[Peace-discuss] Favorable DN!/UPTV coverage in the DI

[Randall Cotton]

I had a long chat with this reporter about a week and a half ago. Wasn't
sure anything would come of it, but then I saw this...

R

The Daily Illini - News
Issue: 12/6/04

Controversial public programming instigates new rules in city council
By Nate Sandstrom

A vote on proposed policy changes for Urbana's Public Television (UPTV)
station is scheduled to go before the Urbana City Council tonight. The
changes are expected to be approved after months of disagreement and
frustration between the some city residents and Mayor Tod Satterthwaite.

If the new changes pass, they will allow UPTV to air weekly programs
produced outside of the community. Also, the sponsor of a show would be
required to pay for any additional equipment needed to produce a program.

Urbana's public access policies have not been updated since 1997, said Chris
Foster, the city's public television coordinator. Attention was brought to
the outdated rules in part because Randall Cotton, a public-television
member, requested to air Democracy Now, an independent news program,
Satterthwaite said.

Cotton, who already broadcasts Democracy Now for local radio station WEFT,
discovered the program was being aired on public access channels around the
country and thought it would be a good fit for Urbana, he said.

Cotton said he found the necessary satellite equipment to broadcast the show
and met with Foster and Bill Dejarnette, Urbana's information services
manager, in May to discuss adding the program to UPTV. Cotton offered to pay
for the equipment himself and said Foster and Dejarnette responded with
enthusiasm to the idea. Cotton said he left the meeting expecting the show
would air.

Since that meeting, Cotton said he has been dismayed with the amount of time
it has taken to get the program on the air. He attributed the delay to
resistance from Satterthwaite, whose office oversees the station. Cotton
said Foster and Dejarnette became evasive about when the show would begin
airing soon after their meeting.

At their July 12 meeting, the UPTV Commission formally considered Cotton's
request to add the program to the station. Cotton provided the commission
with a petition that had more than 500 signatures in support of the program.
Since then, Cotton said he has collected more than 1,200 signatures.

During the July 12 meeting, Foster said several policies needed to be
changed before the program could be added. Satterthwaite also expressed
concern about allowing a public-access member to request to add a program to
UPTV, instead suggesting the commission perform a study of available
programming and decide which, if any, should be added to the station's
schedule.

While five of the six commissioners supported adding the program, the
commission agreed to delay a ruling until the study was completed.

But Cotton said research on available programming is unnecessary because
hundreds of residents have requested Democracy Now for UPTV. He said the
content of a show should not be considered when allotting public-access
time. Cotton argues the mayor's objection is based on content, which is a
form of government censorship.

But Satterthwaite said his concerns were based on policy issues, not the
show's content.

"The request for the use of the satellite was a request that hadn't been
envisioned when the old policies were put in place," he said.

Satterthwaite said that if the council votes to pass the new policies,
everything will be in place for Democracy Now to begin airing.

"I think we did a good job of updating the rules and making them up to
today's standards," Foster said.

Cotton called Satterthwaite's recent support of the show political
pandering, saying the mayor changed positions once it was clear the
community supported the show.

"Now he's trying to claim credit for it," Cotton said. "He is basically
backing down and running for cover."