"I'm here to make sure that this TV station is the best it can be for ourselves and for our children," said the Honorable Judge Marie O. Jackson-Thompson (retired)
Once again Medford's Channel 3 is in the news, and it is not the news that Comcast ratepayers have been waiting for. Now it is tawdry programming along with days and days of a "technical difficulties" sign and tons of Public Service Announcements. Judge Jackson-Thompson said "“I'm here to make sure that this TV station is the best it can be for ourselves and for our children."
The question for the Honorable Judge Jackson-Thompson is - are you still here? I see Judge Judy on my TV, but where oh where is Judge Jackson-Thompson?
If you are still here, your honor, is the station the best it can be for ourselves and for our children with the new controversy back in the news?
The issue is not the First Amendment and Free Speech because if five or six citizens or even one citizen is denied access tv in any way, shape or form; if "sponsorship" is not respected and sponsors are made to jump through hoops so a program won't air, then there is no First Amendment argument for insensitive material aired outside of the safe harbor.
That is a red herring thrown into the mix so the focus won't be on the facts: that something aired at an inappropriate time without regard for the children or senior citizens who don't want to stumble upon it at that hour is a TV station being a nuisance rather than being Access.
Juvenile talk best spoken in some dark alley, not thrown in the faces of residents who have no say in the matter, is one person's public access TV, certainly, but airing it at that hours begs the question: "Is that all you've got?" Have no other producers contacted you to air quality programming that goes beyond re-runs of public domain movies, imported shows brought in to fill in air time and old, old TV3 shows that have no relevance to Medford life today?
What professional stations in other cities and towns do is:
a)school their volunteers properly to alert the station if the material should be broadcast in the safe harbor - after 11 PM (10 PM in some municipalities...that's a judgment call)
b)be respectful of ALL members of the community and not air suggestive programming outside of the safe harbor. Even if station management wants to press the Free Speech issue (possibly to gain some notoriety), why slap the Comcast ratepayers in the face in the process?
These are valid questions that need to be addressed one by one. What we've experienced is not a conversation, it is the station throwing things off topic in an attempt to not answer the pertinent questions.
At one of the stations where I am a member the highly respected president had to step down because of term limits. One woman I interviewed yesterday said that term limits is a good thing even IF people are doing a great job because things don't become complacent. Fresh eyes come in.
New ideas bring in new excitement...and open the doors to new faces and new members.
Crop rotation helps farmers keep the soil rich and gives healthier produce to the consumer. All things being equal, we've had the same seeds planted into the same soil and you know what happens when you have produce that stays out in the sun too long.
On Tuesday night, April 13, 2010, Council President Bob Maiocco told the TV 3 president exactly what the TV3 president (and the station) was giving this city: "Verbal d....." (word censored) let's call it "verbal garbage" to be nice; and we thank the Council President for stating the obvious.
The time has certainly come for a change at the station paid for by the franchise fee attached to our Comcast bill.
Host
Visual Radio
TV3 Equipment Article on Boston.com
http://tinyurl.com/voiceattv3
"I'm here to make sure that this TV station is the best it can be for ourselves and for our children," said the Honorable Judge Marie O. Jackson-Thompson (retired)
IMPORTANT ARTICLE ON BOSTON.COM:
Boston.com/Medford
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/medford/2010/04/by_gail_e_waterhouse_globe.html?comments=all
"I'm here to make sure that this TV station is the best it can be for ourselves and for our children," said the Honorable Judge Marie O. Jackson-Thompson (retired)
Photo from Google of the Newspaper's masthead
