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Do you wonder why public dialogue in the U.S. these days takes place in such an atmosphere of surreal trivia, despite the vitally important challenges facing us? Wonder why global warming, a catastrophe of Biblical proportions, can get on TV only if it's cast as the malevolent face behind a hurricane? Wonder why Americans are so bogglingly ignorant of basic current events?
Al Gore knows. Read his extraordinary speech.
David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.
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View as Flat
Chris Schults Posted 6:51 am
05 Oct 2005
As I read, I was wondering when Al was going to mention Current TV. Of course, he didn't disappoint. First on the barriers to average citizens participating in television program:
So, unlike the marketplace of ideas that emerged in the wake of the printing press, there is virtually no exchange of ideas at all in television's domain. My partner Joel Hyatt and I are trying to change that - at least where Current TV is concerned. Perhaps not coincidentally, we are the only independently owned news and information network in all of American television.
It is important to note that the absence of a two-way conversation in American television also means that there is no "meritocracy of ideas" on television. To the extent that there is a "marketplace" of any kind for ideas on television, it is a rigged market, an oligopoly, with imposing barriers to entry that exclude the average citizen.
And then again:
The greatest source of hope for reestablishing a vigorous and accessible marketplace for ideas is the Internet. Indeed, Current TV relies on video streaming over the Internet as the means by which individuals send us what we call viewer-created content or VC squared. We also rely on the Internet for the two-way conversation that we have every day with our viewers enabling them to participate in the decisions on programming our network.
When I previously wrote about Current TV, I mentioned that they aired a piece about the effects of climate change in Alaska, but I couldn't find the clip in their online studio (where people like me and you post videos). I later learned Current TV produces their own content and they chose to address global warming (perhaps due to Al's influence?). The nice folks at Current TV sent the clip to me on DVD. I'd digitize it and share it with you all, but promised that I would not. Sorry.
I'm sure there is a limit to the number of times Current TV themselves will cover global warming or the environment in general. Therefore Gristians, heed Al's call. Take back the airwaves, um, cable wires, satellite waves (?) ... submit your own content to the marketplace of ideas.
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