My wife used to be in the habit of watching News World International every morning. NWI is now off the air, replaced by Al Gore’s “hip” Current TV. Well, my wife and I aren’t very hip, but we have gotten sucked in by Current TV. And it appeals to our 10-year old daughter. The format is slick, but some of the segments, called “Pods,” are quite good. They talked about the irony of making Bolton UN Ambassador, they talk about police brutality against anti-globalization protesters and they discuss the need for better sex ed if we want to stop the spread of AIDS. If Al Gore is avoiding progressive politics, he is certainly going for progressive CULTURE on Current TV. But there is a problem and, you know what, we can and SHOULD solve that problem.
As pointed out in the Salon.com review of Current TV, the Pods are good but there aren’t enough of them. They seem to have enough for about 2 hours of programming which they keep looping through. They need more programming and that programming can come from us progressives! They solicit new Pods from viewers and you can get paid for it if they select your Pod.
We talk about the need to retake the media, right? Well, this is it, folks! This is a media station that WANTS us to send them our video footage of WHATEVER we think is intersting. Why aren’t we taking immediate advantage of this? If we want to influence the media, any one of us with a video camera and some skill at filming and some creative idea(s) should be making Pods for Current TV and sending them in.
The progressive bloggers are a creative, interestng bunch. Why shouldn’t we be able to participate in Al Gore’s cultural experiment? Get out your video cameras if you have them. Think about something you are most interested in (doesn’t have to be political, of course). Film a 10 min segment on it and send it in! To quote Dean, YOU HAVE THE POWER. Current TV is giving you the outlet for that power. Let’s not let this opportunity pass us by. This may be the best opportunity we have to influence media and even youth culture.
Thankfully….I mean sadly I don’t have a video camera. Although my digital camera will take some video so really it’s a lame excuse on my part.
Why don’t they have journalism classes in schools take up that challenge? There are lots of schools, even high schools, that have video taped news/announcements in the morning. Those same students would probably be thrilled at a shot at…well lets call it national exposure.
I was surprised at how few they have going. I would think they could pull in more, but it may be they really want to see what their viewers come up with. That would be in line with the philosophy of Current TV–participatory, internet-like TV.
I am seeing this from the other side. If we really want to have our say, Current TV may prove to be an excellent outlet for our creativity. And it may catch on. People thought Air America would flop, but it is doing fine. So hopefully Current TV will do fine.
You’re probably right. And it’s an exciting premise to have individuals doing their own reporting. If you want people to get involved in fighting global warming then having people from all over show the impact is much better imho than having some anchor person read about some new report.
Sadly I don’t even receive the channel, but I did go to their site and watched a few videos.
Definitely gonna borrow or rent a camera and try it. How can anybody resist? I don’t receive the channel either, but will find it online I hope.
I really think the blogsphere should be jumping to supply Current TV with pods. My wife and I don’t have a video camera and have no experience with this sort of thing, though I could probably come up with some Pod ideas if I had the chance. I think the Critical Mass bike movement, the Drinking Liberally movement and stuff like that could be good subjscts, for example.