Council TV – threat or community asset?

WHILE local newspapers are worrying over competition from the proliferation of council-run newspapers, there comes another threatening local authority initiative – internet TV – so writes Roy Greenslade in his Guardian blog today.

Threatening? Well – yes and no.

It all depends what they’re going to do with it, really.

The story, in a nutshell, is that Carmarthenshire County Council – backed by the Welsh Assembly – is planning, as a 12-month pilot project, to launch an internet-based channel called, unsurprisingly, “Carmarthen TV”.

Cue the usual concerns about propaganda and PR. Now don’t get me wrong, I share concerns about council rags. They’re often  a dangerously blinkered and lopsided view of a local authority’s work. ‘Look how good we are!’ they often scream.

But I’d like to think Carmarthen Council could actually take what’s good about their rags (they’re very useful for highlighting local groups and services) and empower some of the users of said groups by giving them access to their new TV service.

Imagine a group of youngsters producing their own video with the support of the council about their much-loved youth centre/project?

It’d get local people featured in a way they probably never have been before – what a great opportunity for both council and project!

Newspaper companies couldn’t complain about that – it’s hardly a duplication of what they do, is it? (although I could argue that they SHOULD be doing a lot more grass roots hyperlocal stuff).

What I also find hard to stomach are the protests from the local paper that it encroaches on their expertise and that the council’s service will dare ‘to offer both an English and Welsh language service, which the paper cannot possibly do’. 

Well I’m sorry folks, your company’s dug yourself into that hole through  a lack of investment and a lack of vision, it’ll have to dig you out! This is the problem with mainstream media – lack of investment and vision by (usually) profit-driven boardrooms with both eyes on shareholders.

If this is what your readers/website visitors want, then there’s no use bleating about someone else coming in and doing it!

Rant rant, mutter mutter, I know, I’m sorry!!

So I’ll thrown down the gauntlet to both sides – to the the mainstream media, you need to reflect your community and your readership a lot better, and that means genuine hyperlocal coverage.

To the council – can you come up with something which isn’t just a  PR triumph and that actually holds genuine community and social value?

As my old grandma often said: You can live in hope, even if you die in vain…