Laura Power
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 26, 2007
IGLULIK - The anticipated launch of Nunavut Independent Television (NITV) this fall will no longer go ahead due to financial setbacks.
This is nothing new for NITV, according to Norman Cohn, board member for the station and partner in Igloolik Isuma Productions. He said during the past 15 years, the station has been on again, off again - more off than on - because of funding woes.
"The idea of local television has never attracted serious funding from any Government of Nunavut agency," he said.
The reason the government should be interested in funding local television in the territory, he said, is that it is a tool that can help preserve the Inuktitut language. He said there is much less Inuktitut programming on television these days than there was 25 years ago, but more programming in other languages such as English and French.
"If all new media has such a small presence for Inuit language, how can anybody expect the language to survive?"
The funding troubles haven't deterred the folks at NITV from making an effort to broadcast Inuktitut programming.
"We're trying to come at it from a different way now," said Cohn.
Though the station won't be up and running in 2007, he said the plan for NITV now is to get a new website up and running which will make film and television produced in Nunavut available on the Internet.
"What this website is, is putting up really an infinite number of channels of Inuit and other indigenous programming, and one of those channels will be NITV," he said.
When the website is first launched, a number of films will be available for viewing including work by Igloolik Isuma Productions and several films from the ImagiNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.
Once the website is up and running, aspiring filmmakers can upload their work to the site.
"We have filmmakers from all over the world who will be participating and anyone can upload their films," he said.
The goal is for the website to be ready to launch before Christmas this year.
