Go to printer-friendly version of this page

CITIZEN FEEDBACK FORUMS Broadcast television stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) are unlike any other corporations in America. These stations have a unique contract with the public. Because they are using the public’s airwaves, their first responsibility is to serve the public interest and only secondarily to serve their own profits. Running a broadcast station is not like running any other company in America because the public being served does not consist of customers but rather of citizens—and it is the citizens who own the airwaves that broadcasters use. The bottom line is this: We are not the customers, we are the boss. The public owns the airwaves and has the right, and the responsibility, to give effective feedback and to play a decisive role in shaping the communications that moves through the public’s airwaves. What is a “Citizen Feedback Forum?” A Citizen Feedback Forum is a democratic way for citizens in local communities to communicate directly with television broadcasters and tell them what kinds of programming will best serve their public interest. Because television broadcasters have a strict legal obligation to serve the public interest before they serve their own profits, this feedback can be extremely important for guiding broadcasters toward a more positive media. How does a Citizen Feedback Forum Work? A non-partisan and non-profit “community voice” organization acts as the convener of the Forum and works with a local television broadcaster(s) to put it on the air. A month or more before the air-date, the community voice organization mobilizes an integrated media campaign around the theme of the live Feedback Forum involving newspapers, radio programs, public access cable TV, and more. This consciousness-raising campaign builds an audience for the live Forum and interest in its outcome. Several weeks before the Forum is to air, the community voice organization works with a professional polling organization to contact a scientific or representative sample of citizens throughout the community. A sample size of approximately 1,000 persons is sufficient to give a very high confidence level in the representative nature of the feedback. The rationale for sampling is the same as when we go to the doctor and get a small blood sample, of which an even smaller amount will be used, to get a highly trustworthy reading of the condition of our larger body. Working with a local television station (who has ultimate responsibility for what programming goes on the air), the format of the Feedback Forum will probably look something like this: The Feedback Forum opens with an in-studio audience and a stage where several “experts” are seated. The format of the Feedback Forum is explained briefly by the facilitator. A video then showcases the issue, for example, violence against women or children in the media. The “experts” assembled then offer their perspectives. A core question is then developed, perhaps with suggestions form the studio audience, and is then presented to the representative sample watching from their homes for feedback. A typical question might be, for example, “Is there an excessive amount of needless violence on television?” Members of the random sample then cast their votes from home by either using a computer or by dialing in a telephone number that corresponds to their vote. These votes are instantly tallied by a computer and then shown to both the viewers at home and the in-studio participants. Feedback from the scientific sample combined with dialogue among the experts and the in-studio audience help to advance the inquiry. Subsequent questions (easily as many as six in an hour) could be posed to the representative sample. The process of dialogue and feedback continues during the course of the hour-long Forum, bringing into the open the kinds of programming that will best serve the public interest. At the end of the Forum, the overall interests and concerns of the public would be publicly communicated to television broadcasters who would be expected to be present, either physically or electronically, to receive feedback from citizens that they have a paramount legal obligation to serve. Broadcasters would be asked how they intend to respond to concerns raised by the public in the Forum. The goal is not to get a “final” resolution of these concerns, but rather to set up a powerful feedback process that will incline the media system in a more positive direction. At the close of the Forum, the public could be polled to see if they want an additional forum concerned with this topic or whether they would like to shift to another topic for feedback. Who organizes a Citizen Feedback Forum? If Feedback Forums are to be trusted by the public as providing non-partisan representation of their interests, then a new social organization is needed to act on behalf of all citizens. Metropolitan areas can develop non-partisan, nonprofit “community voice” organizations that perform two key functions: first, conduct research to determine which issues and concerns are of greatest importance to the public, and second, produce Feedback Forums that enable the public to express its views with regard to these issues. The mission of the “community voice” organization is not to promote or advocate any particular outcome; rather it is to support community learning, dialogue, and consensus-building, and then “let the chips fall where they may.” Are Feedback Forums an Appropriate Exercise of Citizenship? Citizen Feedback Forums are a fully legitimate and legal exercise of the public’s rights and duties in a modern democracy. The public is the owner of the airwaves and the rights of the public are paramount. As a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling states, “Nor need the public feel that in taking a hand in broadcasting they are unduly interfering in the private business affairs of others. On the contrary, their interest in television programming is direct and their responsibilities important. They are the owners of the channels of television—indeed, of all broadcasting.” See the article on the legal foundations of Citizen Feedback Forums.