Uruguay

Uruguayan workers build a popular community television channel

Aram Aharonian

28/08/2013

Opinión

^-A ⁺A

Uruguayan workers have made a significant step in the struggle for the democratization of words and images, by making public their request for a community television channel. The Central Unica de Trabajadores (workers’ union) is not alone in this project, which has been in the works for some eight years. They have the support of the University of the Republic and the country’s main social movements. This will truly be a people’s community channel.

In the 6 megahertz segment, they will launch a high definition (HD) signal, to transmit the basic programming of MICANAL (“My Channel”), an SD (standard) signal as a mirror of the HD one, a second SD signal that will transmit the “Department 20” signal, as well as a single-segment signal for mobile transmission.

In the short presentation video in the public hearing that took place Monday August 26, where the "companion" channel competing for a frequency was one of business groups posing as a non-profit association, the presenter asked, in an aside, "what do workers know that would allow them to request a television channel?” And the answer came immediately: “They have always made television, we workers made television."

“Cameramen, editors, producers, programmers, light technicians, makeup persons, journalists, presenters, narrators, musicians, music technicians, actors, are all cultural workers, it is we who make, who have always made television... even though our voices and images are seldom revealed.”

In the presentation, it was clear that the objective of the community digital television channel of the trade union congress Plenario Intersindical de Trabajadores - Central Nacional de Trabajadores (PIT-CNT) is to develop a communication proposal that will facilitate social dialogue and citizen involvement of and for all Uruguayans, based on the triad of informing, educating and entertaining.

"This is my image, my mirror, our image, one that often has been concealed from us to steal our identity and destroy our self-esteem: this is my country, my history, my memory, our collective memory that tells us where we come from in order to know where we are going: I am here, with strong roots in the past and looking to the building of the future. This is MICANAL, that shows us how we are, in order to see ourselves with our own eyes", the short video points out.

MICANAL speaks of an ethic based on the defence of human rights, solidarity, mutual respect, elements for building citizenship and democratic coexistence, and of esthetics that recognize and privilege the plurality and the diversity of the Uruguayan people, far from the frivolity and the commercial logic of sensationalism and the spectacular.

In order to carry out its mission, the channel will have the most modern digital and high definition technology, and the task will be in the hands of technicians and communication professionals, who will receive permanent training, "as a way of guaranteeing the elaboration and diffusion of messages and content that will allow us to show ourselves and see ourselves with our own eyes, engaged with the country and with its plurality and diversity, and with the permanent development of our democracy, with Latin American integration and with the establishment of a solidarity-based, sustainable and equitable society.”

MICANAL, the proposal points out, will be directed to a broad public, and the programming will take into account the different age groups, social sectors, genders and socio-cultural levels, and will seek to position itself as the referential media outlet for the citizenship in general, and for workers and their families, activists of social movements and organizations and the university community.

At the same time, MICANAL will put a special emphasis on citizens who live in foreign countries. In fact one of the signals will be called "Department 20" (Uruguay is divided into 19 departments), in order for the Uruguayan diaspora to continue to maintain its ties with their compatriots, with content made by them and content for them.

Gabriel Molina, communications secretary of PIT-CNT, indicated his pride in the fact that "This is an initiative of organized workers... the ownership of MICANAL is social and the tasks of direction and operation will be undertaken by professionals, cultural and communication workers."

MICANAL, he emphasized, has the support of more than 70 associations and unions, all of them non-profit, affiliated with a workers’ confederation with more than 350 thousand members, who will be joined by the University of the Republic and a number of social movements in order to present a community voice and image of all and for all. "We must preserve the community space for the voices of the community", said the union leader.

The goal of MICANAL is to become a mirror not only of the cultural and social identity of Uruguay but also of our Latin America, following the ideals of Artigas, with 70 per cent of our own production and national content, including that of independent producers and social groups; all of which presupposes the establishment of a content Factory, and of a permanent school of audiovisual training throughout the country.

It is a project that consolidates the process of democratization of communication in Latin America, and as our catchphrase indicates, to show ourselves and see ourselves with our own eyes.

(Translated for Alai by Jordan Bishop)

- Aram Aharonian is a Uruguayan-Venezuelan journalist and teacher, director of the review Question magazine, founder of Telesur, director of the Observatorio Latinoamericano en Comunicación y Democracia (ULAC).

https://www.alainet.org/pt/node/78824