# Alternative Views > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alternative_Views > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alternative_Views.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Views > Source revision: 1350989034 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|One of the longest running public-access cable TV programs in the USA}} {{Italic title}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} '''''Alternative Views''''' was one of the longest running [public-access](/source/public-access_television) [cable TV](/source/cable_TV) programs in the [United States](/source/United_States). Produced in [Austin, Texas](/source/Austin%2C_Texas) in 1978, it produced 563 hour-long programs featuring news, interviews and opinion pieces from a progressive political perspective. Show founders and on-air hosts, [Douglas Kellner](/source/Douglas_Kellner) and Frank Morrow, produced the show on virtually no budget using facilities at Austin Community Television (ACTV) and the [University of Texas at Austin](/source/University_of_Texas_at_Austin).Lagauche, Malcom (4 Jul 2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20060321064211/http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_18971.shtml "Frank Morrow Talks About Iraq."] ''axisoflogic.com''. They also pioneered an innovative syndication system that placed the program in almost 80 television markets around the country. ==The business== ===Audience=== Viewership was on a par with the local [PBS](/source/Public_Broadcasting_Service) station. Two surveys, one undertaken by the cable company, and another commissioned by it, indicate that from 20,000 to 30,000 Austin viewers watched ''Alternative Views'' each week. ===Distribution=== The audience for ''Alternative Views'' went well beyond the confines of Austin, Texas. Many [Public-access television](/source/Public-access_television) channels allow members to sponsor programs for exhibition in their cable market. In spring 1984 ''Alternative Views'' began sending program tapes to Public-access TV contacts in [Dallas](/source/Dallas) and [San Antonio](/source/San_Antonio). In Fall 1984 they added [Fayetteville](/source/Fayetteville%2C_Arkansas), [Atlanta](/source/Atlanta), [Minneapolis](/source/Minneapolis), [Pittsburgh](/source/Pittsburgh), and [Urbana](/source/Urbana%2C_Illinois), Illinois. Cities around the United States subsequently joined, and, by the late 1980s, the program was shown in [New York](/source/New_York_City), [Boston](/source/Boston), [Portland](/source/Portland%2C_Oregon), [San Diego](/source/San_Diego), [Marin County](/source/Marin_County%2C_California), [California](/source/California), [Fairfax](/source/Fairfax%2C_Virginia) and [Arlington Virginia](/source/Arlington_County%2C_Virginia), [Cincinnati](/source/Cincinnati), [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco), [Columbus](/source/Columbus%2C_Ohio), Ohio, [New Haven](/source/New_Haven%2C_Connecticut), and many other cities.[https://web.archive.org/web/20060623210432/http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/battle/Alternative%20Media.pdf] ==The people== Each installment of ''Alternative Views'' included a regular news section that utilized material from mostly non-mainstream news sources to provide stories ignored by establishment media, or interpretations of events different from the mainstream. ===Staff=== ''Alternative Views'' was staffed exclusively by volunteers, many of whom have become influential filmmakers and television producers. It was founded by [Douglas Kellner](/source/Douglas_Kellner) and Frank Morrow at the [University of Texas at Austin](/source/University_of_Texas_at_Austin). (Kellner is now a chair at [UCLA](/source/UCLA).) There were other producers and hosts, many of whom were drawn from Kellner's philosophy courses, including [Ali Hossaini](/source/Ali_Hossaini), [Tommy Pallotta](/source/Tommy_Pallotta), Noah Khoshbin, Richard Linklater, Steven Best, James Scott and Danny Postel. ===Guests=== ''Alternative Views'' landed many significant interviews during its run, and it was often ahead of mainstream media in identifying major stories. Its first program featured an Iranian student who discussed opposition to the [Shah of Iran](/source/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi) and the possibility of his overthrow. It also had a detailed discussion of the [Sandinista](/source/Sandinista) movement struggling to overthrow [Anastasio Somoza](/source/Anastasio_Somoza_Debayle). It would be several weeks before national broadcast media discovered these movements. Early shows included long-form interviews with Senator [Ralph Yarborough](/source/Ralph_Yarborough), a Texas progressive responsible for legislation like the [National Defense Education Act](/source/National_Defense_Education_Act), and then–[Congressman](/source/Congressman) and Libertarian presidential hopeful [Ron Paul](/source/Ron_Paul).''Alternative Views'' 365: ["American Power Structure—A Former