DETROIT — New America Media and the Leadership Council on Civil Rights (LCCR) met with ethnic media in seven states this week to address the lack of information about the transition to digital television (DTV). Despite the government funds to subsidize the converter boxes and President Obama’s request to Congress to postpone the transition, more than one million Americans could wake up on Feb. 17th to a black TV screen.

Kendal Conerly, local campaign coordinator, shows atendees how the DTV converter box is installed. PHOTO: Cristina Fernandez-Pereda/New America Media

NAM and LCCR organized these meetings as part of a national educational campaign, collaborating with local community organizations as a resource for ethnic and underserved communities, who have had many unanswered questions about the transition.
Deputy director for field operations at LCCR, Erica Swanson, described the dangers of misinformation surrounding the transition to digital television as a civil rights issue to ethnic media and organizers from community-based organizations at last Thursday’s convening, held at the Detroit NAACP branch.

“It impacts people without cable: immigrants, low-income families, the elderly, seniors… This is about access to local information they need, such as the weather or local news,” Swanson said.

One reason why these communities may still be uninformed or misinformed about the DTV transition is that the government has not invested in advertising in ethnic media outlets.

“We need ethnic media to achieve an effective way of putting the message out there. The communities already have the information, the problem is that it is from different sources and they get confused,” said Derek Blackmon, outreach director at the NAACP Detroit branch.

“Buying a new television set, subscribing to cable or getting a converter box are some of the options, but the latter is the cheapest one,” said Kendal Conerly, local campaign coordinator, to the ethnic media representatives who attended in Detroit.

The U.S. government has a $1.34 billion coupon program, which will help consumers with analog televisions pay for converter boxes that will allow them to watch digital television after February 17. However, this program has run out of money and applicants are being put on a waiting list.

“As coupons expire [after 90 days] others will be freed up, so we want to make sure people are on the waiting list,” Swanson said.

The NAACP Detroit branch and ACCESS in Dearborn are serving the greater Detroit area as assistance centers, where people with any questions on setting up converter boxes or other concerns can come for one on one support. In addition, local churches, mosques, various non-profit organizations and various youth groups plan to work with ethnic media to outreach to their communities, providing them information on the DTV transition, such as converter box application coupons and converter box installation trainings.

Ethnic media worry that the informational web sites and Federal Communications Committee (FCC) hotlines will not effectively serve some of those in their communities.

Catherine Kelley, from the Michigan Citizen, said that these hi-tech resources are especially difficult for elders to access, and that this issue needs to be made clear to them.

“I can write anything about the transition to digital television, but I always end up thinking about my grandma. And I know that at the end of the day, she is not going to read a story telling her she has to buy a box to watch television,” she said.

Blackmon asserted the need to support ethnic and underserved communities. “We have to give them all the best information as soon as possible.”

For more information on the transition to digital television, visit www.newamericamedia.org and click on the DTV icon or visit www.civilrights.org/dtv. Or contact the local assistance centers: NAACP Detroit branch: 8220 Second Ave, 313.871.2087 or ACCESS, 2651 Saulino Ct. Dearborn, MI 48120, 313.842.7010.