VOICES OF CENTRAL MAINE
A citizen access resource for residents of central Maine.

*** PRESS RELEASES ***

VOICES OF CENTRAL MAINE
A citizen access Internet resource for residents of central Maine
http://publicaccessmedia.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2/12/2008

Contact: Robert Demers
16 Cherry Street
Gardiner, Maine 04345
Tel: (207) 582-3366


About thirty Maine municipalities are a year of more overdue for renewing their cable television franchises, and most central Maine residents have no public access to local cable TV channels as provided by federal regulations. After nearly two years of trying to persuade Councilors and city management to remedy the situation in his hometown, Bob Demers of Gardiner has given it up as a lost cause and has unilaterally moved on to create an Internet solution called Voices of Central Maine (VoCM). Demers has taken this initiative as a way around the low priority that Gardiner and other central Maine municipalities give to public access cable for their citizens.

Voices of Central Maine, a community blog, was created to provide a resource for local individuals and organizations to broadcast audio, video and text content via the Internet to residents of central Maine communities .

Why “VOICES” rather than “VOICE”?

“VOICE of Central Maine would suggest that we speak for the people but this is not the way it works”, Demers says. “Instead we offer a resource through which the people can speak for themselves, directly and without the constraints inherent in commercial media. The difference is distinct and important. The title VOICES of Central Maine makes that point,” he says.

Demers sees this as the start-up of an on-line volunteer Community Access project offering a multi-media public voice to the residents of central Maine and environs. Organizations and individuals in central Maine communities have an opportunity to speak their minds, display their talents, share their interests and their concerns, and report on community events via text, audio, video much as they might through a community newspaper, radio or television station.

Area individuals and organizations are invited to get involved as a “producer” of programming on Voices of Central Maine. Details and contact information can be found at http://publicaccessmedia.net where Voices of Central Maine currently resides. Consultation on basic technical requirements is offered.

Area individuals interested in founding a 501(c)(3) corporation to take over and operate VoCM for the benefit of central Maine residents are invited to contact Demers, who is willing to sign-off to an appropriate non-profit organization.

#########