As we wrap up the semester, we draw conclusions based on our hands-on research…
Public Access Television ultimately provides a platform for alternative - and self-proclaimed “more accurate” - black representation. By creating a medium that allows for honest free speech, both MTN and SPNN have provided a voice for communities that are not always granted one.
by Sophie Schwadron and Eliza Summerlin
Steve Brunsberg What is your job at SPNN? [Steve Brunsberg] I am the manager of SPNN’s Community Productions Department. I manage the activities of our department; David Zierott, Carol Critchley and I produce television programs for SPNN channel 19. We cover community events, politics, arts, and partner with a variety of local agencies and organizations to produce about 15 hours of programming per month, plus a number of multi-media projects, videos, web videos and dvd projects. Please walk me through a normal day for you at SPNN. [Steve Brunsberg] – One of the things I like about my job is that often, every day is different. Some days I have meetings with staff or with partners, some days I have a production that I am working on, in the studio or on location, or I might be editing a project. A typical day would involve some work on several projects. Today I am mailing out some drafts edits of a project for review, I have a contractor in doing some editing and captioning, I am troubleshooting a problem with captions that I ran into, and I am getting three new programs ready to schedule. I then need to send scheduled air dates and times to the project partner. Because it is Monday, I met with my boss to review projects and plan the week. On Wednesdays I meet with my department to talk about upcoming projects, requests and so forth, review projects in process, and make decisions about upcoming programs and projects. What are your shows about? [Steve Brunsberg] – They are almost all about Saint Paul in some fashion, or of general interest to Saint Paul and the Metro Area. Some are events coverage – neighborhood parades or festivals, high school sports, concerts, speaker events. Some are on specific topics, as developed in partnership with another entity. An example would be programs about various legal and rights topics produced with the MN Dept. of Human Rights, or information about home heating assistance produced in partnership with Ramsey County. You can peruse our program schedule and past programs on our website – www.spnn.org. there is a search tool on our schedule window – look for channel 19 programs. What is the process of getting a show produced? [Steve Brunsberg] we meet weekly to decide whether to act on various opportunities and requests that come up – we evaluate these opportunities based on mission-fit, our contractual obligations, our staff capacity, relevance, and relationship-building. Sometimes we take on a video project for a Saint Paul organization that will not be televised, if it can subsidize coverage of other programming. What are some major issues addressed on SPNN programming? [Steve Brunsberg] — local issues definitely. We have given a lot of coverage to the Central Corridor Light Rail Project for instance, and cover many local candidate and issue forums in election years. We have done quite a lot of programming also with and/or for various immigrant populations – to address their health care needs, to address changes in immigration law, and to help these communities get general information about services and issues in the twin cities. These programs are often done in multiple languages. We have done a lot of programming with the African-American communities in the twin cities as well, most recently addressing the education achievement gap, disparities in access to health care, business and economic development, and so on. A project we did last year highlighted the need for grassroots community development in struggling neighborhoods. We have a weekly talk show called Saint Paul Forum that we use to cover a variety of issues and promote upcoming events or causes. How did you get involved? [Steve Brunsberg] – I had studied media, art and mass communications, and took a part time job with this organization many years back, while finishing my B.A. I found that I really liked working for a small organization and that there was an opportunity to be really engaged in trying to build the organization and it’s relationships and abilities from year to year. I like the technical aspects of the work, which changes a lot, but relationship building is a big part of what we do. What is appealing about being involved in SPNN? [Steve Brunsberg] As I mentioned above, I like the mix, and I like knowing that I can work hard each day and see the results, and know that it is for a good cause. I share the value that SPNN has, that communication – though the media – is a vital part of building communities. What is the role of SPNN in the community? [Steve Brunsberg] - Our missions says that we aim to be `reflective and responsive’ – and we try to do that – reflecting the whole of the city, the many faces of the community, and responding to issues, requests, and what we think are public needs for information. How are the shows you produce