Paper Tiger Television
Paper Tiger Television (PTTV) is a non-profit, low-budget public access television program and open media collective based in New York City. Currently operating from Brooklyn, PPTV was co-founded by media activist and Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Dee Dee Halleck in 1981. It focuses on raising media literacy and exists as a protest to corporate control over broadcast mediums. Founded on democratic ideals of freedom of speech by way of access to means of communication, the volunteer run non-profit organization is a collective acting in response to systems of hierarchical power. The station 's public access television programs from the early 1980s are considered to be pioneering works of innovative video art and alternative media, most well known for developing a unique, handmade, irreverent aesthetic which boldly experimented with the medium of broadcast television by drawing on art, academics, politics, and performance. PTTV has been recognized for its commitment to critical analysis of information sources, and for frequently being on the cutting edge of video technology. The collective celebrated its 25th anniversary on October 11, 2007 with a premiere of the video "Paper Tiger Reads Paper Tiger Television" at the Anthology Film Archives . In 2018, in collaboration with Halleck's other collective, Deep Dish TV, Paper Tiger Television released a 10-part video series about resistance to the rise of far-right political movements. History. Founded in part by Dee Dee Halleck, Paper Tiger Television grew out of the Public-access television series, Communications Update, which ran on Manhattan Cable TV. The first Paper Tiger programs featured communications scholar Herbert Schiller reading the venerable "New York Times", the "steering mechanism of the ruling class". Aesthetic and themes. Known for its democratic goals and anti-commercialism agenda, Paper Tiger Television is most widely recognized  for incorporating a DIY visual style in its programming. The creators and reporters frequently made use of handmade signs, backdrops, and other unpolished set pieces which highlighted the grassroots tone of PPTV's videos and drew attention to the production process. For instance, one of their special live broadcasts begins with a lengthy introduction to PPTV's mission, with the text laid over a brightly colorful backdrop:"Our lives are increasingly influenced by the large corporations that make and distribute information. Their power rests on false assumptions. This legitimacy is a paper tiger. Investigation into the corporate structure of the media  and critical analysis of their methods and meanings can be a way of demystifying the information industry. A critical consciousness about communications is necessary for cultural autonomy and democratic control of information resources." Archived programs. The archives of Paper Tiger Television house one of the most culturally significant alternative media collections in American history, including critical components of the coinciding technological and artistic evolution of public access television, video art, video activism, and media reform. The complete catalog of over 500 programs can be found at the Paper Tiger Television website. Cultural impact. Since its launch in the early 1980s , Paper Tiger Television has influenced and supported grassroots media activist organizations by providing an innovative model for community media and spurring the global development of a do-it-yourself (DIY) community media movement. With the explosion of Internet video distribution, DIY media has grown to an increasingly powerful international phenomenon, building on the pioneering work of the PTTV collective. Among viewers, historians, scholars, and creative media makers, the radical early age of Paper Tiger Television is remembered for its radical political mission and intelligent, irreverent, ultra-low-budget antics in emphasizing this mission. PPTV's engagement with critiques of mass  culture and politics, and providing innovative leadership for documentary filmmakers, artists, media literacy educators and social justice media movements around the world helped bring more attention to the potential powers of alternative media combined with the rising technology of broadcast television. PTTV has been recognized internationally for its contribution to video art, theory and the documentary tradition in television. Many programs examine a particular aspect of the communications industry, from print media to TV to movies, looking at its impact on public perception and opinion. Other videos represent the people and views which are largely absent from the mainstream media . Cultural scholar Douglass Rushkoff describes the impact of PPTV as such:"Perhaps it was the voltage created by the potential difference between what was airing on the networks and what was actually going on around the country that gave Paper Tiger the burst of energy it needed to become a full-fledged force in national television during the Gulf War."The emergence of Paper Tiger Television onto the national cultural scene of the 1980s was a significant moment for alternative media and independent television production. Dee Dee Halleck, one of PPTV's founders, went on to launch "Deep TV" (now Deep  Dish Satellite Network) in 1986, which was the first national independent satellite network.