A team of videographers from Logan have an ambitious plan to reinstate community TV around Australia, starting with a studio in Eight Mile Plains.
Claire and Trevor Brazil want to deliver daily live and local shows on an online TV channel, which will also help uncover homegrown talent from Logan.
They both have extensive broadcast experience, having worked for the South African Broadcasting Corporation and BBC. Today, they co-own a local production company, Paramount Video.
Last week, Mr Brazil applied the finishing touches to a proposal for Community TV (CTV).
The channel would live on YouTube and feature everything from current affairs to variety programs.
“It’s essentially a small creative digital media hub, and I want to start one in Logan, one in Brisbane, and another 20 in total across Australia.”
His work on community channels in Canada and South Africa proved to him that a similar concept would thrive in Logan.
“In a place like Logan where there is a lot of disadvantage, this will give jobs and skills,” he said.
“We’ll be training 100 people a year to be able to do video production, and for me that’s one of the most outstanding aspects of this.”
Mr Brazil said community TV can also help reduce loneliness by giving people both professional and social networks.
“We’re trying to improve mental health and wellbeing at a time coming out of covid,” he said. “So you have the economic plus the mental health benefit of having a community station.”
He feels powerfully about this. As a student he moved from South Africa to Canada to further his studies. When he was lonely and struggling to cope at film school, community TV helped him pull through socially and professionally.
“I was disadvantaged because all those kids at university knew a hell of a lot more than me, and at university they cull you after your first year if you don’t make the cut,” he said.
“I was about to get culled and sent back to Africa, and my dream of eight years was about to be smashed, but community TV taught me how to be a cameraman, and that saved me.”
Mr Brazil said they are currently exploring partnerships with the likes of QUT and Rural Aid’s founder Charles Alder, among others, to kickstart the project.
He hopes to launch a pilot in Logan through grant money.
With Google and Facebook now having to pay a fee to news content providers under Australian law, Mr Brazil said they could use those royalties as part of a long term business model.
Mrs Brazil said the community can help them grow the station from here.
“We really want to engage with the community, so if anyone has ideas for the shows the want to see or wants to be part of it, we would love them to get in contact,” she said.