different from the shows you watch on primetime networks? [Steve Brunsberg] – often they are longer, and not as entertaining I would say. An hour and a half of a panel discussion about a particular issue is probably boring to some, but it is similar to what you might see on public tv, or C-Span. Most of what you see on network tv is just for entertainment, and in my mind it is often pretty senseless, though there is a lot of great programming out there too. Network TV usually has a much much bigger budget than our programs, reflected in higher production quality – it’s a lot fancier. It is also interrupted by commercials. You’ll see a wide variety of things on SPNN, some fancy, some not. But most of it will be focused on providing useful information or earnest discussion on issues or topics relevant to local viewers. In particular how is the representation of blackness different on these shows versus the ones you watch on primetime? [Steve Brunsberg] - That’s a good question. We recently produced a show that touched on that, in the context of media stereotypes. On prime-time tv you will sometimes see programs that do a good job of including black people as actors or participants, and representing them in a socially conscious way that rises above the steretypes. Other times, black people are still sort of absent from the media – or they exist in their own shows on their own cable networks, which is good and bad – some of those shows fall back on tired clichés about black people and the idea of having `white sitcoms’ and then `black sitcoms’ seems very odd to me. I think about role models a lot, when I see the distressing statistics about young black men and boys – there is definitely a crisis for this group in education and a huge proportion of this group ending up in the criminal justice system. I worry that mass media emphasizes only two main roles for African American men – sports heroes or entertainment heroes – and those are fields where very, very few can ultimately find success or meaningful employment – there are not that many job openings, so to speak. I hope that on SPNN – through regular programming we have done with educator Kwame McDonald, with journalist Al McFarlane, and with others, that young people see a wider range of role models: father, teacher, journalist, coach, artist, businessman, etc. Do your shows have any intentional points of view or agendas? [Steve Brunsberg] – The only really intentional agenda we have is that giving people access to information about issues that affect their lives is a good thing. Saint Paul citizens see a lot of things on their local cable channels that fall under the umbrella of `community television’ – city council meetings, school board meetings, various issue forums, etc. We also have local arts and literary content. I guess the one thing we really would never have, as far as being produced by our staff, is prurient material that simply excites people with sex or violence. We don’t do commercial television and we don’t do slease or tease. That’s a value we have I guess. Do you feel your shows are subversive at all? [Steve Brunsberg] – I know what you mean by this, and I guess someone could kind of stretch to make that argument, but we really just think in terms of trying to be of service, in the same sort of vein as public libraries or public information outlets of other kinds. We exist as the non-profit entity that the city chooses to have provide this service, within the legal framework of their relationship with Comcast, the cable company that has the current `Franchise’ – the legal term – to operate in the city and provide cable tv. The Franchise Agreement is a legal framework that specifies that a certain number of channels, with some budget support, is set aside for local community and public access use. We think it is a normal and proper expectation and we try to honor it as well as we can. We are working to build our relationships with the many organizations and communities of the city and are working on technology improvements this winter that should make our programming better and more accessible. It’s an on-going process. What in your opinion is your role in challenging the norms of the media as producer of SPNN programming? [Steve Brunsberg] – well, we think about that as we look at various requests, issues, and opportunities for programs. We often cover things that are just too local for the mainstream media, or cover them in much more depth. The local broadcast news might devote a few minutes to a community event or issue; we are likely to show you the whole thing or maybe edit an hour-long program of the material. I think that mass media has moved away from offering much real journalism or thoughtful, in-depth issues coverage – often what you get is talking heads, pundits, sound-bites, or sensationalism. We are not interested in any of those things. Although we do not have a news program, and we are not journalists, we feel that we can provide programs that are more thoughtful and indepth on issues, and I think the programs you see on our channel, as well as the youth-produced programming on our education channel, show positive stories and positive role models.
