Liberals Want Their Own Network
A group of progressive media activists covering the Democratic National Convention in Boston plans to launch a new television network to counter the conservative news coverage they see on Fox News and CNN.
The group includes one of the producers of the Clinton documentary, The Hunting of the President, and the author of a book about corporate influence on politics, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization and High-Finance Fraudsters. Also on board are a veteran record producer, multimedia producers for the Democratic Party's website, leftist bloggers and the former head of the Dean Media Team Network, which produced online ads for the Howard Dean presidential campaign.
Just as the Dems this week surprised pundits with a show of Republican-style unity, those to the left of the party (and to the left of Al Gore, who is starting his own TV network next year), insist they can get their act together, too.
"That's what I'm doing right now," said Micheal Stinson, who helped arrange the Boston meeting, SummitNet04, and who runs the Take Back the Media website. "I'm herding all of the cats."
Stinson said he wants the best progressive journalists and online publishers to join the New Media, the name he uses for the planned network. Editorial standards at the network will be high, he said.
"This is about the issues. This is for real," said Stinson.
Stinson is meeting next week in New York with other New Media planners, including Greg Palast, a reporter for BBC TV and The Guardian newspaper in London. There, the group will begin reaching out to investors.
Palast, the author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, has strong media business ties. He said he believes the New Media network has a good shot at getting on the air, particularly given the film and TV success of Michael Moore, who has proven there is money to be made with a liberal message.
Many of the activists worship Moore and Janeane Garofalo, who are at the convention this week. And they are eager to build on the success of Fahrenheit 9/11 and the promise of Air America, the still-struggling radio network where Garofalo works as an on-air host.
Many of the summit's participants expect Web content to converge with television programming over the next several years. Stinson said the progressive media already have a solid Web audience, which will embrace a cable television network with similar content. "It won't matter if it's the PC or the TV," he said.
But the New Media network will be at the mercy of the cable TV giants, said an executive at Nielsen Media Research. "They will have to persuade companies like Cox Communications to carry them, and that won't happen if Cox doesn't like the product," he said. "I think Al Gore may have an easier time with the cable companies than they will."
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