Student Film Tells History of Public Access TV in Fayetteville

A film about the first 30 years of public access television in Fayetteville will premiere at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, at the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

“The Open Channel: Public Access Television and the People Next Door,” a film by Niketa S. Reed of Memphis, will kick off a celebration of public access television’s anniversary in Fayetteville. The public is invited to see the film and attend a reception after the screening.

Reed said she was interested in documenting the history of Fayetteville’s public access television providers. “In other places, it’s a free speech platform in decline,” Reed said. “On a national level, it has a reputation for airing amateurish and eccentric programming. But in this city, it refuses to die.”

Reed shares clips from long-standing shows and historical programming that has aired on Fayetteville public access, along with interviews with seven community producers from different walks of life. To see some scenes from the film, visit Reed’s website: http://www.theopenchannel.wordpress.com.

“The Open Channel” is Reed's master thesis film and first solo project. A free-lance journalist, she is a recent graduate of the Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

Reed earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Memphis in 2005 and has a background in nonprofit work with at-risk youth. Born and raised in Peoria, Ill., she grew up in the Midwest, which is the focus of her new documentary film project "The All-American City."