Congressman's View,"](/source/iarchive%3AAV_365-AMERICAN_POWER_STRUCTURE-_A_FORMER_CONGRESSMANS_VIEW) with guest [Ron Paul](/source/Ron_Paul) (Aug. 1988). Morrow and Kellner used their platform to give a platform to disillusioned CIA officials in flight from the agency, such as [Philip Agee](/source/Philip_Agee) and [Angola](/source/Angola) [Station Chief](/source/Station_Chief) [John Stockwell](/source/John_Stockwell_(CIA_officer)). Both men took advantage of their opportunity to set the record straight as they deemed fit. Other interviewees included: * Anti-war and anti-nuclear activists like [Helen Caldicott](/source/Helen_Caldicott), [George Wald](/source/George_Wald), [Ramsey Clark](/source/Ramsey_Clark), [Daniel Ellsberg](/source/Daniel_Ellsberg), Michael Klare, David Dellinger, and representatives of the European peace movement.Mamoun, Linda (Jun. 2003). "Wielding Weapons of Mass Persuasion: The Anti-War TV Movement." ''[Z Magazine](/source/Z_Magazine)'', vol. 16, no. 6. * US New Left activists like David MacReynolds, [Stokely Carmichael](/source/Stokely_Carmichael), Greg Calvert, and Dr. [Benjamin Spock](/source/Benjamin_Spock). * Feminists, gay activists, union activists, and representatives of local progressive groups appeared on the show; and officials from the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union), Nicaragua, Allende's former government in Chile, the democratic front in [El Salvador](/source/El_Salvador), and many other Third World countries and revolutionary movements. In addition, ''Alternative Views'' broadcast many documentaries, both self-produced and produced by others,(including one about the [assassination of John F. Kennedy](/source/assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy)){{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZslurNkQifY | title="There Was Definitely a Shot Fired from Behind that Picket Fence" JFK Assassination Rush to Judgment | website=[YouTube](/source/YouTube) }} and it screened raw video footage of the bombing of Lebanon and aftermath of the [Sabra and Shatila massacre](/source/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre), of the assassinations of five communist labor organizers by the [Ku Klux Klan](/source/Ku_Klux_Klan) in Greensboro, North Carolina, and of counterrevolutionary activity in [Nicaragua](/source/Nicaragua). ==Video links== [https://archive.org/details/alternative_views The Internet Archive] hosts a growing collection of ''Alternative Views'' videos. By June, 2008, over 200 programs were available to view or download. Ten hour-long ''Alternative Views'' programs are also available as streaming videos on [https://web.archive.org/web/20070212055106/http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/multimedia.html Douglas Kellner's multimedia page] [https://texasarchive.org/2020_01456 Alternative Views episode profiling Austin's Reverend Jacob Fontaine] on [Texas Archive of the Moving Image](/source/Texas_Archive_of_the_Moving_Image) Videos from ''Alternative Views'' can also be found on YouTube.[https://www.youtube.com/user/AlternativeViewTV AlternativeViewTV] (official). ''[YouTube](/source/YouTube)'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20111222055418/https://www.youtube.com/user/AlternativeViewTV archived.] ==References== {{reflist}} ===Bibliography=== * [Kellner, Douglas](/source/Douglas_Kellner) (n.d.) [http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/publicaccesstvaltviews.pdf "Public Access Television: Alternative Views."] ''gseis.ucla.edu''. ==Further reading== * Boyle, Deidre (1997). [http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/24169/subject/MediaStudies/~~/dmlldz11c2EmY2k9OTc4MDE5NTA0MzM0MQ== ''Subject to Change: Guerilla Television Revisited''.] [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). * [Kellner, Douglas](/source/Douglas_Kellner) (1990). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110604185717/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=4903728 ''Television and the Crisis of Democracy''.] UK: [Westview Press](/source/Westview_Press). * Morrow, Frank (1984). [''The U.S. Power Structure and the Mass Media''](/source/iarchive%3ATheU.s.PowerStructureAndTheMassMedia) ([Ph.D.](/source/Ph.D.) [dissertation](/source/dissertation)). [University of Texas](/source/University_of_Texas). ==External links== * [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2914864/ Alternative Views] at [IMDb](/source/IMDb) * [https://youtube.com/user/AlternativeViewTV Official video archive] at [YouTube](/source/YouTube) ** [Mirrored](/source/iarchive%3Aalternative_views) at [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive) Category:Local talk shows in the United States Category:American public access television shows --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alternative Views](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Views) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Views?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.