3/13/94
The following is a write-up from Clifford Schaffer (co-author of the Hoover Resolution, for those of you who are new to the mailing list) on a series of videos about the Drug War which were made to be aired on local-access cable-television stations. These videos, the "Drug War News", are available at cost (about $7 including postage) from their producer, John Humphrey. Cliff includes instructions on how to go about getting these on the air, which is quite easy to do. If you're interested in this project, there are three ways in which you can get involved:
1) Order copies of the videos, and get them played on local-access cable stations in your area. You can contact John Humphrey at the telephone number or email address listed below. Please also send email to me ([email protected]) and let me know of your activities in this area - it will help me determine the effectiveness of this email project.
2) If you wish to team up with others in your area to split costs and/or legwork, send your name, address, telephone number, and email address if you have one to me ([email protected] or DRCNet, P.O. Box 381813, Cambridge, MA 02238-1813), and I will help you team up with others in your area if there are any.
3) Help make copies. John will eventually get copies to anyone who asks, but he's very busy making new videos for the series, and can't fill too many requests right away. You can probably do copying for free at your local cable station, after taking a three-hour or so course (info on this below). If you are willing to help in this phase of the production process, please contact me at the above listed email address or post office box, and I will put you on the help list.
Here's Cliff's write-up:
LOCAL ACCESS CABLE TELEVISION
By Federal law, cable TV companies are required to provide a local access
cable channel. Anyone who is interested may use this channel to show whatever
they may choose without charge. The only limitations on this are that the
content must not be obscene or otherwise offensive and it cannot be done
for commercial or fund-raising purposes. (Although it might be done to
attract people who might contribute later -- you just can't mention any
sort of fund-raising on the show.) There is also a limitation with respect
to the fact that there must be available time on the channel, but I have
not seen a local access cable channel yet which was even close to being
booked up. In the great majority of cases, the cable companies are almost
begging for someone to give them something to show on these channels.
As a further point of interest, the same Federal law for cable companies
requires them to provide formal studio production facilities FREE to anyone
in their community who wants them. Just call your local cable company and
ask. They will usually require you to attend a three-hour (or so) orientation,
which may have a nominal charge associated with it, but nothing big. After
that, you may use their professional facilities to film and produce your
own television shows, for FREE.
The process of airing a show, or a series of shows, is quite simple.
First, call your cable company and ask for the person who handles the local
access cable channel. Explain to them that you want to air a series of
shows on the channel and you would like to arrange a regular, weekly time
(preferably during evening prime time hours when more people will be watching)
for the show. In all probability, the person will have been looking for
stuff to air and will be glad you called. They will ask you the following
questions:
1) Is it a commercial or fund-raising show? (No, it is not)
2) Is the content appropriate for broadcast television? (Yes, its all clean
with no bad language or anything)
3) What format is it available in? (It is available in either three-quarter
inch tape cassettes or half-inch -- VHS -- cassettes. Most stations will
want the three-quarter inch tapes if they are available. VHS -- half-inch
--, however, is cheaper to reproduce and ship so it is better for you if
you can manage it.)
4) Are the shows recorded one per tape, with a minute of black lead-in
before the show? (Yes, they are prepared in the standard format requested
by most cable companies.)
5) How long are the shows? (They are standard television half-hour shows
-- really about 28.5 minutes each.)
You will want to know the number of subscribers the cable company has so
we can judge how many people are seeing the message, and whether there
is a regular time-slot available for a series during decent viewing hours.
Next, call John Humphrey, the producer of the Drug War News at (213) 662-3510
(or email to [email protected]),
and talk to him about getting copies of the tapes. I don't want to speak
for John but, in general, he will provide copies of the tapes for anyone
who is willing to pay the costs. The costs are (roughly) for three-quarter
inch tape, about $5.00 per tape, plus about $2.00 shipping. For a total
series of thirteen shows, that works out to around $91.00 (give or take).
For VHS tapes, the cost is less -- about $2.00 per tape, plus shipping.
John plans for an entire series of thirteen tapes and, so far, has probably
eight or ten.
Please remember that John is not a professional producer, he is just an
average citizen like you and me so he is doing all of the copying of tapes
himself in his own spare time. If there is a large enough demand he will,
of course, have to resort to a copying service which will raise the costs
a little. This is an all-volunteer effort. There are a lot of people out
there who are putting a lot of their own time and money in it just because
they believe in the cause. If we are going to win, we will need you to
volunteer and help out, too.
The shows currently include (among others):
Me explaining the reasons why we should consider a new drug policy.
Two shows where I explain how to argue the case for reform to others.
A show with an attorney about the laws on civil forfeiture.
A show which includes Hemp for Victory - the US Government film from 1942
encouraging farmers to grow marijuana because it was so vital to the war
effort. This one is a real eye-opener for the average citizen. Even the
most hard-core anti-druggees will watch this one intently.
A show with a Federal Judge regarding the injustices of mandatory minimums.
John also has some real interesting plans for other shows, including interviews
with people who were sentenced to mandatory minimums for really trivial
offenses.
These shows have been playing on local access in the LA area and we have
had some pretty good results. I have run into a few people who recognized
me from the shows, and John Humphrey has had a number of calls from people
who expressed interest in the show, and doing something on their own to
help out. They dont get the same ratings as 60 Minutes, but they are reaching
people -- some of whom might not be reached any other way. Local access
is a tool which we can all make use of at very low cost. Even if you cant
set up debates, or demonstrations, or other news events, you can still
get the word out to anyone with a television over local access.
All it takes from you is: A small financial commitment for the tapes About
one hour to arrange the time to tape The commitment to call your friends
and tell them about the show -- and to call their friends.
If you really want to be a rabble-rouser, try something like having little
flyers printed up which announce the time and channel of the show which
will include Hemp for Victory. It would not need to include much, just
the title in big letters, the date, time, and channel and some message
like Watch it! It is a fascinating film!. You could have four or five fliers
cut from a single piece of paper, and then put the fliers on car windshields,
post them around on bulletin boards, or whatever, to get the word out.
Do enough of it and you will even produce a little news event for your
local paper, which will further increase the number of viewers. This is
a great way to spread the word and I hope you will all seriously consider
this for your own community.
C. A. Schaffer
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