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HOLLAND
COLLEGE • April 29, 2003
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INSIDE |
FEATURES
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{Local
community outreach television program provides valuable information
for Islanders PHOTO:
Mark Lamey puts the show together on editing equipment.By Matthew McClellan Surveyor Staff Susanne MacDonald stands over a sink in an ordinary-looking kitchen, filling a glass with water. "Prince Edward Island homeowners who depend on their own private wells for their drinking water are responsible for monitoring the quality of that water," she says as she heads to the fridge and drops some ice into the glass. The point is to inform well and home owners of the precautions they should take to ensure their well gives them clean water. The scene jumps to George Somers, who works at the Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment. He describes what precautions to take to make sure a well does not become contaminated. It's all in a day's work for MacDonald and the cast and crew of Island Focus. Island Focus is a half-hour community television program which acts as a voice for the provincial government. The show appears Mondays on Channel 10 on EastLink Television at 7:30 p.m. The show also airs in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It runs from October to May. "Basically what we impart to people is information about the programs, people and places of Prince Edward Island," said MacDonald, who has worked on the show for two years as an associate producer. She is filling in for the regular producer, Verna Lynn Weeks, while she's on maternity leave until January, 2004. The show is part of the information services division of the provincial treasury and is produced entirely in-house. "EastLink receives the show from us completely produced and all they have to do is broadcast it," MacDonald said. The program was very well received by people in the primary industries when the show began in 1995 because it provided them with a lot of information, MacDonald said. "Of course this would be in the pre-Internet days as well, so they couldn't just go online and call up a calender of events," she said. "I think they had really good viewership. It might have been a little more limited because the show was targeted to those primary resources." Today, the show looks at all government departments ranging from the attorney general to agriculture and forestry, education, tourism and development and technology. "We're looking at a broad range of programs," MacDonald said. The show was initially an hour long, but it was cut back to a half-hour in October, 2000. Island Focus consists of four different segments which talk about a program, event or person. "I kind of look at them as mini-documentaries," MacDonald said. The show features a different location each episode. "We travel from one end of the Island to the other, so it kind of gives a little different flavour to the show because it's being hosted from a different location," said MacDonald. In March, one of the show looked at AIDS P.E.I. In April, there were programs about the P.E.I. Science Fair and the P.E.I cancer treatment centre. The topic on the April 28 show was spring. The show covered spring activities such as garden shops, spring planting and crop rotation. The segments for each episode usually follow a theme, MacDonald said. For instance the theme for the April 21 episode was rural P.E.I. The cast and crew of Island Focus looked at regional information technology centres across the Island. The cast and crew of Island Focus is small. Gerry Birt is the host, Verna Lynn Weeks is the production coordinator, producer and segment host. Associate producers are MacDonald, Peter MacPhee and Maureen Flanagan. The editors are Mark Lamey and Rus Melanson, who is also a camera operator. The other camera operator is Billy Dunn. Each segment has a different host. They include Gillian King, Karen White, Ken Mayhew, Rod Stanley, Jennifer MacLeod, Sherry MacDougall, Julie Whitlock, Jeanna McIntosh, Mark Barrett and Josh Martin. "The best part of this job is you're not always behind a desk, you're out and about," said MacPhee. MacDonald said the wide-acceptance of the Internet has been used to the show's advantage. "Each week two of the four segments are digitized and are available on the Internet. We have a Web site, which is www.gov.pe.ca/focus. And we also let people know what's coming up. We keep the information up-to-date on what is happening next week and give a summary of each story," MacDonald said. Viewers can look at video files from Island Focus dating back to October, 1998. The site provides more than just previous segments. It gives viewers a way to gain more information on the topics they've seen. For example, the site has a link to AIDS P.E.I. for those looking for more information. Although the season ends in May, working on Island Focus is a year-round job. If something happens during the summer, the crew will go out and shoot it. The only difference is there's no deadline in the summer, MacPhee said. The program also attracts a broad range of viewers. A survey conducted in 1999 found 65 per cent of the viewing audience were 40 and older and they were evenly split between genders. Also, 65 per cent were from Queens County and 42 per cent watched the program between one and four times a month. Of people who responded, 70 per cent were 60 and over and had seen the show and 63 per cent of those surveyed had heard of it. Island Focus has won a number of awards, including the Galaxi Award for Excellence in Programming in 1997. In 2000, they won the Gemstone Award of Merit from the Nova Scotia chapter of the Canadian Public Relations Society, the CPRS Award of Excellence in the audio visual category, and the APEX Award for Publication Excellence in the Education and Information Video Publications category. In 2001 the show received the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island Walt Wheeler Media Award. "I think it's very interesting. They do a good job of covering local issues," said Susan Graham, who was interviewed on the March 24 episode about the age when students begin school. She also watches the show when something which interests her is covered. "The more I've seen of the program the more I've been impressed," she said. Meanwhile, the program on well water is drawing to a close. After Somers explains ways to prevent contamination, the scene jumps to John Moore of Moore Well Drilling. He explains various products you can purchase to help ensure a clean well. Then it's back to MacDonald in the living room of the same home from the beginning of the segment . "Quality drinking water is essential to the health of all living creatures. By regularly monitoring the water from your own private well, you can ensure a safe supply of drinking water for you and your family. From Stratford, I'm Susanne MacDonald."} |
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