Public Access TV ‘Cares, Entertains’

I want to compliment David Haldane on a well-researched and captivating article about the ins and outs of public access television (Southeast/Long Beach section, July 4). I hope it will encourage cable viewers to stray from Home Box Office and MTV now and then for a glance at what some earnest and energetic neighbors have to say and show. Public access at its best is just good television. It communicates, it cares, and it entertains--not with a big budget, but with lots of soul.

Public access at its true worst is not necessarily the programs created by irresponsible or inept people. The biased or unpolished producer might be responsible for a provocative, interesting show. No, at its worst, public access is merely boring, a description that fortunately does not fit many of the programs produced here in Long Beach. I applaud efforts to provide more technical assistance to our local producers and hope this will mean more and better programming for the public access viewer.

MAT KAPLAN Long Beach Kaplan is the producer of “City Alive!”