It’s Not About Ugly Betty: The DTV Transition and Why It Matters
On
May 3, 1963 the North was stunned as it saw broadcast images of
Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor,turning fire
hoses, dogs, cattle prods, and billy clubs on peaceful black protesters
that had organized a campaign targeting the local business community.
The response was immediate and profound. The public outcry forced
President Kennedy to send a negotiator to the city. By May 10 the
campaign was ended, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had
won, and television was catapulted into the national arena as a tool
for social change.
Over the next decade,
images of violence from the Civil Rights movement and from the Vietnam
War entered U.S. homes on the evening news. For the first time in U.S.
history, people far removed from the realities of the South and urban
black communities, people that could not find Vietnam on a map, found
themselves staring at images of violence, death, destruction,
segregation and apartheid. And the nation was moved. A national consciousness, begun by community organizers working in the streets and fields, was broadened and deepened by the family television set.
The
right to information is a fundamental human right. More than 80% of
American households still receive the majority of their news about the
issues that impact them through their local television broadcasts.
Anything that threatens easy and bountiful access to timely and
accurate news and information has very real impacts on the lives of
American people. The Digital Television transition, ill conceived and
corporate focused, is poised to strip millions of Americans of their
ability to receive the information they need to make decisions about
their lives.
Although Congress passed
legislation changing the digital television transition date from
February 17th to June 12th, 491 stations are choosing to switch early.
Combined with those stations that have already made the transition,
there will be more than 700 television stations broadcasting in digital
after February 17th. And yet, at least 21 million households are either
completely unready or will have significant problems when the switch
happens. Indeed, already, the DTV Assistance Centers created by the
Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) in partnership with the
Leadership Council on Civil Rights, have received hundreds of phone
calls from families that are experiencing major difficulties, and some,
after having followed the esoteric instructions for connecting the DTV
converter boxes, are finding that they are still left with black
screens despite their best effort and the promises of a smooth
transition.
Fundamentally, the digital
transition was ill conceived. From its inception it was focused on
corporate media giants. Scarce resources were allocated for the
transition, and poor outreach was done to ensure that those most
impacted by the transition--people of color, low income communities,
people with disabilities, and the elderly--were prepared for the
switch. The federal coupon program ran out of funds more than two
months before the switch. National retailers, looking to
profit from the underfunded federally mandated switch, refused to carry
the $40 converter boxes, creating an undue economic burden during a
time of economic crisis. And local community organizations, already
cash strapped and overworked, were left to pick up the pieces and
develop solutions to problems created by Congress.
And,
unfortunately, the public discussions about the switch have either been
complaints with few solutions or have dismissed the switch as
unimportant in the context of the current state of the U.S.A. From the
left and the right, people have exclaimed that “TV is not a right!” And
they are absolutely correct. TV is not a right. This transition is not
about ensuring that folks get their Ugly Betty fix. This
is about the fundamental human right to information and the
responsibility of the federal government to ensure that right is
protected for the least as well as the privileged. And this right is
directly tied to economic and racial justice.
When
a transition occurs or a decision is made, and those impacted or left
behind are people of color and working class people, it is clear that
there are race and class implications to the decision. As we move
forward with rebuilding our economy, those that have ready access to
the most current information will be those that succeed in getting
newly created jobs and finding new opportunities to support their
families. When millions of low income people and people of color are
locked out of the information system, they, too, are locked out of
economic opportunities. As we continue with massive corporate
consolidation, radio stations run remotely, and disappearing
newspapers, television will continue to maintain its hegemonic place as
the common green.
But it is not too late to close the gaps in this transition. There are solutions. MAG-Net
is launching a national Socially Just and Responsible Transition
campaign. The campaign is targeting electronics retailers with the aim
of having the major national chains in multiple metropolitan and rural
communities commit to providing a $40 converter box with analog pass
through capability and closed captioning. Each retailer will receive a
certification that they have taken the Socially Just and Responsible
Pledge and will receive a designation indicting such.
Congress
has included funds in the economic stimulus package geared at making
sure that the coupon program is sufficiently funded. In addition,
Congress must also provide significant funds to support the grassroots
organizations across the country that are providing direct assistance
to their communities to ensure that the 16.5% of Latinos that are
currently unready in Phoenix and the 13% of the households in
Albuquerque are prepared for June 12th.
Further,
Congress should work with the FCC to create impact guidelines for
future major shifts in communications policy. President Obama is
committed to building a broad band infrastructure, the digital switch
is opening analog spaces for public consumption, a battle is being
waged over free speech rights on the internet with regards to content,
“net neutrality,” and as new media and communications systems are
developed new communications policies will be developed. The FCC and
Congress should create guidelines focused on the racial and economic
justice issues of major transitions. Questions should be asked, in
advance, that will ensure that low income communities, people of color,
immigrants, elders, and people with disabilities are not left
scrambling to catch up. And resources should be allocated to ensure
that government and community partnerships are able to make sure that
America and not just corporate America is ready for these changes.
We
now have the opportunity to rectify one of George Bush’s many mistakes.
The work is happening on the ground, in San Antonio, Oakland, Seattle,
Philadelphia, New York, Minneapolis, Kentucky, and elsewhere. Community
organizations are stepping up to and doing work that they can ill
afford to do. As we make our break with the corporate values of the
Bush administration and re-center the value of the people in the
national consciousness, we must act proactively, with vision, and use
this transition to lay the ground work for future communications policy
that works for the people instead of including the people as an
afterthought. The air waves are a public trust. And the public should
be able to trust that they will have their full use by June 12, 2009.
