Chapter Four: Developing Policies Back

Policies should be developed during the planning and approval process, and must be updated as the channel matures. The cable channel manager should have control over the policies. 

There are many options to consider when developing policies for government access channels. Some policies should be extensive, while others can be a paragraph. Some should be constantly revised, while others can remain unchanged for years. Again, the detail and length of access policies depend on the organization and political environment of the channel.

For this reason, the following is a broad discussion about policy formation considerations, along with the authors' personal recommendations. Overall recommendations to consider when developing a policy:

• Minimize government access policies in order to maximize flexibility

• Retain editorial control of the channel at all costs

• Consider the long term direction of the channel when establishing policy

• Don't make short term policies to appease others today that would make it impossible to reach future goals

There are two main types of policies formats, General and Detailed Policies.

General Policies

General policies provide a basic framework for operation, but leave actual implementation and operation to the discretion of the staff. This provides the staff with the freedom to explore the full potential of the channel. Room for policy interpretation gives a policy the flexibility to adapt to changing situations. In Santa Monica, simple and basic policies have allowed a new Cable TV manager to come in and change the entire direction, program line-up, priorities and identity of the channel -- with no change in existing policies.

Minimal policies allow the channel to evolve naturally with minimum fuss, review and debate. In this situation, the staff feels free to implement their own vision for the channel, while remaining personally accountable for that vision. A well trained staff and channel leadership is critical for a general policy to be successful. A general policy demonstrates trusts in the judgment and abilities of the government access channel staff.

Detailed Policies

Detailed policies are better suited for municipalities that deal with large bureaucracies. A detailed policy emphasizes forms and procedures that provides clear guidelines that specifies how the channel works and what resources that are available. This provides an established framework for the operations and procedures of the channel.

Detailed policies create a sense of comfort to elected officials and upper management. At anytime rules and procedures can be reviewed for clarification if a dispute arises. Detailed policies provide guidelines to make the proper decisions. 

Take caution with channels that use detailed policies. Often, with detailed policies, the staff becomes too involved with following the correct procedures that the channel's vision is lost. The quickest way to halt creativity and productivity is to create policy confusion.

• All meetings, All of the time

• Government Only Model

• Government/Community

Key components within a policy:

• Editorial Control

• Eligible Users

• Elected Officials

• Who Operates the Channel?

• Access and Resources

• Content Guidelines

• Technical Goals

• Public Meeting Coverage              

• Election Coverage

• Outside Programming

• Policy Board/Steering Committees