COVID-19 has had a profound effect on all of us, from restaurants and retail stores trying to stay afloat, to individuals and families trying to navigate this uncharted territory. Community Media Centers have been no exception, and NewTV has certainly felt the weight of the pandemic over the past 2 years. During the months of lockdown, we had to close our doors for the safety of our members, our staff, and our community. With that, we lost access to our most valuable resource – the people who have helped to build NewTV into everything that it is today.

Putting Members First

A still from one of our many NewTV @ Home tutorial videos.We had to get creative in our answers to a few questions:

How can you produce TV shows without bringing people into the studio?

How can we train new members to use our equipment?

How do you maintain transparent government coverage with no in-person meetings?

We tied our thinking caps on tightly, and the creativity flowed. NewTV found a way for our members to successfully continue their productions without missing a beat by creating take-home equipment kits and NewTV @ Home tutorials to make sure their shows could look as professional from their living rooms as they did from our studio.

Unedited, Transparent Coverage - No Matter What

NewTV also partnered with the City of Newton to ensure that our local government's meetings remained accessible to its constituents. In fact, we have been able to bring the people of Newton more meeting coverage - and more government transparency - than ever before. With the installation of new equipment at City Hall, NewTV will have the ability to continue its expanded coverage as meetings return to hybrid or fully in-person status.

Perspectives on Our New Perspective

This year for Community Media Day, we talked to a few of our members and local government officials about how NewTV has fought to turn a bad situation into something better, and how Community Media not only survived the pandemic, but is becoming more important than ever.

Visit our Support page to find out all the ways you can help NewTV continue to grow and better the Newton community through events and initiatives, member-created content, classes and workshops, scholarship programs, and more!