Students Hindered by Online Shuttle of Community Television

Media and communications students across Australia will now face additional setbacks to gaining real world broadcasting experience, after the government announced community television licensing will not be renewed past 2015.

QUT Journalism lecturer Ann Lund said the news comes as a blow to not only the community, but students involved with QUT Journalism capstone course Radio and TV Journalism (RTVJ).

Each semester RTVJ students work together to produce QUT News, airing weeknights on Brisbane’s community television channel, 31 Digital. 

Ms Lund said the shuttling of community television online poses challenges to broadcasting the full 20-25 minute student production.

“Some of our content, in particular our international stories, contain material from Reuters and we have an agreement with Reuters we can use that footage.

“We can put in a broadcast that then goes on community TV in south-east Queensland [because] it's educational, it’s a community service, but we can’t put that online because we don’t have copyright,” said Mrs Lund.

But Ms Lund is confident the digital shuttle will not spell the end for QUT News. 

“We won’t stop doing the full 20-25 minutes of news, we will continue to do that, our challenge is where we can put that we can get an external audience other than QUT,” Ms Lund said.

QUT News 10 minute Bulletin

This is not the first time QUT News has faced issues over finding an outlet to broadcast.

The program has been off-the-air once before, spurring the journalism school to integrate with cross-media forums.

QUT News began airing on screens across campuses, uploading a 10 minute bulletin to YouTube, as well as hosting a website, Twitter handle and a Facebook page.

Ms Lund said this was needed to keep up with the tech-savvy industry, but the experiences are still frustrating as they hindered students from reaching the same external audience QUT News could.

USQ Broadcast lecturer and PhD candidate Ashley Jones said his students will face the same challenge of retaining viewership if the shift goes ahead.

The government has a misunderstanding of just how many people are online, who can afford it, and the poor state of internet connectivity in Australia, said Mr Jones.

“In a world that talks about everything being online, it’s almost like it’s the way we must go, but every time we want to dump something completely into that space that is doesn’t really work.
  

“I would have great concerns that a community station only being within that environment, as I would for even commercial stations,” he said.

USQ has produced a range of student-led programs broadcast on community television over the years.

This year USQ successfully produced Full 80, a sports program broadcast strictly online.

Mr Jones said Full 80 worked because it was very much targeted towards an online market.

Despite the positive feedback, Mr Jones’ intention has always been to broadcast Full 80 on both television and internet.  

“The blend between the two I think is where the real key is,” he said.



Full 80 produced by USQ students

Mr Jones said putting a program exclusively online not only hinders students, but also alienates the audience.

“To suggest you're going to watch television at the local library and all those kind of things is possible, but probably foolish. 

"I do that to try to maintain community television exclusively online is just another way of really letting it die slowly, and with some kind of dignity," he said.

What you had to say about Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement

General Manager of 31 Digital Scott Black said television broadcast, not solely the internet, is valuable resource for students and people wanting a career in entertainment and television.

“There’s this exclusivity and privilege of being on terrestrial broadcast.

“The students who come and train and learn how to do television with us – they would have no chance on commercial television because the money is too high, they get to do that on us,” he said.

Students and volunteers at 31 Digital get a chance to ‘cut their teeth’ with a real business in the industry said Mr Black.

Ann Lund acknowledges Australia’s media landscape is ever-evolving and Mr Turnbull’s announcement is just another challenge to overcome.

“I think [community television] does have a role to play, in this age of digital technology … and I think it’s really sad that we could lose something like that.

“But this is the challenge we’ve got in the future – how we get around it.

“We’ll keep pushing the boundaries, finding new ways to get out there, and we will, we’ll find another way,” she said.

QUT News has been running since well before 2000, with approximately 50 students involved each semester.

The program will continue to broadcast on 31 Digital next year.

Have you ever been involved with community television? 

Viability of Online Community Television in Doubt

Mr Black said his station has been streaming online for two years, yet neither viewership nor profits have significantly increased.

Speaking to Spencer Howson on 612ABC, Mr Black said 31 Digital relies on sponsorships for revenue, which will be jeopardised if forced online.

