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Chapter 4 Drafting of Democratic Communication Media The process of drafting a scheme for a democratic communication medium had two major phases: issuing of the RFP and the submission of cable application. Although this section covers a very short period of time— from August 1980 to February 1981 for Boston, and from August 1982 to December 1982 for Detroit—it encompassed both of these significant events. First, the RFP was an outcome of city officials’ commitment, local residents’ participation in decision making, and various study projects’ months and years of long work. It summarized exactly what the city wanted to achieve through cable television. It was a summation of discussions that had taken place during the incubation phase. Second, cable service providers submitted their applications several months later as their response to the RFP. None of the applicants were new for either Boston or Detroit. They were all corporations with some, and at times, extensive experience in the cable industry. Tailoring their service to match what the cities of Boston and Detroit expected, candidates submitted an application explaining how specifically they would meet the needs of each city. Until the two cities made their final decisions about the service provider, they kept in close contact with each corporation asking questions and receiving answers. Analyzing what the city expected and how candidates strove to satisfy the needs reveals one of the most dynamic and fundamental moments in the history of cable television development in Boston and Detroit. Issues that concerned African American residents such as local origination, access channels, employment, show that African American interests were not marginalized during this period. Additionally, the study of applications also demonstrates how much candidates tried to live up to the expectations of Black Bostonians and Detroiters. 109 110 Struggles for Equal Voice The focus of this chapter is on how discussions before the issuing of the RFP, the RFP itself, and applicants’ responses to the RFP dealt with issues concerning the residents of Boston and Detroit, particularly African Americans. In one way, such a focus risks paying too little attention to issues such as cable suppliers’ financial condition, technical capabilities, and others that were highly consequential in the cities’ decision making regarding which candidate would win the franchise license. All of these issues, without a doubt, were major concerns for city planners and minority future customers . Examining the history of cable television as a community medium and tool, however, reveals that ideas such as community access, local origination, minority involvement, and minority employment, were just as significant as more business-oriented topics. Therefore, the need to investigate technology with a special emphasis on race is imminent. To do so also enables a more comprehensive study of cable television because the new medium is put in a larger social context. It also is important to identify some of the arguments and claims that were made during this period that did not seem to have any impact on African Americans in Boston and Detroit, but that were quite consequential in reality. For example, many city offices stated that the cable technology would be useful to ensure and improve the security and safety of the neighborhood. Although such a statement itself does not contain any race-related language, it must be read within the context of municipal control of a certain neighborhood or that of positive or negative relationship between residents and the police department. A close reading of the RFPs and applications can reveal these examples of tacit race politics surfaced, highlighted, and mediated by cable television. Finally, as had been the case in previous chapters, residents, city officials, and companies’ discussions on African American viewers often had been grouped simply as a minority issue. RFPs, for example, refer to minority issues more frequently than African American issues. The category, of course, includes ethnic minorities such as Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans. It also includes women and people with disabilities. Despite the diversity within this category, African Americans were most affected by such minority issues, because 75 percent of the minority Bostonians and 96 percent of minority Detroiters were African Americans, in 1980.1 Therefore, a special focus on African Americans does not ignore other minority groups. In one way, it allows us to understand how the largest minority group in Boston and Detroit was affected by cable television. In other words, if the African American voice was not going to be heard, the likelihood of other minority groups’ voices heard was smaller. Second, it recognizes...

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