November 8, 2022
This year, for the civic election Tri-Cities Community TV (TCCTV) produced a series, of half-hour interviews with 40 candidates running for council positions in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Port Moody. For years voter participation in local elections has been low ( less than 30 % ); the interview series aimed to raise the profile of local elections and thus encourage increased voter turnout.
All videos were made available on TCCTV's Youtube Channel (tricitiestv) and the Local Media Portal funded by Heritage Canada.
Studio time for this special election programming cost TCCTV over $4,000. a sum which would have been impossible for TCCTV to cover were it not for funding it receives from Heritage Canada's Local Journalism Initiative which made it possible for them to hire part-time videographer/ journalist Hussain Allaity.
In the past six months, Mr. Allaity has helped to conduct production workshops for volunteers from around the Tri-Cities as well as assist Tri-Cities residents in expressing their interests and concerns in programs.
For the past four months, Mr. Allaity produced, a program titled "We've got Issues" hosted by TCCTV Nancy Fruness and Brad Nickason.
During the run-up to the election, Mr. Allaity shifted gears and began to work with Mrs. Furness and Mr. Nickason, as well as Tri-Cities Magazine hosts Cathy Cena and Patrick McCarthy, to conduct interviews with Tri-Cities electoral candidates.
Did the countless hours and dedicated work warrant the effort? The answer to this question is a resounding yes. Most candidate interviews posted to YouTube and Facebook received between 300 - 500 views.
One can assume that, with so few residents actually voting, the content TCCTV produced must have had an impact. At least those who bothered to vote had the opportunity to educate themselves about the platforms put forward by the various candidates.
Of course, when only 30% of the population participates in an election it speaks to a larger issue; voter and community engagement.
People can not be forced to participate in the democratic process or even take an interest in their own community.
In days past, it seemed that people were more willing, or had the time to dedicate toward improving the communites in which they lived, and were more inclined to take part in community events. The current trend suggests people are less willing to participate in the community.
This raises the question of whether community television itself is worth the effort. However, even back in its heyday community television was never able to attract more than 7% of the viewing audience, and that was back in a 30-channel universe and before Netflix. Today, with a virtually unlimited number of cable providers, satellite services, and online options vying for our attention, community television faces stiff competition.
Nonetheless, TCCTV survived the closure of the Shaw run community channel in 2017 and the COVID-19 epidemic. Due to the funding from TELUS Optik TV and Heritage Canada's Local Journalism Initiative fund, TCCTV has the opportunity to open the first neighbourhood television production office in the Tri-Cities in over 30 years.
Are there still enough people out there who take an interest in what is happening in our community to make community television viable? Please stay tuned to find out what the next weeks and months will bring.
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About LJI
LJI Impact is the section of commediaportal.ca where the journalists and their organizations participating in CACTUS' Local Journalism Initiative can share their greatest successes.
Through the written stories, photos and videos you see in the LJI Impact section, you'll be able to read first hand accounts about how the presence of a community journalist is making a difference in communities across Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative and the Community Media Portal.
The Community Media Portal is a gateway to the audio-visual media created by community media centres across Canada. These include traditional community TV and radio stations, as well as online and new media production centres.
Community media are not-for-profit production hubs owned and operated by the communities they serve, established both to provide local content and reflection for their communities, as well as media training and access for ordinary citizens to the latest tools of media production, whether traditional TV and radio, social and online media, virtual reality, augmented reality or video games.
The Community Media Portal has been funded by the Local Journalism Initiative (the LJI) of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) in association with the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec (the Fédération). Under the LJI, over 100 journalists have been placed in underserved communities and asked to produce civic content that underpins Canadian democratic life.
