Section 1. Mission Statement
The mission of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Government Channel is to make local government more accessible and understandable to the citizens of Calcasieu Parish; to inform residents on local government, government services, and public affairs; and to facilitate the exchange of public information.

Section 2. Goals
The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Government Channel (Channel) will accomplish its mission through the following goals:

1) Inform citizens on the operations and activities of Calcasieu Parish government and its agencies.
2) Increase citizen access to Police Jury meetings through televising of these sessions.
3) Provide informative public affairs television programs of interest and value to residents of Calcasieu Parish which are not otherwise available or provided by other sources.
4) Cover public forums and events of concern and interest to residents of Calcasieu Parish.
5) Create a library of local programming for historical preservation.
6) Emphasize professional quality in the delivery of programming on the Channel.
7) Ensure that programming is fair, accurate, and balanced, without regard to partisanship or ideology.
8) Use community resources and interns in the operation of the Channel in order to support community life in Calcasieu Parish and also to minimize costs.

 Section 3. Programming Categories
To accomplish its mission and goals, the Channel shall provide programming in the following categories, in order of priority:

1) Public Meeting Coverage

a) The Government Channel is responsible for providing television coverage of all regular meetings of the Police Jury and the Parish Planning and Zoning Board. Coverage of these meetings shall be the programming priority of the Channel.
b) Coverage of additional meetings will be determined based upon staff and facility capabilities at the discretion of the Director. Public meetings produced by other local governmental entities within the Parish will be considered for broadcast. The production of the meetings of other local government entities within the Parish will be considered for broadcast. Formal approval from the governing bodies of those entities must be provided in advance for the airing of the meetings (as adopted by the Police Jury on July 19, 2007).
c) All public meetings will be covered gavel-to-gavel. The meetings will be replayed in their entirety. Any editing will only occur for the addition of title and credit pages for cable casting of replay, and coverage lost due to technical considerations.
d) If a meeting is televised live and goes into “closed session,” the Government Channel producer may display a message describing the current status of the meeting or to play segments during the break.
e) Videos of Police Jury meetings are intended for cable casting purposes only and shall not be considered the official record of the meetings.

i) Provision of a copy of the meeting does not imply reliance on a complete or error-free duplication of the meeting.
ii) Copies of the meetings will be retained for a time period pursuant with Louisiana Record Retention Laws. Videos may be retained for a longer period for video archives.

 f) Meeting notices may be submitted to the Government Channel for posting on the Bulletin Board System. Notices on the Channel will not suffice for compliance with public meeting law notices.

2) Emergency Message Programming

a) The channel may be used to facilitate communications with residents during an emergency in Calcasieu Parish in consultation with the Calcasieu Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP).
b) Emergency programming will be subject to staff and facility limitations, and is not intended to substitute for the override of cable programming by the OHSEP in accordance with Emergency Alert System guidelines.

3) News Magazine Programs

a) A magazine-format series may be produced by the Channel on a periodic basis as a news and information program.
b) Programs will focus on Calcasieu Parish issues, special activities, events and Parish services.

4) Program Series

a) A program series is a group of television programs produced with the same primary communication objective.
b) The programs in a series should be produced on a regular basis.
c) The Director shall decide which programs to produce as a series, and shall supervise their production and regulate their format and frequency.

5) Special Events Coverage

a) Coverage of special events will be provided based upon operating policies and goals as well as staff and facility availability.
b) Special event coverage may include press conferences, special call meetings or other Parish sponsored events.

6) Documentaries

a) Documentary-style programs may be produced by the Channel.
b) These programs are to be more in-depth than the magazine style programming.

7) Public Service Announcements (PSA’s)

a) PSA’s for government activities and events shall be produced for Parish departments and agencies.
b) PSA’s from other agencies or sources, including local municipalities, will be considered based upon operating policies and goals as well as staff and facility availability.

8) Computer Bulletin Board (Character Generator) Programming

a) The Computer Bulletin Board is for the posting of information pertaining to Calcasieu Parish government and its agencies. Sources of information or messages displayed on the Computer Bulletin Board shall be limited to those generated by:

i) Departments or Divisions of Calcasieu Parish Government.
ii) Request or publication of the State of Louisiana government.
iii) Request of government agencies to which departments or divisions of Calcasieu Parish are affiliated, including but not limited to the Calcasieu Parish Planning and Zoning Board, Special Service Districts, and Calcasieu Parish municipalities.
iv) Promotional information about Calcasieu Parish functions or Calcasieu Parish-sponsored events.
v) Notices of an emergency nature.

 b) Requests should be received in writing at least one week in advance of the desired start date of airing. Requests may be submitted on forms available or via electronic mail. Exceptions apply to messages of an emergency nature that affect residents’ health and safety, which will be included in the display sequence as soon as possible.
c) The Channel’s Staff may edit submitted materials to conform to space and technical limitations.
d) The Computer Bulletin Board will be shown during non-programming hours.

