Mountain Times: Volume 49, number 10: March 4-10, 2020

12 • OPINION
The Mountain Times • March 4-10, 2020
OP-ED
Public Access Television is crucial for transparency
Historically, PEG TV was funded
mainly through fees paid by the cable
industry, as part of the deal...
By Jim Condos
For decades, Vermont’s Community Media Centers have
provided our residents direct access to each other, our government
and our community events. Now, more than ever,
we need a strong network of public, educational and government
(“PEG TV”) stations and their Community Media
Centers to provide these important services that keep our
civic engagement strong.
I have been a longtime
advocate for government
transparency. The public’s
right to know is critical to a
democracy where we can
audit our local, state, and
federal government agencies, and ultimately hold them
accountable. My days on the South Burlington City Council
taught me first-hand the important role PEG TV plays in
keeping our residents informed and engaged.
Historically, PEG TV was funded mainly through fees
paid by the cable industry, as part of the deal that we all
made with cable providers to use our common infrastructure.
In recent months, the Federal Communications
Commission has changed some of their rules so that cable
providers can choose to contribute less to community media
centers. At the same time, “cord cutting” means that less
overall funding will be available from this source over time.
Last year, the State of Vermont rightly recognized the
importance of our Community Media Centers by creating
a summer study committee to look at how we can ensure
their vitality if their primary funding source is reduced. The
study committee found that
the answer to that question
is complex because of federal
preemption, lawsuits,
and overlapping legal jurisdictions.
This year, the committee
has put forward a bill to allow the state to hire experts who
understand the complexity of the issues and make some
recommendations about how to support and preserve our
PEG TV stations for Vermonters.
I support this bill (S.318/H.744) and the accompanying
funding for the expert study it allows. Our community
media centers provide access to our local and state government
processes, allow us to learn from each other, and
allow families across Vermont to enjoy access to a variety of
community events that they might not be able to attend in
person.
As a long-time proponent of the public’s right to know,
I appreciate the transparency and accessibility that PEG
TV provides. Not everyone can go to every meeting or fully
understand the context of board discussions through their
minutes.
Our community media centers provide a valuable
window into state and local government. I remember when
PEG TV began back in the early 1990s, and a member of
our city council was opposed because our citizens might
actually know what we were doing at our meetings. That is
exactly the point!
In addition to making valuable information accessible
for Vermonters, they provide 200 jobs across the state. We
need to ensure that the 25 Community Media Centers in
Vermont are well supported and strong for the long term.
Their services are crucial so that we can all be more civically
engaged.
I hope the Vermont Legislature will support the PEG TV
bill and provide this needed small investment, to ensure we
can move forward with the study and maintain this valuable
public service.
Jim Condos is the Vermont secretary of state.
By Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah
By Bob Englehart
>
Candidates: Big donations don’t always support bad actors.
from page 10
beholden to the donors?
Do you think that little of
his character and honor
and patriotism that he’d
immediately sell his nation
up the Volga based on
how many digits appear
to the left of the period on
the donor check?
No, I don’t think that
you would think that of
Sanders, nor of Warren.
So, then, why do you
think that of a decorated
war-veteran Rhodes
Scholar who has never
shown a single tendency
to do this?
Could it, possibly, be
that this angle is the only
thing that the Warren and
Sanders campaigns can
think of to throw shade at
Buttigieg?
I am not saying that
you need to immediately
switch allegiance to Buttigieg
— or others now
that he’s out of the race.
Rather, I am saying that
you should not demonize
a candidate based on
a false damnation by his
competition.
Also, Sanders and
Warren had better start
courting these fellow
American corporations
and billionaires if they
want to be able to beat the
incumbent in November.
The GOP team is spending
hand over fist, plastering
their message on
every airwave and screen
nation- and worldwide.
They have a ton of donations,
and they are using
them.
Let me ask you this
final thought: if they use
their superior political
funding to drown out the
Democratic candidates’
message and claim another
disastrous four years of
looting and plundering
our nation, will it really
matter how big or how
small the losing candidates’
donations were?
Matt Williams
New Haven
Climate change: A threat to all life, an existential problem.
>
from page 10
settlement to electric
vehicle expansion are
not enough. These funds
will run out and our reliance
on fossil fuels will
continue. Signing onto
the Transportation and
Climate Initiative, or TCI,
is a necessary first step;
it is shameful you were
involved in its development
and are now withdrawing
support because
of increased consumer
costs. Furthermore, Senator
Pollina’s Green New
Deal proposal for Vermont
demonstrates the
state’s carbon footprint
can be reduced without
hurting the economy
for low-income folks.
Climate change action
creates new economic
opportunities and is
largely supported locally,
nationally, and globally.
You have no excuse.
Your administrative
priorities are unconvincing.
Your policies
inadequately protect the
environment, vulnerable
people, and future
generations. Climate
change threatens all life,
human and nonhuman.
This is a global issue; you
cannot promise wellbeing
on an unhealthy
planet. Vermont should
be a leader in pioneering
solutions; this is how to
grow and strengthen the
workforce. Youth will not
want to remain in a state
that is not actively fighting
for their future.
Governor Scott, you
have so much opportunity
for creative collaboration
and solutions.
Make climate action a
source of pride and attraction,
not disappointment.
You asked protesters
to give you the chance
to speak at your State of
the State address. We are
listening, are you?
Jaden Hill,
Middlebury