Al Gore invented Current TV
The last time I read anything about Current TV, the democratically- and technologically-styled channel led by Al Gore, was when it was launched a few years ago. It sounded like an attempt to turn a bunch of newly popular talking points about the promise of new media into a shining beacon for progress-- which meant that it sounded like it was sure to fail. Forgive me for assuming that this would end up being a less partisan version of Air America: an exercise in which a bunch of liberals run head-on into formidable obstacles, including the shortcomings of their grand plans and the sad fact that divisive, fear-inspiring, sensational crap wins the most attention.
Well, it appears that Current TV is growing, not shrinking. With its introduction to Virgin and Sky in Britain and Ireland this week, the channel is now carried in at least 50 million households. The AP article includes a number of quotes from Gore that address the channel's philosophy, particularly its debt to-- and differentiation from-- sites like YouTube:
In the wake of the Internet's video-sharing revolution -- spearheaded by YouTube and similar sites -- broadcasters around the world have rushed to incorporate viewer-created content into their programming.Some argue that this is a case of the right message in the wrong medium -- that the chaotic, unregulated Internet is the true heart of broadcasting democracy.
"It's fundamentally different," argued Gore. "Instead of going through a million different videos, some of which are the family dog -- and a family you don't even know, and the dog's not very interesting -- we will do that for you and find the highest quality, best produced, most fascinating, most compelling material that still reflects that raw creativity and fresh perspective of individuals."
Has anyone watched this channel? If so, what did you think about it?
Comments
Henry,
I have not seen Current TV, but i'd like to suggest that this project is quite a feasible one for the "democratization" of television programming. Actually given the recent boom in communications technologies over the past five years, it's hard to believe that such a program is still relatively bold and new. Given the ammount of news coverage out there, is it not conceivable that a station could be made on which people vote to decide on what types of programming would be broadcast? Imagine if each week, Al Gore asked us to pick 7 documentaries we were most interested in seeing out of a selection of 100. The seven shoes with the winningest votes could all be shown on primetime throughout the next week. In this way, Gore would be able to censor the shows for material deemed too violent or racy, but the populous would still have some role in choosing their shows. I know this is a little different from what Gore has envisioned, but I feel that his structure and the one I have just illustrated are compatible. I'd like to know in more detail why you think Current TV would lead to "an exercise in which a bunch of liberals run head-on into formidable obstacles, including the shortcomings of their grand plans and the sad fact that divisive, fear-inspiring, sensational crap wins the most attention."
Posted by: Daliso Leslie | March 14, 2007 01:38 AM
Daliso,
I was referring to my initial, intuitive response to hearing about Gore's project. Recall the (possibly-silly) background: Gore had won the popular vote and was as close as you can get to being President and still lose. So he grew that big beard and faded into the background. I didn't realize then that he would succeed so prominently by going back to his bread and butter issues, like technology and the environment.
I was also initially skeptical because I couldn't envision a truly open/viewer-driven television format actually being able to compete with material that is specially packaged to manufacture viewership. Of course, I now see the power of responsive, open media, but having still not seen Current TV-- or heard about it from any of my friends-- I can't really say one way or the other whether Gore & Co. have tapped into the real spirit of media expansion AND managed to get viewers.
Posted by: Henry | March 14, 2007 02:07 AM