Last week Lockport's public access cable TV channel, LCTV, bowed to political pressure and canceled Legislative Journal, the public affairs talk show hosted for the last 10 years by Tom Christy. Legislative Journal was the only television talk show in the region that focused on local politics and governance.

Apparently Christy rubbed some powerful people in Niagara County the wrong way -- especially when he brought on guests (such as yours truly and researcher Lou Ricciuti) to talk about the toxic radioactive and chemical legacy that continues to be a health threat throughout the region. In recent months LCTV's board put restrictions on Christy's ability to book guests (only politicians, they said, no journalists or outside experts); to interact with callers (don't converse with them, they said, just let them ask their questions on air and hang up)l and to take on meaningful subject matter (no criticisms and no negativity, they told him). His show was canceled through most of December and then appeared sporadically after the holidays. Finally, last week, they pulled the plug.

Here's a piece of an interview we did with Christy this week. We'll post the rest of our conversation about his show, LCTV and the future of public access TV on Monday. In the mean time, you can read the latest on Artvoice Daily.

—geoff kelly