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		UPSTREAM ONLINE: The Year In Review (2003-2004)

In This Issue:

Part III - Jan-Feb-Mar '04

•	NEWSROOM: A Model for Collaboration

•	THE SAN FRANCISCANS: Episode Five - Next-Generation Philanthropy

•	SAN FRANCISCO MEDIA ADVOCATES: Building the Smart City for the 21st Century

•	GLOBAL EXCHANGE: Public Access meets the world at 1720 Market Street

•	CABLE CHANNEL 29: Audience List Serve on Yahoo Groups

•	NATIONAL MEDIA DEMOCRACY WEEK: Mayor Newsom Proclamation

NEWSROOM: A Model for Collaboration


On January 7th, a group of Access SF staff members met with an energetic group of public access producers interested in producing a local news program that could serve as a dynamic alternative to mainstream coverage that dominates the majority of local media outlets. Flash forward seven months and this collaborative endeavor has resulted in a dozen, hour-long episodes of diverse community reportage that is some of the most exciting programming currently available on local public access. At Access SF, this effort to bridge the talents and resources of staff and members constitutes one of the most successful producing collaborations of its kind to date. It is a model that the station hopes to develop in the future, especially to support programming like locally produced news coverage that might otherwise go under-developed on public access. - NEWSROOM has the following regular timeslots on Cable Channel 29: Tuesdays 2pm, Wednesdays 9am, Thursdays 2pm - Many thanks to Rod Laughridge for serving as the coordinating producer of NEWSROOM; to the collective team of producers and volunteers that crew this highly involved endeavor; and to the producers who consistently submit such high quality segments. Access SF is also grateful to Noelle Hanrahan for her extended loan of a teleprompter to the station as part of Newsroom. This equipment addition has proven to be an exciting upgrade, both for the newsroom format and for the station in general. Currently, this professional level resource is made available to producers who are certified in the main studio as part of the Access SF staff facilitation role.

SAN FRANCISCO MEDIA ADVOCATES: Building the Smart City for the 21st Century

Since Fall 2002, Access SF staff members Zane Blaney and Marc Smolowitz have served on the core planning team of a growing community coalition at work on fair cable franchise issues and related local telecommunications policy. In late 2003, the coalition formally named itself SAN FRANCISCO MEDIA ADVOCATES and began organizing to engage new stakeholders with the cable franchise renewal, currently pending with Comcast Corporation. To support this goal, Access SF provided planning, outreach and logistic support for (2) community training sessions hosted by SF Media Advocates in January 2004. Designed to educate nonprofit organization representatives, the first event was held on Jan. 12th at the station, with a repeat event held on Jan. 28th at the OMI Beacon Center. Both sessions were very well attended.

For its part, Access SF has enhanced the overall outreach capacity for SF Media Advocates through the use of our in-house mailing lists, which reflect key aspects of the San Francisco nonprofit community, including: community development, housing, disability, seniors, health care, neighborhood advocacy and small business. In Feb. and March '04, the station also co-hosted follow up meetings, which has resulted in (60) plus nonprofit organizations signing on with their support to SF Media Advocates and signaled the formation of (3) specialized working groups that cover the areas of outreach, press/communications strategy, and policy. During the Spring '04, staff member Marc Smolowitz created the web space for SF Media Advocates with help of Steve Wright from Salesforce.com Foundation - now online at www.MediaSF.org.

To learn more about the cable franchise renewal, go to the SF Media Advocates web site to review resources & join our list serve.

CABLE CHANNEL 29: Audience List Serve on Yahoo Groups

For the New Year, the station launched a dedicated announce list serve for Cable Channel 29 viewers. Hosted on Yahoo Groups, the Channel 29 audience list serve will provide regular updates on schedule changes, fast breaking e-alerts on special presentations and in-house productions, and other programming related news of interest to local television audiences. We also plan to use this list to help our viewers better understand our policies, procedures and the broader terrain of public access television operations. Participants will be encouraged to post their comments and feedback on programs presented on Channel 29. Such dialogue is be moderated by Access SF staff, and when appropriate forwarded on to relevant producers or responded to by the station. JOIN US as we build a lively and interactive online community for viewers of public access.

