Expressing the sense of council to make its meetings more accessible to the public and approving the recommended rules for video productions;
WHEREAS, various neighborhood community councils and citizens have requested that City Council meetings be made more accessible to the public; and
WHEREAS, in an effort to accomplish this, the community has requested the videotaping and cablecasting of City Council meetings over the Government Access Channel; and
WHEREAS, the Office of Cable Communications is capable of providing this service with existing equipment and production volunteers; and
WHEREAS, to ensure proper videotaping of City Council sessions, production rules are recommended.
BE IT RESOLVED by the council of the City of Cincinnati, state of Ohio:
Section 1. That City Council sessions shall be videotaped and subsequently cable cast on the City's Government Access Channel in an effort to make City Council sessions more accessible to the community.
Section 2. That the Office of Cable Communications shall perform this service with existing equipment and volunteers for production.
Section 3. That the following rules shall be observed for the videotaping of City Council Sessions:
All public meetings shall be carried "gavel-to-gavel".
There shall be no editing of such meetings, except for the inclusion of materials which were used during the meeting itself, but unable to be picked up by the cameras. (For example, a video tape or slide presentation which was shown during the meeting, but would be difficult to pick up on camera.) The appropriate council of committee clerk or secretary would be asked to approve such edits.
Set-up and tear-down of equipment shall not interfere with any meetings in progress.
During meetings, only the person recognizes by the chair, and speaking, will be shown. There will be no reaction shots. Shots of descriptive material, as shown by the speaker will be included when possible. Wide shots of the Council Chambers or the meeting room will be used during transitions from one speaker to another.
All council or committee members and members of the City Administration will be identified by text at the bottom of the screen identifying them by name and appropriate title.
A character text "crawl" will describe the name of the meeting or hearing and the agenda item currently under discussion. Such "crawl" will appear at least every ten minutes during the meeting. (A "crawl" is one line of text that moves along the bottom of the television screen.)
Section 4. That a copy of this resolution be spread upon the minutes of Council and sent to several neighborhood community councils for the City of Cincinnati.
Passed March 25 A.D., 1987
Signed by Mayor: Charlie J. Luken
Attested by Clerk of Council: Sandy Sherman
