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Create Your Own Advocate Event
Anyone Can be an Advocate for Public TV
On Wednesday, February 4, 2009, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell sent a proposed budget to the state House and Senate that eliminated all funding for public television in Pennsylvania. Immediately following the budget announcement, WQLN Public Media began an on-air campaign asking viewers to write the governor and ask for reinstatement of our funding. Over the next few weeks, nearly 2,000 letters were sent to Harrisburg.
The amount of mail impressed our local state representatives and inspired other public stations around the Commonwealth to follow suit. What impressed everyone at WQLN TV were the requests from viewers who want to do more—to either stage a protest or creatively send a message to Harrisburg.
In response, WQLN Public Media created this web page with information on how to prepare a petition, create an event, or post a video.
How to form a protest for Public TV in Pennsylvania
Citizen Advocacy is as old as the Declaration of Independence. Advocacy is nothing more that voicing an opinion in public on an issue. Since the Governor's budget was released in February, many people have asked us "what can I do?" "How can I send a strong message to Harrisburg about funding Public TV in Pennsylvania?" To answer these questions WQLN Public Media put together this web page with the tools and resources you need for a successful event.
Petitions
Petitions are the primary tool of the social advocate. With all its signatures the
Declaration of Independence was nothing more than a petition. Petitions are either a single statement or a collection of statements signed by members of a community - a school, a play group or a neighborhood. If you are thinking of creating a petition to send to a state representative, have fun and be creative. Consider making a poster with hand drawn pictures. Here are some talking points to include on your petition.
- WQLN TV only cost each taxpayer 10 cents a year
- Public TV is a community asset, like a library or a museum
- Public TV is free TV
- Public TV is non-commercial.
- 87 hours a week of book based children's programming
- Eclectic programming including history, biography, performance and public affairs
- 54,000 unique weekly WQLN TV viewers can't be wrong
- Public TV is different from anything on cable
Download the WQLN TV Logo.
Upload a video
Online videos are modern petitions and they are fun and easy. Choreograph your demonstration and shoot it with your video camera. Keep the length to less than 5 minutes and we'll post it here. For WQLN to post your video we will need a talent release from everyone appearing in your project.
Download the talent release form.
Send your DVD or CD digital video along with your talent release to:
Tom New
WQLN Public Media
8425 Peach Street
Erie, PA 16509
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