Join the Cable Channel 29 Audience List Serve - Click here to link to Yahoo Groups.

THE SAN FRANCISCANS: Episode Five - Next-Generation Philanthropy

With The San Franciscans, Episode 5: Next-Generation Philanthropy, Access SF began the important project of defining philanthropy as an essential force that drives our local economy. This hour long talk show included the following prestigious participants, each speaking to the ways in which our City serves as an energetic hub for new and untested models of grant making:

- Beatrice Murch, Steering Committee - Emerging Practitioners In Philanthropy
- Tod Hill, Director of Donor Services - Tides Foundation
- Cole Church, Youth Philanthropy Program Assistant - Youth Leadership Institute
- Peter Crosby, Managing Partner - All Together Now Consulting
- Lee Davis, Co-Founder/CEO, NESsT - Nonprofit Enterprise Self-Sustainability Team
- Jim Pitofsky, Founder - Social Enterprise Alliance
- Guest Moderator: Jack Chin, Senior Analyst & VP of Organizational Learning - Blueprint Research & Design

THE PIXEL CORPS (dvGarage)
Episode Five was marked by the inclusion of a new opening & closing sequence for The San Franciscans series - a high-end, digitally mastered animation sequence donated by The Pixel Corps, one of Access SF’s membership program partners. Since that time, digital animators from The Pixel Corps have donated their time to work with staff member Bud Dillon on the development of station I.D.s for Cable Channel 29. For these, Access SF began testing the waters of multilingual production and marketing. In March ’04, Dillon and Marc Smolowitz worked with community volunteers to produce voice over recordings in Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish and Russian that will be used in differing versions of the new station I.D.s. The final series of spots will launched during Fall 2004. Our thanks to The Pixel Corps for support the station.

To learn more about WHO'S WHO in local philanthropy, check out the Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy web site.

GLOBAL EXCHANGE: Public Access meets the world at 1720 Market Street

Several times in the past year, Access SF has welcomed international media delegations to the station through a program of the State Department and the International Diplomacy Council, including:

- Oct. '03: Eastern European journalists interested in global human rights.

- March '04: African media professionals interested in HIV/AIDS and the media (pictured at right being show the Project Inform PSA and the station’s recently completed 12-minute introductory video on the history and achievements of public access in San Francisco, edited by staff member Sade Huron.)

- Aug. '04: Muslim journalists from the Arab world interested in censorship.

Check out the International Diplomacy Council web site.

NATIONAL MEDIA DEMOCRACY WEEK: Mayor Newsom Proclamation

Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed March 14-20, 2004 "Media Democracy Week" in San Francisco, in honor of Access San Francisco/Cable Channel 29 and San Francisco Media Advocates for their contributions in the field of local, electronic media. At the station, this included a weeklong schedule of programming and related activities in support of the free speech theme, including: a recorded studio spot with the Mayor’s representative, Darcy Brown, who delivered the proclamation; various recorded studio spots by representatives from San Francisco Media Advocates who spoke to the importance of democratic media; and extended coverage of the National Media Reform Conference, produced by Chicago's public access station, with a Keynote by Bill Moyers and remarks by Al Franken.

Click here to link to the text of the Bill Moyers Keynote from the National Media Reform Conference.

Access SF is funded, in part, through cable operator grants administered by DTIS, the Department of Telecommunications & Information Services of the City & County of San Francisco. We gratefully acknowledge the Access SF membership for their support and the following agencies for grants that contributed to our work in '03-'04: the Cable Positive Tony Cox Community Fund; CTCNet & the Department of Health & Human Services, through the Connections For Tomorrow Capacity Building Award. UPSTREAM is the newsletter of Access San Francisco - Cable Channel 29