Drinking my hot chocolate this morning and reading The Nation. I’ve got to say that no matter how much I love the internet there is nothing like reading a book or paging through a magazine.
Anyway, I was reading an article about Al Gore’s new project Current
From the Nation:
…Gore’s new youth cable channel, Current, reflecting a reality of a different sort–that of the television business, where hipness trumps values. Gore was there too, trying to pump up enthusiasm for what he claims will be an entirely new approach to news and culture. Looking bulky but relaxed, Gore asked the diverse young crowd, “How many of y’all would like to see an opportunity to talk about what’s going on in your world that you can participate in with television?”
It seems however, according to the article, that this idea is not expected to do well with their desired demographic, that is young people between the ages of 18-34. For example one criticism was that Current wants to offer:
a twice-hourly news updated spotlighting the top ten queries on Google for any given subject….’When did Google become alternative media?’ asked 22-year-old filmmaker Jennie Heinlein.;
Gore, in referring to the goals of this channel said:
We are about empowering this generation of young people in the 18-to-34 population to engage in a dialogue of democracy and to tell their stories of what’s going on in their lives, in the dominant medium of our time.
Well, Big Al, I got some advice for you on how to make a cable channel that I your 20-something viewer would watch, that would also help me get involved in politics and help create a “dialogue”.
1. Provide me a channel with political hip-hop including lyrics at the bottom of the screen and at the website for your channel.
Artists can include: Dead Prez, Mos Def, Immortal Technique, All Natural. Need help figuring out who is putting out political hip-hop? Contact CMJ and have them do a daily show for you.
2. Offer subtitled or dubbed versions of Telesur and Al Jazeera.
3. Give us adult versions of schoolhouse rock, you know How a Bill becomes a law kind of stuff. I want to know about “boring” stuff like pharmaceutical lobbying, and stuff CSPAN covers, but give me my medicine with a big spoonful of sugar—you know funny song and dance cartoons.
4. Since you are a 24 hour channel run mainstream political movies and tv shows late at night, like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Berkeley in the Sixties, The West Wing, Thirteen Days. Or better yet run independent political films similar to POV from PBS.
5. Give us grassroots independent media. Give us Democracy Now. Give us Alternet. Wanna spice it up? Give us well done 20 second political rants from bloggers like El Moreno.
6. Reccommend books and magazines to us, but make it fun, not boring like C-SPAN’s book reviews. Tell us about magazines like Adbusters, Utne, and Harper’s.
7. Make everything you do accessible on a webpage. EVERYTHING you mention should be on your webpage. And don’t force people to “register” to access any articles. Things spread like herpes on the internet. You know that kid from Jersey who sang the NumaNuma song? Make things funny, easily accessible and easily email-able, and watch those open sores spread.
