The Power of Access TV, and why
Medford has no public station
OpEd by Joe Viglione
The Radio / TV Cable Advisory Commission has been in existence about a
year now, more or less. It’s hard to
tell as the mixing of educational access with what is supposed to be monies
designated for public television has muddied the waters. Which is exactly the
intention of a mayor, Stephanie Muccini-Burke, terrified of the First Amendment
and freedom of the press.
The Open Meeting Law, according to our state, “requires
that most meetings of public bodies be held in public. If you have questions
about the Open Meeting Law, you may contact the Division of Open Government at
(617) 963-2540 or openmeeting@state.ma.us.” So why is it that
on June 14th, after this journalist uncovered this secret society,
the Radio / TV Cable Advisory Commission, Breanna Lungo Koehn and Michael Marks
of the City Council and Mea Mustone of the Medford School Committee all told me
that they didn’t know of any such “Advisory Commission.” Councilor Lungo-Koehn immediately requested
information at the council, while I utilized the Freedom of Information Act and
filed a public records request.
Let me preface the information received with the fact that I met with
three of the commissioners, including former TV3 Vice President Paul Gerety,
and they all told me it was a cable TV committee. We discussed public access, not the
educational aspect of it. This is a very
important point.
Alicia Palmer, the high school’s Public Records Access Officer, wrote
this in response to my FOIA request: The Media Advisory Committee to
which you refer is a Chapter 74 Advisory Committee for Vocational
Education. It is not the Cable Advisory Committee/Board for Public
Access. The Public Access Advisory Board has yet to be appointed and
established.”
The Public Records Access Officer did not give me ANY
documentation, just an essay, and that is in violation of the public records
law which requires documents, not hot air. Here is what was requested:
Under the Massachusetts Public
Records Act § 66-10 et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to inspect or
obtain copies of public records that contain:
1)All evidence of posting open
meetings of the Radio / TV Advisory Committee
a)Where at City Hall and in the
newspaper(s) these meetings were published for the benefit of the public.
b)evidence (a photo will do) that
the postings were made public
2)All evidence that the Radio / TV
Advisory Committee adhered to the open meeting law
Instead I received a threat from
Superintendent Belson that he was going to file a complaint on me, and this gem
which followed from Ms. Palmer:
The posting of the meeting for
the Chapter 74 Advisory Committee is found on the Vocational School Calendar
which may be found by going to the website of the Medford Public School.
The Superintendent has advised me in the future this Advisory Committee will be
more prominently posted throughout the city to ensure that all interested
parties have an opportunity to observe and participate.
I cannot find anything posted on the school calendar and do
not think that posting on a calendar would satisfy the open meeting law. The admission that they will post in the
future indicates that without my hard work and honest efforts on this, the
self-serving mayor and school superintendent would have gotten away with
keeping the access TV situation in the dark.
December 7, 2016 the Medford Transcript printed this: “Medford
broke ground on a new access TV studio Tuesday, nearly two years after the city
announced plans to build the studio at Medford Vocational/Technical High School.” A March 2016 school committee meeting had
promises from former Voc/Tech Dr. Heidi Riccio that the access station would
open in September of 2016, Mayor Burke corrected her and said October of 2016,
a visit to Superintendent Belson had him tell this writer it would be January
2017, and now we are in the middle of an election and there is still no word on
the public access TV that city hall has a serious problem with: free speech,
freedom of the press, citizens as news gatherers.
As Mayor of Medford I will fulfill the obligations to cable TV
subscribers that Muccini-Burke and Michael J. McGlynn intentionally dragged
their feet on for their own, private access and to ensure their Medford Media
Blackout would stay in place.
My name is Joe Viglione, candidate for Mayor of Medford.
Quick bio
Mayoral
candidate Joe Viglione started on access television in 1979. His
public records requests, speeches to the city council and school
committee and dedication to P/E/G (Public, Educational, Governmental)
media is unsurpassed in the city of Medford. His award-winning Visual
Radio has interviewed personalities such as Michael Moore, Bill Press
from Sirius/XM, directors Jodie Foster, Robert Zemeckis, wrestler Jon
Cena and many more. His award-winning, popular radio program on
Somerville Community Media combines music with talk. Joe is a pioneer
in utilizing Facebook live to bring meetings from Medford City Hall to
the internet.
