|
 After the motion was made, the floor was opened for discussion
prior to the vote. At that time, Tom O’Donohue expressed concern
about what would become of the Public Access portion of an agreement
with Comcast. Lincoln College will take control of Channel 5 and the
classification of the channel will change from P-E-G (Public,
Education, Government) to E-G only.
As part of the process of giving Channel 5 over to the college,
Comcast was asking for a new franchise agreement with the city. In
that agreement, the opportunity for an additional channel for public
access had been removed. O’Donohue said he didn’t feel the city
should approve the agreement between Lincoln College and Comcast
until Comcast agreed to put the public access provision back in the
franchise agreement.
This week, at the Tuesday night workshop session, John Malone of
Lincoln College was present to discuss the situation. Malone leads
the Broadcasting, Speech, and Mass Communication programs at the
college and is the general manager of the college radio station WLNX.
Malone will also be over the cable station once it is up and
running.
Malone took the speaker’s chair saying he wanted to define what the
college plans to do with Channel 5.
 Malone said the college has worked for several years to reach an
agreement with Comcast. He noted that throughout its history,
“Channel 5 has reflected many different philosophies in its
operational paradigm.” He explained the channel was used as an
'on-demand' source for all public uses at the beginning of its
existence. In its final years, it was operated as a for-profit
channel owned and operated by Tim and Celeste Rogers, who controlled
much of the programming.
He said with the end of the relationship between the Rogers’ and
Comcast; Comcast became more interested in the college taking over
the channel.
Malone said the college was eager to move forward with the education
and government channel. He said the upside of the pending agreement
was that the college would gain access to, and control of, the
existing playback equipment owned by Comcast.
Malone said that the current public demand for public access does
not warrant an additional channel for the Lincoln community, but
that Lincoln College intends to maintain many of the current public
access offerings. He stated specifically that church services would
continue to be broadcast as they are now, and the show produced by
Lincoln resident Pat O’Neill could continue as well. In addition, he
said Lincoln College would seek out new programming that would be
considered public access television.
Malone also stated the reason the college was going for an E-G
classification instead of a P-E-G was so they could protect the
dollars they have invested into this project and retain ownership
and control of the equipment. He explained that the public
designation means that anyone who takes one short course can come in
and operate the equipment. This is a concern for college because
they want the equipment handled and cared for properly.
He said the E-G classification does not suggest that the college
would deny any local access.
At the end of his comments, O’Donohue asked if the college would put
this all in writing. He said he would support an agreement that said
the college would allow public access without censorship.
[to top of second column] |
The word “censorship” appeared to be a stumbling block.
Malone said that public access programming can take many forms.
He noted. “There have been incidents in communities, such as
East Peoria where I live, where you’ve had the emergence of hate
groups demanding time. Once you open that door, that door is
open. Is that something we are comfortable with?”
O’Donohue responded, “It is public access. I don’t think you can
take the good and not take the bad -- if you believe in freedom
of speech. If you believe the purpose of public access is for
local people to have a voice in the then emerging cable system,
then you believe in public access. I’m not saying that I support
any of those things, and I’m not saying they are right. But I
don’t think you get to pick and choose, because where do you
draw the line? Do you and I have the same values enough to say
‘this is right’ and ‘this is appropriate,’ and, who makes that
decision?”
As the discussions continued, Michelle Bauer commented that she
didn’t feel the problem with public access should affect the
vote on Lincoln College’s agreement with Comcast. She felt that
the city should go ahead and vote next week.
O’Donohue disagreed saying that if the city approves the
agreement with LC and Comcast, then the city will lose the
Public Access television because there is no P (public)
classification left for the community.
Melody Anderson, acting as Mayor Pro Tem in the absence of Mayor
Keith Snyder said she had to agree with O’Donohue. Bauer said
she thought the city was given a vote merely as a courtesy, and
Comcast and LC could move forward without the city’s consent.
O’Donohue said that in the meetings with Lincoln College and
Comcast, the lawyers involved had requested that the city sign
off on the agreement.
O’Donohue said he understood LC’s position in wanting to secure
its equipment. He repeated his earlier statement that if the
college would offer public access without censorship then he
would not have a problem with the agreement.
 After a few more minutes of discussion, Malone said he thought
this could be worked out to the satisfaction of the city. It was
also announced that there is a meeting scheduled next week
between Comcast, Lincoln College and the city of Lincoln’s new
city administrator Clay Johnson.
Johnson said the meeting was on his agenda, but would not take
place before next Monday night’s voting session. There is a
possibility that the motion will remain tabled next week pending
further discussions between the three entities involved in the
agreement.
[Nila Smith] |
