September's Common Council meeting will air at 7 p.m. Saturday on Comcast cable Channel 23. The meeting will air again at 11 a.m. Tuesday.Good! Now everyone will see how easy it is to videotape a meeting and get it on the air.
Two Danbury residents with ties to Comcast, Ivon Alcime and John Neumuller, are taping the meetings and will air them as a service to Danbury residents who cannot attend the monthly city meetings. They are calling the broadcast "Danbury Live."
Neumuller said Thursday that he should know soon when the Oct. 3 Common Council meeting will air.
As I've stated several times, it doesn't take much to broadcast a meeting at City Hall. Hell, I've been doing it for the last year and I know my footage is good enough for cable. Now Ivon will show everyone just how easy (AND INEXPENSIVE) it is to get these meetings on the air.
You don't need a Hollywood production to videotape people talking about politics and if anything, all the lights, cameras, and gizmos will go to everyone's head and you get nothing but grandsanding from everyone. It's simple, one of two camera on a tripod, a good high end mic, and the energy to sit through an entire meeting is all that's needed (and trust me, the only hard part is having the energy to last through an entire meeting as you need to pan the camera constantly).
Hopefully, Ivon will be able to expand this and get more of the community involved in helping out. I'm positive if he or someone would jus pitch the idea to the High School or University, he could get a team of people who are willing to help out in an interm basis.
It was obvious that it was going to take people like Ivon and others to step up to the plate and get these meetings broadcast but it's only the beginning. Other meeting, such as the Board of Ed (which takes the biggest piece of the city's pie) and Planning and Zoning should be on the air and hopefully in time, we'll see those meetings on public access also.
Why don't I just broadcast my stuff you ask?
I would step up to the plate but I simply do not have the time for that type of committment since I also cover state and national politcs and well as freelance for different outlets. Anyway, my thing is the internet and not traditional television and I rather help advance the role of online media. If anything, I'd be more than happy to take the footage and create a site where you can watch the meetings online at any time.
hmm...you know, that's a good idea...let me think about that.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
