Gore TV channel to outfox US rightwing media

The Guardian (a Brit 'slime' rag) ^ | 6/20/03 | Dominic Timms

[harpu]

The Guardian

Former US vice president Al Gore is planning to launch a liberal cable TV news network to challenge the dominance of rightwing media such as the market leading Fox News.

Mr Gore, a Democrat who was beaten to the White House by George Bush in a controversial contest three years ago, is talking to financial backers and entertainment veterans about launching the channel.

Although it is not clear what format the liberal network would take, sources close to Mr Gore said the former presidential candidate was firmly behind the venture.

"He can pull out at any time. He can say, 'This isn't my deal'. But he's interested, " one associate told Time magazine.

Mr Gore wants the venture to counter the increasing dominance of hard right republican views on America's TV and radio networks.

He has described sections of the US media as the "fifth column" that inserts "daily Republican talking points into the definition of what's objective".

Although the UK's independent television commission yesterday cleared Fox News of pro-war bias, commentators on both sides on the Atlantic complained about its one-sided portrayal of the Iraq conflict.

Mr Gore, who recently said he would not run for the White House in 2004, has been developing ideas for the network with Joel Hyatt, the founder of Hyatt Legal Services, a chain of low-cost legal clinics.

Once source told Time the venture would put "video cameras in the hands of kids," while another said it would be "something totally different in concept and format" to traditional cable news channels such as CNN.

Mr Gore has always blamed the conservative media for his narrow defeat in the 2000 presidential election.

"The media is kind of weird these days on politics and there are some major institutional voices that are, truthfully speaking, part and parcel of the Republican party," Mr Gore said in an interview with the New York Observer last year.

"Fox News Network, The Washington Times , Rush Limbaugh - there's a bunch of them, and some of them are financed by wealthy ultra-conservative billionaires who make political deals with Republican administrations and the rest of the media."

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[gcruse]

sources close to Mr Gore said the former presidential candidate was firmly behind the venture.

"He can pull out at any time..." one associate told Time magazine.

There's nothing like committment.  LOL

[tlb]

I believe most people here are taking precisely the wrong approach to this story. Don't think of it in terms of commercial viability. If it was then Viacom or such would have a network like this already up and running.

Look at it instead as an end run around Mccain / Feingold soft money limits. The " investors " can this way give the party the benefit of their millions by way of democrat infomercials run as " public affairs " broadcasts, unburdoned by the money restrictions voted into law last year.

Then after the campaign the network can be folded up with the " investors " probably even eligable for large tax write offs.

Gore in the meantime is I expect fishing for some fat consulting fees.