Media Justice and DTV: More Related Than You Think

The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act authorized the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to establish the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program, which allows for two $40 coupons per household to offset the cost the purchasing the necessary converter box. However, making the transition to digital television isn’t nearly as simple or affordable as it has most often been presented.

The organizations in the Media Action Grassroots Network knew from Nielsen and other reports that low-income families, immigrants, elders, communities of color, and people with disabilities in our communities would be the hardest hit by the DTV transition—with many unable to afford converter boxes costing even $10 or $20 more than the $40 coupon provided by the U.S. government.

MAG-Net members were alarmed that our communities would have to pay to continue receiving basic information, news, and culture. In response, we conducted the Socially Responsible DTV Transition Campaign to address the racial and economic inequities and resulting disparities in the DTV transition, maintain and expand media access for people of color and poor people in the regions most affected, and introduce the framework of socially responsible media regulation into the public debate.

The DTV transition has further exposed the growing divisions between the haves and the have-nots in U.S. society, and highlighted the reasons why dismantling the digital divide is key to all social justice struggles. Yet out of the most challenging situations often comes the most creative thinking. Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights “[guarantees] everyone the right to freedom of opinion and expression including the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Many media justice organizations recognize that the DTV transition represents a major shift in the way news, information, and culture is transmitted and received. Our move away from past forms of communication such as broadcast and print to new digital models of communication raises profound questions about digital inclusion. Whether DTV transition or broadband build-out, the digital expansion presents challenges to access and regulation that have the potential to either increase the preexisting disenfranchisement of marginalized groups or provide access and equity to all communities.

At stake in the DTV transition is the ability of the nation’s most vulnerable populations to maintain access to affordable and key source of news and information: over-the-air television. How we handle the DTV transition is a good indication of how we will handle other digital inclusion issues. The broadband build-out—an initiative to bring high-speed Internet to all areas of U.S., which could lead to true community access or tightened control by the big corporate players—is right around the corner. These struggles are about basic access to information services. They are about ensuring that every individual and every community is able to access low-cost, convenient technology. And they are about skills. Whether using the Internet to apply for a $40 coupon, or hooking up a new converter box, we have to ensure that individuals have the ability to interact with relevant hardware and make it work for them. The DTV transition is one way we can change the the public conversation and public policy to ensure digital justice for all.

Read more about the digital televition transition and MAG-Net’s Socially Responsible DTV Transition Campaign

• “Digital Justice for All: End of Analog TV Exposes Digital Divide,” Extra! magazine

• The full report on MAG-Net’s Socially Responsible DTV Transition Campaign

• Photos from the DTV Day of Action in Minneapolis, the New Mexico Media Literacy Project’s DTV work, the DTV Day of Action in San Antonio, and the Seattle Socially Responsible DTV Transition Campaign.

Tags: Digital Inclusion, Featured, Media Justice

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 6:49 pm and is filed under Action Center. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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