LET'S PUT THE U.S. SOCIAL FORUM ON ATLANTA TV!Civil society groups and social movements should begin to routinely deliver our events and messages directly to the public through co-sponsoring our own TV programming. By putting already produced shows or those we quickly edit from coverage of our gatherings, we can present our solutions to large regional audiences affordably, draw media attention, and actually affect policy makers. Public access cable time is free and UHF TV in the early evenings and on weekends is surprisingly inexpensive. We can approach non-profits, foundations, and socially responsible firms to sponsor targeted advertising and promotion for such local broadcasts. These will draw audiences of 50,000 to 100,000 in major markets and put us on the map. We can embed in the programs Public Service Announcements and good news segments illustrating backers' good works and listing their website addresses and 800 #s. They can then ask folks who respond by phone or on-line for donations of time and money. Most telecasts will return more money than they cost to produce and promote. To be specific, imagine a two hour composite TV show of highlights of video shot at the U.S. Social Forum, airing on an Atlanta UHF television channel at 6:00 PM Sunday within two weeks of the event. Accomplishing this will require little more than $5000 and probably return several times that amount in donations. Sources for this modest funding could include organizations that paid for tables or to share tent space here, putting up perhaps $200 each to be mentioned in the show with their contact information. We can then rebroadcast this program in other cities around the country with the help of local sponsors and send it around the world on the web. We could start by raising the $1000 editing budget from the people attending the Assembly. Let's do it! David Lionel, Chairman |