Production Manager
Saint Paul Neighborhood Network
We interviewed youth producers at SPNN a week ago today about their experience working at a public access television network and how they used their own voices to raise issues in their communities. Right off the bat, the youth producers were honest about how the news paints an unfair representation of Black and Hispanic people in North Minneapolis and East St. Paul. Some of the girls testified that they had lived in those neighborhoods at some point and remembered that these were not explicitly dangerous places. This reminded me of the stereotyped “scary big city” that we read about in Macek’s book. These young filmmakers were already aware of the blatant stereotyping of neighborhoods of color as areas more dangerous and prone to violence simply based on white fears. For example, the students recounted a fight that broke out recently between Central High and Como High. They said the news covered the fight completely unfairly, trying to make all Central High students seem like culprits of crime and violence. “Central High is a good school, many kids get a descent education there.” These youth producers understood how the news media warps a story to appeal to certain audiences. “The T.V. is made for rich white people” one high school student producer exclaimed. Another student agreed, “I remember seeing a white criminal on T.V. once…a couple years ago.” This conversation helped me see the connection between the academic readings we do in class to real life problems going on to St. Paul youth of color. The students segued into a discussion of how and why they got involved in SPNN. Most found the program in elementary or junior high school. One girl jokingly admitted she thought she was going to a cosmetics class, but instead her friend enrolled her in this film class. Most of the students used their time at SPNN as an outlet for creative expression and a way to pick up unique skills. One student raised an interesting point about film’s ability to “edit” a story. She talked about watching movies with her parents and their constant critiquing of bad film editing. She described watching movies as a child with her parents. They constantly nagged when shots were edited poorly. For example, when a man who wore a scarf in one shot was no longer wearing a scarf in the next shot. She used the example of editing of films as a metaphor for the way news media edits stories to paint a bias picture. She compared mainstream television to action and horror films that use disconnected pieces of action, violence, and “interesting” clips chunked together to sell a story. Overall these students were outstanding intellectual critics of the news and mainstream media. Their ability to connect their own real life experiences to the ways media tends to be manipulated today. Our conversation with these youth producers made me realize how infrequently topics like race, homosexuality, stereotyping of neighborhoods, and other hot topics are given a fair and honest portrayal.
by Fiona Kohrman
What struck me about the youth we spent time with - and what continues to strike me about their work - is that they get it. We’ve spent this semester talking about race and television, discourse and counter discourse and cultural production behind and in front of The Veil. At first we hit some stumbling blocks with these kids: we weren’t speaking with the same vocabulary. But once the conversation got rolling, I realized we were all on the same page. They weren’t afraid to speak up about the dominant media and who it includes - more importantly, who it excludes. They were honest about issues affecting their lives and their commitment to being heard even if it means challenging people’s normal views. They get it — they just were saying it in ways we might brush off as less articulate, certainly less academic. But (at the risk of sounding cheesy) they are connecting with each other, and connecting with people on the street, and classmates and neighbors who see them on TV, and I’m convinced they are changing some minds.
Among SPNN’s youth opportunities is their summer Youth Intern Program (YIP). Ten St. Paul high school students (we met some of them) create short pieces on topics of their choice.
I just watched this summer’s finished product which featured three segments:
In terms of representation, the organization of these documentaries draws attention to difference. Questions like “when did you first notice you were different?” and asking strangers on the street if they have advice for teen moms might not be the most productive frames for the discussion of sexuality, and in fact might have the reverse effect of Othering. Yet the responses they get are profound, like when one subject interrupts himself to question whether or not someone can “look” gay.
The Whispers Amplified segment was artistically impressive, with interviews weaved together smoothly, until it transitions into a part about Hmong culture and conflict. It is a rough transition aesthetically (poetically) — but notably, it is not a rough transition in terms of subject (politically). Rather than this being the “multicultural add-on” that it would be in a mainstream report, this is just an extension of the voices we’ve heard. This isn’t bringing in the outsider for diversity points: most of the subjects we have heard from at this point have been of color/ ethnic minorities (based on visual markers at least).
In these ways, SPNN Youth Programming shows are being subversive without being intentional about it. These kids do not claim to have a revolutionary political agenda, but when given cameras, the raw version of TV they create - first and foremost, their diverse subjects and interviews - challenges mainstream representations in a way that is accessible to their peers and their communities.
by Sophie Schwadron
