Alternative Views
Encyclopedia
Alternative Views was one of the longest running Public-access television
cable TV programs in the United States. Produced in Austin, Texas
in 1978, it produced 563 hour-long programs featuring news, interviews and opinion pieces from a progressive political perspective. Show founders and on-air hosts, Douglas Kellner
and Frank Morrow, produced the show on virtually no budget using facilities at Austin Community Television (ACTV) and The University of Texas at Austin.http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_18971.shtml They also pioneered an innovative syndication system that placed the program in almost 80 television markets around the country.
station. Two surveys, one undertaken by the cable company, and another commissioned by it, indicate that from 20,000 to 30,000 Austin viewers watched Alternative Views each week.
channels allow members to sponsor programs for exhibition in their cable market. In spring 1984 Alternative Views began sending program tapes to Public-access TV contacts in Dallas and San Antonio. In Fall 1984 they added Fayetteville, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Urbana, Illinois. Cities around the United States subsequently joined, and, by the late 1980s, the program was shown in New York, Boston, Portland, San Diego, Marin County, California, Fairfax and Arlington Virginia, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Columbus, Ohio, New Haven, and many other cities.http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/battle/Alternative%20Media.pdf
Alternative Views landed many significant interviews during its run, and it was often ahead of mainstream media in identifying major stories. Its first program featured an Iranian student who discussed opposition to the Shah of Iran
and the possibility of his overthrow. It also had a detailed discussion of the Sandinista movement struggling to overthrow Anastasio Somoza
. It would be several weeks before national broadcast media discovered these movements.
Early shows included long-form interviews with Senator Ralph Yarborough
, a Texas progressive responsible for legislation like the National Defense Education Act
, and former CIA officials like John Stockwell
and Philip Agee
, which both presented arguments for shuttering the CIA.
Other interviewees included:
Anti-war and anti-nuclear activists like Helen Caldicott
, George Wald
, Ramsey Clark
, Daniel Ellsberg
, Michael Klare, David Dellinger, and representatives of the European peace movement.http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Jun2003/mamoun0603.html
US New Left activists like David MacReynolds, Stokely Carmichael
, Greg Calvert, and Dr. Benjamin Spock
.
Feminists, gay activists, union activists, and representatives of local progressive groups appeared on the show; and officials from the Soviet Union
, Nicaragua, Allende's former government in Chile, the democratic front in El Salvador
, and many other Third World countries and revolutionary movements.
In addition, Alternative Views broadcast many documentaries, both self-produced and produced by others, and it screened raw video footage of the bombing of Lebanon and aftermath of the massacres at Sabra and Shatila, of the assassinations of five communist labor organizers by the Ku Klux Klan
in Greensboro, North Carolina, and of counterrevolutionary activity in Nicaragua
.
and Frank Morrow at the University of Texas at Austin
. (Kellner is now a chair at UCLA.) Other producers and hosts, many of whom were drawn Kellner’s philosophy courses, included Ali Hossaini
, Tommy Pallotta
, Noah Khoshbin, Richard Linklater
, Steven Best
, James Scott
and Danny Postel.
Video links
The Internet Archive hosts a growing collection of Alternative Views videos. By June, 2008, over 200 programs were available to view or download.
Ten hour-long Alternative Views programs are also available as streaming videos on Douglas Kellner's multimedia page
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
cable TV programs in the United States. Produced in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
in 1978, it produced 563 hour-long programs featuring news, interviews and opinion pieces from a progressive political perspective. Show founders and on-air hosts, Douglas Kellner
Douglas Kellner
Douglas Kellner is a “third generation” critical theorist in the tradition of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, or Frankfurt School. Kellner was an early theorist of the field of critical media literacy and has been a leading theorist of media culture generally...
and Frank Morrow, produced the show on virtually no budget using facilities at Austin Community Television (ACTV) and The University of Texas at Austin.http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_18971.shtml They also pioneered an innovative syndication system that placed the program in almost 80 television markets around the country.
Audience share
Viewership was on a par with the local PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
station. Two surveys, one undertaken by the cable company, and another commissioned by it, indicate that from 20,000 to 30,000 Austin viewers watched Alternative Views each week.
Distribution network
The audience for Alternative Views went well beyond the confines of Austin, Texas. Many Public-access televisionPublic-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
channels allow members to sponsor programs for exhibition in their cable market. In spring 1984 Alternative Views began sending program tapes to Public-access TV contacts in Dallas and San Antonio. In Fall 1984 they added Fayetteville, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Urbana, Illinois. Cities around the United States subsequently joined, and, by the late 1980s, the program was shown in New York, Boston, Portland, San Diego, Marin County, California, Fairfax and Arlington Virginia, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Columbus, Ohio, New Haven, and many other cities.http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/battle/Alternative%20Media.pdf
Content
Each installment of Alternative Views included a regular news section that utilized material from mostly non-mainstream news sources to provide stories ignored by establishment media, or interpretations of events different from the mainstream.Alternative Views landed many significant interviews during its run, and it was often ahead of mainstream media in identifying major stories. Its first program featured an Iranian student who discussed opposition to the Shah of Iran
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
and the possibility of his overthrow. It also had a detailed discussion of the Sandinista movement struggling to overthrow Anastasio Somoza
Anastasio Somoza
Anastasio Somoza may be:Nicaraguan dictators:* Anastasio Somoza García, * Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Also:* Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero, son of Somoza Debayle...
