"As a whole, the programs on Communications Update have had a political orientation, and have taken a fairly direct approach to their material. When Communications Update first came on the air, it focused on developments in telecommunications policies and technologies. The impetus was not only to provide a body of information which might otherwise not be available in mass media sources, but a concern with the kind of coverage given. As Liza Bear, the series' executive producer wrote, "To artists concerned with changing the tone and content of television, with what is shown and said and how, nuance and integrity of presentation are paramount." ...
After its initial season, Communications Update began to shift its emphasis. Bear explains, "I didn't want to go on just becoming a lexicon or dictionary of new technology or new political policy problems." While retaining its documentary mode, Communications Update began to develop as an outlet for programs made by individuals attempting to gain "an active role in the making of information as artists and as citizens." ...
Communications Update subsequently focused on works which explored the relationship between documentary and drama, not conforming to either but drawing from both."
Source: "Independents on Television," Pat Thomson, Afterimage, Summer 1983
