Liberals Want Their Own Network

[DBoon]

From Wired:

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.

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64378,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3

[BlueEyedSon]

1. What stage is the Gore Network at?

[mhr]

2. See This Article As Well - Looks Like Significant New Money Into Politics

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/magazine/25DEMOCRATS.html?th=&adxnnl=0&adxnnlx=1090921052-5k97zEU+88sK7uBw3TRpZA&pagewanted=print&position=

New York Times

July 25, 2004
Wiring the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
By MATT BAI

Andy Rappaport made his millions as a venture
capitalist,searching out what he calls ''ideas that
change the world.'' About six years ago, for instance,
when most everyone else in the high-tech industry
thought wireless communication was going to depend on
new, exotic semiconductors, Rappaport threw $2.5
million into a start-up called Atheros Communications,
whose founders were focusing instead on building
low-cost radios using common chip technology. It was a
smart move. When the company went public last
February, the initial investment by Rappaport and his
partners was worth more than $60 million.

Rappaport is also, increasingly, an avid investor in
liberal causes, and in this context he might be called
a political venture capitalist. Rappaport and his
wife, Deborah, whose philanthropic activities in
recent years include several million dollars in
donations to art museums and after-school music
programs, have committed at least $5 million this year
-- so far -- to support a bevy of fledgling liberal
groups, like Music for America and Punkvoter.com,
aimed at mobilizing younger voters.

I met Rappaport, who is 46, in early June in his
firm's offices on Sand Hill Road, Silicon Valley's
answer to Wall Street. As we talked in a plush
conference room flanked by a sunlit terrace on one
side and a pool table on the other, events in the
world outside seemed to be tilting strongly in the
Democrats' favor. Public support for President Bush's
handling of the war in Iraq was dropping
precipitously. The price of oil had shot up to $42 a
barrel. Only hours earlier, voters in South Dakota
sent a Democratic woman, Stephanie Herseth, to the
U.S. House in a special election -- a race widely
viewed as a potential harbinger for November.

But if all of this made John Kerry a good bet to
become the next president, it did nothing, in
Rappaport's view, to solve the Democrats' underlying
problems. When I asked if he was skeptical about the
direction of the party, he smiled, then said dryly,
''If you've been able to discern a direction on which
to be skeptical or optimistic, then you're doing
pretty well.''

Snip ......

[mom cat]

3. "I'm herding all of the cats"...more of the story...........

: dem: 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
(more)

[LSK]

4. they do have one, its called CSPAN

[Democat]

5. You think CSPAN is liberal? Also, who are "they"?

Interesting post.

[RetroLounge]

16. They? Don't you mean We?

just saying...

RL

[minkyboodle]

25. they?

Freudian slip perhaps???

[Guaranteed]

26. Yeah, leave it to the guys who just show the Congressional-goings-on

to be "liberal." WHAT-THE-FUCK-EVER.

[mandyky]

29. Pretty sad when a truly fair and factual station like cspan

gets called liberal. No doubt, lately, liberals are the only ones telling the truth based on facts rather than propoganda. Yes, Dems spin like anyone else, but I think a Democratic network would include more REAL news.

[Frances]

6. We also need a Dem "rag"

I'm tired of reading headlines like "Clinton lover murders..." or "Chelsea goes wild" or "Barbra Stesiand is ugley" when I have to stand in line at the check-out counter.

We need some headlines blaring out the Repub scandals.

At this time, people feel that if they declare themselves Dems, then they will be ridiculed and/or persecuted.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I've long believed that the Dems need to publish a

National Enquirer-type rag to reach the people who buy supermarket tabloids. My late grandmother used to buy them, and their focus was subtly but relentlessly right-wing, with stories about "heartless bureaucrats" and other right-wing bugaboos, but never about "heartless business tycoons."

[PROGRESSIVE1]

14. I like both of you! I have brought this idea up so....

many time before only to be ridiculed. This is a propaganda game and we need a "machine" to push our ideology.

We need both a Tabloid and a "Respectable looking" rag, a left-wing Moonie Times if you will.

[DBoon]

15. George Orwell wanted socialist comics

because the boys comics of the time had an overwhelming right wing bias.

He was ridiculed for this as well, but I sounds like an excellent idea to me

[belle]

21. Like the UK Mirror?

[mahina]

27. I don't want to rain

on your enthusiasm but did you see the Enquirer's edition front page story, with a big old robo-pic, captioned: "Dick Cheney is a Robot"?
Could we do any better?
It was priceless!

[Arugula Latte]

34. He's one of those

evil, maniacal, murderous robots a la "I, Robot."

[WillyT]

8. Great News !!! - Thanks For Posting This !!!

:bounce:

[Mace]

9. MSNBC

I always thought MSNBC was the liberal alternative to Fox News, guess I was wrong.

[Bragi]

10. Joe Scarborough is Alternative?

I don't think so.

- b

[JerseygirlCT]

11. Or Pat Buchanan???? nt

[Cocoa]

13. or Jerry Nachman?

or Dan Abrams?

or Michael Savage?

or Frank Luntz?

[w4rma]

12. MSRNC fired Donahue for being "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda"

Meanwhile, the Web site www.allyourtv.com posted a commentary on Wednesday by Rick Ellis saying that he had been leaked an internal NBC study that described Donahue as “a tired, left-wing liberal out of touch with the current marketplace.”