. It would be several weeks before national broadcast media discovered these movements.
Early shows included long-form interviews with Senator Ralph Yarborough
Ralph Yarborough
Ralph Webster Yarborough was a Texas Democratic politician who served in the United States Senate and was a leader of the progressive or liberal wing of his party in his many races for statewide office...
, a Texas progressive responsible for legislation like the National Defense Education Act
National Defense Education Act
The National Defense Education Act , signed into law on September 2, 1958, provided funding to United States education institutions at all levels. The act authorized funding for four years, increasing funding per year: for example, funding increased on eight program titles from 183 million dollars...
, and former CIA officials like John Stockwell
John Stockwell
John R. Stockwell is a former CIA officer who became a critic of United States government policies after serving in the Agency for thirteen years serving seven tours of duty. After managing U.S...
and Philip Agee
Philip Agee
Philip Burnett Franklin Agee was a Central Intelligence Agency case officer and writer, best known as author of the 1975 book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, detailing his experiences in the CIA. Agee joined the CIA in 1957, and over the following decade had postings in Washington, D.C., Ecuador,...
, which both presented arguments for shuttering the CIA.
Other interviewees included:
Anti-war and anti-nuclear activists like Helen Caldicott
Helen Caldicott
Helen Mary Caldicott is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate who has founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, war and military action in general. She hosts a...
, George Wald
George Wald
George Wald was an American scientist who is best known for his work with pigments in the retina. He won a share of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Granit.- Research :...
, Ramsey Clark
Ramsey Clark
William Ramsey Clark is an American lawyer, activist and former public official. He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, which included service as United States Attorney General from 1967 to 1969, under President Lyndon B. Johnson...
, Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg, PhD, is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War,...
, Michael Klare, David Dellinger, and representatives of the European peace movement.http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Jun2003/mamoun0603.html
US New Left activists like David MacReynolds, Stokely Carmichael
Stokely Carmichael
Kwame Ture , also known as Stokely Carmichael, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party...
, Greg Calvert, and Dr. Benjamin Spock
Benjamin Spock
Benjamin McLane Spock was an American pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Its message to mothers is that "you know more than you think you do."Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand...
.
Feminists, gay activists, union activists, and representatives of local progressive groups appeared on the show; and officials from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Nicaragua, Allende's former government in Chile, the democratic front in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, and many other Third World countries and revolutionary movements.
In addition, Alternative Views broadcast many documentaries, both self-produced and produced by others, and it screened raw video footage of the bombing of Lebanon and aftermath of the massacres at Sabra and Shatila, of the assassinations of five communist labor organizers by the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
in Greensboro, North Carolina, and of counterrevolutionary activity in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
.
Staff
Alternative Views was staffed exclusively by volunteers, many of whom have become influential filmmakers and television producers. It was founded by Douglas KellnerDouglas Kellner
Douglas Kellner is a “third generation” critical theorist in the tradition of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, or Frankfurt School. Kellner was an early theorist of the field of critical media literacy and has been a leading theorist of media culture generally...
and Frank Morrow at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. (Kellner is now a chair at UCLA.) Other producers and hosts, many of whom were drawn Kellner’s philosophy courses, included Ali Hossaini
Ali Hossaini
Ali Hossaini is an American artist, philosopher and media executive. His work includes contributions in creative writing, political commentary, avant-garde film, photography and television, including the launch of several channels...
, Tommy Pallotta
Tommy Pallotta
Tommy Pallotta is an American film director and producer.-Biography:Pallotta received a degree in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. There, he met Richard Linklater and began his film career as an actor and production assistant on Linklater's directorial debut, Slacker...
, Noah Khoshbin, Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater
-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
, Steven Best
Steven Best
Steven Best is an American animal rights activist, author, talk-show host, and associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso...
, James Scott
James Scott
James Scott may refer to:*James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth , noble recognized by some as James II of England*James Scott , British MP 1710–1711*James Scott , British naval officer...
and Danny Postel.
Further reading
- Subject to Change: Guerilla Television Revisited by Deidre Boyle (Oxford University Press, 1997)
- Television and the Crisis of Democracy by Douglas Kellner (Westview Press, 1990)
- The U.S. Power Structure and the Mass Media by Frank Morrow (Ph.D dissertation, The University of Texas, 1984)
Video links
The Internet Archive hosts a growing collection of Alternative Views videos. By June, 2008, over 200 programs were available to view or download.
Ten hour-long Alternative Views programs are also available as streaming videos on Douglas Kellner's multimedia page