“If you’ve got a product that can go internationally, great, but if you’re a local mechanic and your advertising is seen by 1.4mil people in Europe on the internet … then it doesn’t really help your business,” he said.

Listen to the full podcast here.

Community television also makes money through programs like QUT News that pay-for-air on the station.

Mr Black is sceptical all programs will choose to continue broadcasting with 31 Digital after the transition.

“Anyone can go on YouTube,” he said.

Ashley Jones did not know if he would feel confident broadcasting solely through 31 Digital online.

“We don’t really particularly need that space and that’s where the fragmentation comes because we can do that ourselves.

“We want to support [community television], but I just don’t know how strong it’s going to be,” he said.

31 Digital does not receive government funding, putting pressure on community television stations to find a reliable online business model within 15 months.

It is a giant leap to expect community television stations to transition online without a hitch, said Mr Jones.

QUT News will not be able to continue broadcasting through 31 Digital due to copyright laws.

A petition to keep community television on the airwaves has been gaining momentum. The petition can be found here.

Have your say below!

QUT News Broadcast Opens Doors for Student Journalists

Ex-QUT News Assistant Producer and Newsreader Pippa Sheehan said the experience ‘without doubt’ helped her land her current job as a reporter with WIN News Cairns.

“It actually really helped with my confidence in knowing I was doing the right thing when I was turning up to jobs as a QUT journalist, and then as an intern or casual journalist or otherwise.

“It made you feel like you were actually a journalist. You really were actually doing things that were totally relevant to your future career and things that would be extremely useful to know how to do,” she said.

WIN News Journalist Pippa Sheehan

QUT News cannot broadcast the full 25 minute program for copyright reasons, but will still continue to produce the program for RTVJ assessment purposes at this stage.

Ms Sheehan says getting real experience in terrestrial broadcast is ‘really crucial’ and more authentic than online streaming because of immediacy.

Television has very precise deadlines, whereas online there is no urgency to upload at exactly 6pm.

“Learning about it, and actually knowing this particular one was being recorded gave it that much more real life relevance.

“And that is as real-life as it gets,” she said.

WIN News segment with Pippa Sheehan

QUT Journalism has a reputation of being relevant to the ‘real world’ and Ann Lund said this is a major drawcard for prospective students.

“A lot of students come and talk to us at open day, and some of them aren’t actually aware of what we do at that stage, so we show them our website, our web bulletin, and they are just absolutely blown over by that.

“Many students come to me and say ‘I came to this university because I specifically wanted to do this unit’,” she said.

While future enrolment numbers are unlikely to be affected by the online shuttle, Ms Lund said it does play a role in attracting students.

“Potentially future students could see it [on television] and think ‘wow, I want to be part of this’,” she said.

Ms Lund said the online shuttle will absolutely not change the support and experience students receive.

You can catch QUT News on 31 Digital weeknights at 6pm. 



EXPLAINER

WHAT IS SPECTRUM? 

Spectrum is a mode of transport for electromagnetic frequencies. Australia has six spectrums that each use their allocated frequency range to transport electronic communication. Spectrums assist GPS signals, mobile phone coverage and television broadcast to reach Australians across the nation, but the space is limited and valuable. You cannot just create more spectrum. Currently Seven, Nine, Ten, ABC and SBS each occupy a spectrum; the "sixth channel" is dedicated to community broadcasters.

WHY HAS MALCOLM TURNBULL MADE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT?

The sixth spectrum is financially valuable for the government; shuttling community television online allows the government to either sell the frequency range to lucrative telcos and/or encourage existing broadcasters to make the transition to MPEG4 transmission. MPEG4 has more condensed bandwidth than current MPEG2 broadcasting, meaning it will free up even more spectrum space. MPEG4 will also enable stations to broadcast in High Definition.

Malcolm Turnbull argues this is more efficient than Australia’s current model.

"It is timely to recast the current broadcasting spectrum policy framework to ensure it is fit-for-purpose for the next wave of innovation in the media sector,” Mr Turnbull said speaking at the ACMA conference in Sydney.

Read Malcolm Turnbull’s full speech to ACMA here.

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