One of the greatest lifestyle advertisements that exist in
the technology world today is the “Mac vs. PC” ad. It’s priceless, really. The marketers at Mac should win an award for
that one. Young vs. old, hip vs. lame, traditional
vs. unconventional, it’s all there.

Apparently the people over at Community
Televsion of Santa Cruz County thought the same thing when they produced
this parody.

This video is a bit different in that it parodies community
television vs. corporate media, but they stuck with the same ideas. The representation of corporate media is
staunch, outdated, and money hungry.
Community television was represented by youth, intelligence and
articulation.

The writers of the video touch on some key factors of the
problems facing corporate media. With
his greasy hair, and perfectly pressed suit, corporate media explains: “The channels
I own serve as my personal mouthpiece. I
tell you what I’ve told you, you want to know,” or, “I own stations all over
the country, so my programming is designed to be generic, and appealing to the
majority. It keeps my corporate
advertisers happy.” Pleasing corporate
advertisers is the reason most of the programming on corporate stations are so
bland and uniformed. Corporate censorship
is essentially the number one problem with our media system.

The point that community television is trying to make is
that it supports local content.
Community television is created by the public, making it more accessible
and more diverse from region to region.
It is a system that is set up to provide as many people as possible with
news and information, not a system designed where a small few make some money.