Policy
Statement 123
Guidelines
for Government Access Channel
Prepared
by: Susan Moran, Public Information Officer
Supersedes:
Adopted
by Council:
Effective:
Town
government programming shall be the sole responsibility of the Town of
The
programming policy shall be to provide town residents with direct, non-editorial
information concerning government deliberations, services, programs and
activities, and also to provide educational and public information materials
sponsored by the Town of
1.
To provide comprehensive
information about programs and services offered to
2.
To provide information
pertinent to
3.
To widen the dissemination of information on the activities of the
legislative and advisory bodies of the Town of
4.
To expand community awareness of local government and its
decision-making processes.
5.
To provide educational and public informational materials to town
residents through cable cast presentations.
6.
To provide technical assistance to Town departments in the
exercise of their functions and to assist in the training of Town employees.
7.
To improve emergency communications in the event of disaster or
widespread service disruption.
III.
CHANNEL DESIGNATION:
The
Government Access Channel shall operate on cable channel 11 of Time Warner
Cable’s
IV.
TYPES OF PROGRAMS:
A.
Live cablecast – Live coverage of selected meetings and events
will be provided. This will consist
of Town Council and advisory board meetings, live call-in shows and other
special programmed events.
B.
Taped-delayed cablecast – Taped meetings, shows and events
videotaped in advance for cablecast at a later time.
Note: Some events will be
cable cast live and will also be taped for later playback.
C.
Staff-originated programming – Programs produced by the Town
Manager’s Office to include programs for Town departments, issues related to
Town government or about groups/committees/boards, etc., that are affiliated
with Town government or which use public dollars.
These programs could be either live or taped-delayed cablecasts.
D.
Outside-originated programming - Material that is related to
municipal, county, state, or federal government that is produced by an outside
source that can be purchased, rented or borrowed for cablecast. Also, programs
disseminated through satellite down-link that are related to local, state, or
federal issues may be cablecast.
E.
Bulletin-board information – Character generated messages
related to Town activities, programs, services and events sponsored in whole or
in part by the Town of Cary or other governmental unit affecting Cary citizens.
This service will operate 24 hours a day when other programming is not
scheduled.
V.
ACCESS POLICY:
All
programming cablecast over Cary TV 11 must be government-related. Programs may
include meetings, activities, programs, services and events of Town departments
and services, or other government entities.
Final
approval of all requests will be made by the Assistant Town Manager who
administers the video program for the Town of
A
weekly program log will be kept to record all programming cablecast during that
week.
The
Government Access Channel is not to be utilized for announcements from the
general public. Access to the
channel shall be limited to Town, government, or quasi-government functions and
operations. Utilization of the channel for personal gain will not be permitted.
VI.
ACCESS PRIORITIES:
Following
is a list of general priorities that will apply to the Government Access
Channel. The priorities may be altered on a case-by-case basis by the Town
Manager’s Office.
A.
Programming of an emergency nature involving public safety or
health matters.
B.
Programming of or about meetings of policy-making bodies such as
the Town Council, etc.
C.
Programming of various departments and their services.
D.
Programming of county, state, federal government and/or Town
boards, commissions and authorities and/or agencies that use public dollars.
E.
Programming produced by outside sources that are relevant to local
government.
VII.
MANAGEMENT OF THE TOWN OF
Management
and programming of cable channel 11 is provided by the Town of
VIII.
POLITICAL PROGRAMMING:
No
political programming will be permitted on the Government Access Channel with
the exception of providing factual information on any ballot issue directly
affecting
Direct
access to the Government Access Channel for political programming by individual
candidates, or supporters of any candidate or issue, except as provided in the
preceding paragraphs, will not be provided.
Political
programming related to candidate forums or public forums on ballot issues may be
cablecast with a majority vote of the Town Council and only as follows:
1.
The forum must address
ballot issue directly affecting
2.
All candidates for a
particular office or sides of a particular issue must have an equal opportunity
to participate in the forum; and,
3.
The forum must be
conducted in a dignified, respectful, and business-like manner; and,
4.
No forum sponsor or its
agents or affiliates—including but not limited to political action
committees—may publicly endorse or have a stated position on any candidate or
slate of candidates during the election season, which for purposes of this
Section is deemed to run from the opening of candidate filing for an election to
the closing of the polls on election day. This
section does not prohibit issue advocacy groups from being considered as forum
sponsors.
The
Town reserves the right to reject, suspend, discontinue, or change the playback
schedule of any political program at any time without notice to the program’s
sponsor.
IX.
EDITING POLICY:
A.
Town meetings – Any Town meeting cablecast shall not be edited
nor subjected to editorial comment. Meetings coverage shall be from gavel to
gavel. Meetings may be videotaped in
their entirety for later re-cablecast.
B.
Department Programs – Any program videotaped by the Town of
C.
Bulletin Board –
Messages programmed into the bulletin board portion of channel 11 may be
submitted by appropriate user departments, agencies, etc.
Editing by the Town Manager’s staff to provide clarity and maximum
utilization of pages available may be required.
D.
The Town of
X.
ENDORSEMENT:
At
no time will cable channel 11 be utilized to endorse, market, or advertise an
issue, candidate, specific person, company or brand name of a product for
consumer use.
XI.
PROMOTIONS:
Promotional
announcements for Town-sponsored events, programs, and activities will be
permitted over channel 11. Promotional announcements for events, charities or
outside organizations in which the Town has no official interest or sponsorship
shall not be permitted.
XII.
USE OF TOWN-OWNED EQUIPMENT:
Town-owned
video equipment shall be restricted to authorized Town activities, and its use
shall be restricted to employees of the Town of
Utilization
of Town-owned media production facilities shall be limited to Town of
XIII.
RETENTION AND OWNERSHIP OF TAPES:
All
videotapes shall be the property of the Town of
One
VHS copy of all staff produced programs, meetings and events will be kept by the
Town for two years.
It
shall be a general policy not to retain original videotapes of staff produced
programs, meetings and events. At any time, tape originals may be reused and the
original material erased, at the discretion of the Town Manager’s Office.
Videotapes
shall not be considered an official record of any meeting and there shall be no
liability for inadvertent erasure or omissions.