PAPER TIGER TV, NEW YORK



Paper Tiger TV

The Bridge Project

Tigers in the Net

Network of Desires

Paper Tiger is a collective of media activists and videomakers who produce television in New York City. The group was formed in 1981; soon after public access cable became a reality in Manhattan. Paper Tiger's half-hour weekly shows on local cable TV provide a critical reading of mass media product. They are an ongoing exploration of corporate information culture and are based on a few simple notions:

  • The power of mass culture rests on the trust of the public.
  • This legitimacy is a paper tiger.
  • Investigation into the corporate structure of the media and critical analysis of their content is one way to demystify the information industry.
  • Developing a critical consciousness about the communication industry is a necessary first step toward democratic control of information resources.
  • Public access channels, set aside for non-commercial use by the community give Paper Tiger a regular audience of channel zappers and die hard fans. Paper Tiger has produced over 250 shows. These shows expose the economic and stylistic elements within commercial television, newspapers, magazines, and most recently, the information superhighway.

    Paper Tiger shows have a look and feel of their own:

    Opinionated individuals speak in their own voice at their own pace, free of the limitiations of sound bites, make-up or the framing of an interviewer's question. Underscoring their critiques which pass before the camera. This handmade look, a PTTV trademark, encompasses both set enhancements and sound cues, camera shots of the crew, and other technical transgressions. These "mistakes" disrupt the insular nature of television production, proving to viewers that individuals of varying talent and economic circumstances (maybe even themselves!) can make worthwhile TV.

    Paper Tiger`s style remains surprisingly consistent considering that more than one hundred producers have been members of the group.

    Over its 14 year history Paper Tiger has provided hands-on production experience for media artist and activists of many ages and backgrounds interested in stemming the unimpede march of corporate commercial media.

    As arts funding has gone from bad to almost non-existent, Paper Tiger's volunteer members continue to make TV shows, as well as installation works, media workshops, and international broadcasts.

    In 1985 , Paper Tiger's sister organization, The Deep Dish Satellite TV Network, began satellite broadcasting. For public access viewers, in hundreds of communities, Deep Dish offers a critical perspective on international, national and local issues.

    At this time, Deep Dish connects a diverse group of community-based producers through some 400 public access cable stations across the U.S., in a network wholly outside the commercial mainstream.

    The importance of having an alternative information network was proved definitively in late 1990 when the Gulf War began and Americans found themselves in a media environment heavily involved in promoting the war.

    The Gulf Crisis TV Project, co-produced by Paper Tiger and Deep Dish, gave TV viewers a clear sense of wide-spead opposition to US policy in the Gulf.

    The 10-part series of half-hour shows offered viewers a framework for critical debate concerning the cultural, historical, military and economic issues which led to a major war involving half a million Americans. The widespread popularity of The Gulf Crisis TV Project demonstrated that an alternative view could find a significant audience.

    Over the last two years, Paper Tiger programs have focussed on the new electronic media, nothing the dangers of a corporate cyberutopia, presenting the views of media organizers, computer experts and community advocates working to ensure that the Information Superhighway is accessible and functional for all users.



    The "PTTV Network" Presents:

    "The Bridge Project"

    By creating a virtual network for this broadcast,. Paper Tiger has chosen the conventional mode of electronic visual information exchange used in the United States, i.e. the TV network. Currently there are 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, MTV, etc.) commercial networks and one public network in the U.S.

    Our portion of the Checkpoint 95 program is put forth in the style of the American TV network. By taking the position of "The Networks" and occupying this "electronic public sphere", we give ourselves the opportunity to examine the structure of network mass market broadcasting and what it promises and provides to audiences. Checkpoint 95 is another manifestation of PTTV's interest in drawing attention to the conventional framework of US broadcasting, where advertizers buy time from brodadcasters.

    Tigers in the Net

    The Nibelungen Bridge seems an appropriate place to discuss mythology. The current myth regarding the Information Age is that we will all live in a cyber-linked, computer-interfaced world which will make us free. Paper Tiger 2 wonders how this myth will become reality.

    The information systems that exist now will be commercialized soon. The non-profit Internet "backbone" run by Advanced Network and Services was sold to American On-line. The backbone comprised the administrative nodes that connect the university and research institute-based network of communications. (American On-line purchased this system for $35 million dollars)

    Who will control these networks? What kind of room will be left for community-based "free nets" and other forms of public access; media activists and others have been fighting a loosing battle for non-commercial space on the new National Information Infrastructure.

    And even if some non-commercial turf is carved out, how will we find the funding and the training to take advantage of this opportunity?

    Network of Desires

    In this new mediated age, the cliché that information is knowledge takes on new meaning. For us as American, knowing is knowing what to buy. As the popular slogan has it, "The educated consumer is our best customer." The most salient characteristics of mediated culture is the commodification of consciousness.

    As we move away from a text-based information exchange system, we are moving toward an image-generated system. It is only a matter of time before the computer screen shows us the same images we already see on our TV sets, images of consumption.

    For Paper Tiger's position is ---
    Stop being a consuming couch potato and become a producer.