the
activities that are supplementing and replacing what broadcasters do
for their communities.
So if one wants to view this from the perspective of best use of a
scarce public resource, one could argue that broadcasters act more
like gatekeepers for their communities, picking and choosing what
gets coverage, while using spectrum for broadband allows anyone to
reach a vastly larger mobile enabled population, and any individual
to access - on demand - the kinds of information that were once the
province of broadcasters and newspapers.
A simple case in point. Swamp Head is growing very rapidly, and has
garnered considerable local attention. We have been the subject of
articles in the Gainesville Sun (NYTimes owned), The Alligator (U.F.
Newspaper), Gainesville Magazine, Our Town magazine (cover feature),
Southern Brew News, and blogs and websites too numerous to mention.
What's missing?
Local broadcasters.
We support numerous charitable events, most of which are promoted via
websites, e-mail and social networks.
And we have about 2300 friends on Facebook ;-)
Not to completely pull the rug out from under Mark, but there was a
time when every large city had at least two daily newspapers. No
doubt they were very proud of all the boots they "had" on the ground.
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
