Did Rose Mary Woods ever work for the Greece Schools?
This is not a recent story, and I’m not exactly sure how it fits into the continuing saga of westside public access cable TV… but it’s worth thinking about.
About a year ago, the Greece School Board edited the tape of its monthly meeting before it aired on public access cable TV. One of the board members felt the purpose was to censor his criticism of the superintendent.
A 12-minute gap in the videotape of the most recent Greece school board meeting has some critics crying censorship.
Board member Joseph Moscato said he’s concerned that district officials lopped off the end of the Nov. 13 meeting to prevent comments of his that criticized the board and Superintendent Steve Achramovitch over a union contract dispute from being aired on cable access television.
The district says they edited the tape for a good reason. A board member urged the public to vote “yes” on an upcoming bond issue, and board members are not supposed to encourage the public to vote one way or another.
… the district consulted with attorneys who recommended that that part of the tape be deleted before broadcast on cable access television.
Proper? Improper? You decide. Personally, I think public meetings should be aired in their entirety. If a board member says something inappropriate, let that elected official live with their mistake. If public access TV is controlled more closely by the towns, will this sort of “editing” pccur more frequently?
Related posts:
You can read our initial post about this here
http://rochesterturning.com/2007/12/04/an-honest-mistake-in-greece/
We have seen several instances in which the school district has tried to censor or restrict video. In addition to the example cited the school district moved the residents forum to a separate night and didn’t ask access to film it.GOP TV will be more of the same. Cable 12 has had opponents of the school district on the channel. If you are an opponent of the town or the school district it will be difficult to get time on the channel
I’m afraid that SBR hits the nail on the head here.There will be extensive censorship of political views. Town leaders think there should be no politics on the public access channel. This is of course strictly against the law. There will definitely be a clampdown on those who have political views at odds with our local leaders. It may not be so obvious they may hide it behind other terms like broadcast quality or not enough time. Of course the constant stream of programs telling you that your government is your “special friend” is not political.
Note that one of the applicants for operating the channel Ann Pearlman was paid about $6000 acording to town records toamke a video called Ridge Road: Open for Business (made in conjunction with the chamber of commerce) I think the title says it all They are very keen in having this video on in heavy rotation.This is I think a clear example of the kind of programming the town wants on the channel and how they intend to spend your money. And this is the kind of compliant attitude they want from any access operator.
The whole issue out here seems to be about politics. Who gets to the right to be seen and who gets the right to speak.
Instead of Chatting with Rocco GOP TV will feature Chatty Kathy. I knew Caterino’s dad Sal. He told me even back then (Sal died a few years ago) Firkins was always looking for ways to screen calls on John Auberger’s call in show and stack them around topics they wanted to discuss. Sal said no. He didn’t want the politicians to decide what questions would get on the air.
Welcome to the Brave New World of GOP TV.