The report allegedly said Donahue presented a difficult face for NBC at a time of war, saying a nightmare scenario would be one in which his show becomes “a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity.”
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/5263274.htm

While “Donahue” does badly trail both O'Reilly and CNN's Connie Chung in the ratings, those numbers have improved in recent weeks. So much so that the program is the top-rated show on MSNBC, beating even the highly promoted “Hardball With Chris Matthews.”

Although Donahue didn't know it at the time, his fate was sealed a number of weeks ago after NBC News executives received the results of a study commissioned to provide guidance on the future of the news channel.

That report--shared with me by an NBC news insider--gives an excruciatingly painful assessment of the channel and its programming. Some of recommendations, such as dropping the “America's News Channel,” have already been implemented. But the harshest criticism was leveled at Donahue, whom the authors of the study described as “a tired, left-wing liberal out of touch with the current marketplace.”
http://www.allyourtv.com/0203season/news/02252003donahue.html

[RetroLounge]

17. What Planet are you on?

RL

[Democat]

24. MSNBC is liberal and Michael Savage is a liberal hero!

Right!

[Blue Gardener]

28. Only Countdown

With Keith Olberman.

[symbolman]

18. This was OUR MEDIA SUMMIT

and man, we DID get a lot of work done! Last weekend in the Boston UMASS and it was a big hit--

Glad to see Palast has thrown his hat in there - this is great news, let's get some BUZZ going folks!

I want to nominate this for the front page, but since I'm IN it, does that break some kind of rule?

Really, this is important stuff, I was talking to Skinner and Earlg and the gang about this at the DU party here..

Please spread the word on this, that's the ONLY way it will happen!!

Let's roll!

symbolman

[demobabe]

19. SummitNet04

Danny Schechter was also going to show up but missed his plane - we caught up with him later - he has quite a few interesting ideas. it's the right time for all of this to come together.

[belle]

23. The part about TV and the Net converging over the next few years...

That was interesting. And I wonder whether it might be our best chance of getting around the corporate stranglehold on TV finally.

A grimmer thought: that it might work the other way around, and the 'Net will start getting owned by a few big megacompanies.

But my hope is that it won't be that way, and that Fox et al will be consigned to oblivion by upstart streaming TV channels.

[Zorra]

20. Boycott television until we have a liberal TV station. n/t

[napi21]

22. It's a great idea, but VERY EXPENSIVE!

Wouldn't it be better to try one or two liberal shows first? I do believe there's a pretty big market out there for some shows like this, but it's really tough to start a Network. I think AAR is going to be very successful, but it's been really rough initially. One of the reasons they are successfull is because a lot of us can listen via the net. You can't really do that for TV.

[symbolman]

32. It's time for people

to put their money where their mouth is and get down to the real job..

some were saying "What if Kerry wins? What kind of network will you have then?"

this isn't about just bashing bush.. it's about ORGANIZING.. it's time for all these progressive sites on the web (without losing their branding or identity) to JOIN up, create ONE PAGE like Yahoo that is COMPLETELY PROGRESSIVE and then keep OUR talking points at the top of the page..

we ALL need to keep hammering at the same STORY instead of trying to beat each other up..

I'm looking at this the same way that people organised in the 20s and fought the big bosses and WON.. there were a lot of heads pounded in, jailings, court battles, etc -- but in the end the PEOPLE won, they got 40 hour work weeks, vacations, no child labor, etc..

our goals are sort of the same, as one poster put it, we just want the TRUTH -- I just want FACTS and the re-instatement of the Fairness Doctrine (which is as democratic as it comes) --

and there are many RICH people with lots of bucks and connections that can make this happen.. if we ALL keep making enough noise about this and gather together as one group with BUYING POWER, then we can CHANGE things --

Guys like the Drobnys and Soros and MoveOn.org need to focus on Larger game than BUSH.. the larger game is OWNING MINDS -- a wise man once said, "Language is a virus.." and it's time for US to INFECT minds with the TRUTH on a mass scale..

I've believed in this so much that we mortgaged our home to fight this fight, so others that will never miss a meal can make SOME sort of sacrifice..

and I am NOT stopping, so get your wallets out :)

All it takes is one person to just stand up and SAY SOMETHING, and we ARE..

Let's own some minds and hearts!

[Cooley Hurd]

30. You know, I really don't want my news networks to be liberal...

...or conservative. I want them to simply report the truth and present the news in the most unbiased manner possible.

I want Edward R. Murrow-esque reporting. Mr Murrow stood up to Joseph McCarthy at the height of the communist witch hunts.

[Frances]

31. I loved Murrow

but this is 2004. To make an impact, we need some excitement and pizazz. For example, how many people watched Bill Moyers versus O'Reilly? We need competition at every level.

[symbolman]

33. I agree

it's all about emotion and pushing buttons now, but you CAN do that while both ENTERTAINING and EDUCATING at the same time..

take a look at our animations at Take Back the Media.com -- I don't just make light of things, we also insert FACTS and links for proof..

notice that the Republicans DON'T offer proof, they just get people riled up, basically psyops garbage..

I do agree that we want FACTS tho, no arguement there.