Democratising TV. The Al Gore way

Al Gore yesterday unveiled plans to launch a UK version of his "user generated" network, Current TV , with the help of BSkyB, the pay-TV giant of which Rupert Murdoch is chairman.

He believes Current TV's hybrid of the internet and broadcasting can help re-engage young people with politics and the media. A third of its schedule is created by its mainly 18 to 34-year-old audience with digital video cameras and desktop editing software.

Al Gore says

It's not political, it's not ideological. You get a cornucopia of points of view and fresh perspectives that force people in rigid frameworks to reassess everything.

But what drives people to do these things because it is all about what we as humans are, and the telling and sharing of stories, is principal in a world where we all want to define our selves as individuals. Also we are reinventing culture and folk culture using 21st Century tools and technology.

The TV networks, the Film industry, big media, no longer have a vice like grip on cultural production, and cultural distriibution. Like community, cultural production goes back to the very beginnings of civilisation, the Cave Paintings, that tell the stories of that time, 40,000 years ago. We need dialogue and the telling of stories, to enable to make sense of the world we live in. Morals, ethics, ideology, religion - etc., are all part of this discourse, and, it is persistent.

So why does current TV work?

The secret sauce has to do with the techniques for allowing the people who are part of our audience to select and filter these submissions

I went onto Current TV last night, and I think it is flawless in its integrity, design, and human principles.

Question: Why should I engage - when I have no context, no means to have my opinion valued, or, my voice heard? What OhMyNews and Current TV do is; relinquish the power to everyday people - because you know what - we are intelligent, we can tell stories, we do have a point of view, we are creative.

Current TV is going to be big big big - as in influential. Why? Because it is not mediated - Current TV is a platform - not a TV station in any sense of the word at all. The only thing that makes it somehow like TV is the relationship with audio-visual content.

Unlike online free-for-alls such as YouTube, Current TV pays aspiring film makers if their films are shown, although some have complained that the fees are too low, and wraps their content into a schedule supported by other short programmes created inhouse.

Critics feared the tone would be too establishment and "top down" compared with its internet counterparts and some have sniffily compared it to "yoof TV".

BULLSHIT - So how about a wake up call

Mr Murdoch said his UK rivals needed to face up quickly to the challenges and opportunities presented by the ability of viewers to engage directly with the media.

Murdoch is quoted as saying

Especially in TV, the comfort zone of a classic TV production company is something that is going to get shaken up. Producers have to engage with wider communities. That's not a fad or a niche or a blip that's going to go away. It's a product of the basic empowerment of millions and millions of people being connected to the internet.

Because the value in the cheese, as the Dutch say is in the holes not in the cheese

Its about creating a shared context - and that is what Current TV is all about.

Comments

[Donald Bell]

I still don't see the message getting to the street where the thugs who hide in Hip Hop make all the progress doubtful. We can fix all the broken windows, clean up the enviornment, but if we don't help the brick thrower then gentification won't work, crime will continue to rise and we can't feel safe and secure in our communities. Conservatives and progressives are both cherry picking communities while they hug trees and beg police to drive out drugs, thugs and criminals. Telling good stories also requires means to empower local community action that is inclusive, not parocohial. I spend my time working for a progressive police chief in a small Maryland city next to Washington, DC where crime matters, and I don't see standing outside my police station that anyone cares about the homicides among young people who themselves are victimized by a few thugs we can't keep off the street. I say target the message to show survivors where ever they are will in the end save the day.

[Alan moore]

Dear Donald,

Thank you for your powerful message. If you have more ideas on how networked communities could help make local places safer we all here at CDB would welcome your knowledge and insights.

Thanks for posting.

Alan