9) Other Programming
Programs may be produced which do not fit into any existing program series. These programs will be considered “specials” and may be of any format. These programs must comply with the requirements for new programming as included within these operating policies.

10) Outside Programming Acquisition
Programming may be acquired from organizations or entities other than the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury. This programming must meet the appropriate technical standards, as determined by the Director and fit within the mission and goals of the Channel.

11) Political Candidate and Issue Forums

    a) Channel will air candidate forums only when all participating candidates have given prior permission for public broadcast.

    b) Channel will air forums only when sponsored by non-partisan groups or when sponsor arranges for independent moderators and panelists.

    c) Channel will air candidate and issue forums at the discretion of the director.

Section 4. Program Requests
1) All department heads or their designee, and Parish officials are eligible to request programming within the scope of services to be provided by the Channel.

2) The Channel is classified as a “Government Channel” and not a “Public Access Channel.” A Public Access Channel is designed to air programming by residents, organizations and civic groups that is outside the scope of the mission and goals of the Government Channel. These types of requests will be directed to the appropriate cable television company in the Parish.

3) The Channel shall not be used to produce video programming for private or commercial organizations.

4) The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury may collaborate with other public agencies and similar organizations to develop programming that further serves the public interest, as determined by the Director in consultation with the Office of the Administrator.

5) Programming requests may be made by letter, fax or email. Requests for programming will be responded to within thirty (30) days of the request. Parish departments and agencies requesting a video program must be willing to assist in producing the program if asked to do so. This may include furnishing necessary information, gathering together persons and props to be used in the program, and making on-air presentations as deemed necessary by the Director.

6) The Director is responsible for all programming decisions in accordance with these policies and mission statement. In the event an applicant wishes to appeal the Director’s decision to deny a program request, a written appeal for review of the request may be made within ten (10) business days after the initial request has been denied, to the Director with a copy to the Assistant Parish Administrator, who will review the appeal and render a decision.

Section 5. Programming Eligibility
To be eligible for production or broadcasting, programming must fall within the mission and goals of the Channel and also meet all of the following criteria:

1) The programming shall not include slanderous, lewd, obscene, indecent or violent material or language. When questions arise as to the admissibility of material or language in this regard, the material will be reviewed subject to state and/or local law, and the FCC definition of “indecent” as “programming that describes or depicts sexual or excretory activities or organs in a patently offensive manner as measured by contemporary community standards for a cable medium.”

2) The programming shall not coerce anyone to support or participate in religion or its exercise, or otherwise act in a way which “establishes a (state) religion or religious faith, or tends to do so.”

3) The programming shall not include paid advertising. The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Government Channel is a non-commercial channel. Advertising is prohibited. Program sponsors shall only receive credit during the opening and/or closing credits of the Program.

4) The programming shall not include direct appeals to purchase commercial goods or services, or any call-to-action messages.

5) The programming shall meet minimum technical quality standards as determined by the director.

6) The programming shall be direct, non-editorial information regarding the operation and deliberations of local government and other public affairs. The Channel shall not serve as a mechanism for building support for a particular policy, program or issue.

7) The programming shall not include declared candidates for elected office. Candidates for elected office may not use the channel as a part of a campaign effort. This exclusion does not apply to persons who receive air time as part of official public meeting coverage, candidate forums, special election coverage and coverage of incumbents performing official duties which warrant cable casting.

8) The programming shall not include copyrighted materials unless written permission has been obtained from the copyright holder. Copyright permission must be obtained for all programs produced by outside sources that are cablecast by the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury. Copyrighted music is not permitted unless written permission is obtained from the copyright holder.

9) Opinions expressed on the channel may not necessarily reflect those of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, the Parish Administrator, or Parish staff.

Section 6. Program Copyright
1) All video programming produced by and used for production of television programs by the staff of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Government Channel shall remain the property of the Channel and the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury.

2) The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury shall hold the copyright on all programs produced primarily for airing on the Channel.

Section 7. Duplication/Copy Orders
The Channel will provide copies of meetings and other programming aired on the channel, subject to the following conditions:
1) Copies will be provided on a first-come, first-serve basis. Copies will be provided as soon as staff and facility time allows.
2) A fee shall be charged for copying programming at the following rates:

a) $10.00 per copy ordered 

b) $ 5.00 per order for shipping and handling

           c) DVD or digital media formats only

3) Copies are available only for programs for which the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury owns the copyright.

4) Copies may be provided at no cost to participating government entities at the discretion of the director.

Section 8. Government Channel Administration
1) The Government Channel Office reports to the Office of the Administrator, and is responsible for the following:

a) Implementation and oversight of the production of programming for the Channel.

b) Making programming decisions in accordance with operating policies and in consultation with the Office of the Administrator.

c) Reviewing any appeals regarding decisions made on program requests.

2) Operating policies of the Government Channel may be amended upon approval of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury.