Philly PEG Progress Proves Persistanse Pays!

This is a picture of Inja Coates who has lead the fight for public access in Philadelphia, the last major US city to have PEG (public, educational and government) access. For years she, Media Tank and other activists have held forums, have challenged the city council, have marched in the streets to demand their rights to community media. This week was a huge victory for everyone in Philadelphia!
This notice was posted by the Alliance for Community Media:
Alliance members nationwide celebrate the announcement of formal agreement between the City and Comcast to open a Public Access facility in Philadelphia, PA. Our congratulations go out to all the elected officials, company executives and, most of all, the dedicated community organizations and activists, such as the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition, who have worked tirelessly for almost 25 years to bring this about. It has been a long, hard struggle, but finally the city which historically most represents the ideals of democracy and freedom will have the benefit of Public Access—the voice of community in the electronic age.

According to Alliance Executive Director Anthony Riddle, “Today, the City underscores its support for the ideas of freedom and participation for which we all hope. We cannot offer mere lip-service to free speech. Freedom is a process of growth that depends on the real structures we put in place. Public Access is a means for us to protect those freedoms we hold dear." The Alliance appreciates this commitment to the public interest at a time when community needs are so often overlooked.
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The Alliance for Community Media is a national membership organization representing 3,000 Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) Access centers across the nation. PEG channels are used by 1.2 million volunteers and 250,000
community organizations. Local PEG programmers produce 20,000 hours of new programs per week –more new programming than all of the broadcast networks combined.

Anthony T. Riddle
Alliance for Community Media
666 11th Street NW, Suite 740
Washington, DC 20001
202.393.2650 p, 202.393.2653 f
www.alliancecm.org