Hard Cover
Community Television Network

CTVN’s young reporters set up for a Hard Cover story.

Photo: Erica Deiparine

Hard Cover, a program of Community Television Network (CTVN), gives urban youth the opportunity to become creators in a medium in which they are accustomed to being consumers. CTVN has found that given the opportunity to "make TV" about themselves and their communities, youth respond with enthusiasm.

This 17-year-old CTVN program is the nation's longest-running youth produced cable access TV series. Each year, participants write, produce, direct, and edit 26 broadcast programs of 30 minutes each, airing one new show every two weeks.

The foundation of Hard Cover's philosophy is to provide youth with the opportunity and tools for conceiving and creating an expression of themselves and their environments, empowering them through the use of critical thinking and the realization of their creative inspirations. Additionally, these youth learn how to read and analyze the electronic media that surround their daily lives.

Youth producers learn the technical aspects of video production by working with experienced filmmakers to use their creativity, allowing them to address issues they find important in aesthetically appealing and often poetically structured ways. When creating TV programs about topics ranging from school reform to community issues and events, Hard Cover producers find innovative ways to tell stories and express ideas artistically by using original images, music, and writing; stylized lighting and composition; and thoughtful juxtaposition of images through editing.

Through its International Video Letter program, young participants send abroad "video letters" about their communities, cultures, and customs. Following the events of September 11, 2001, youth producers participated in an international dialogue with youth in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Dallas, and New York City to discuss the social and political climates of their respective locales, to share personal experiences and opinions about terrorism, as well as to extend a gesture of peace and understanding. To adapt the videos to audiences in foreign countries, students researched these countries and learned about their cultures.

Since the program began in 1986, youth have produced more than 300 Hard Cover videotapes—the largest library of independent youth-produced videos available in the country. The work is broadcast to audiences numbering in the hundreds of thousands each year.