Al Gore's Liberal Network

[Monte Smith]

Al Gore Wants His VTV
by Joe Hagan
New York Observer

Al wants his VTV.

As former Vice President Al Gore edges toward mini-media-moguldom, press sources quoted his partners this week as saying that Mr. Gore would go younger, not leftier—and now, if his plans work, The Observer has learned, Mr. Gore’s news channel could be … VTV.

V for victory, V for Vice President, V for Vermont, which Mr. Gore won by 30,000 votes in 2000.

In April, Mr. Gore’s principle business partner, Joel Hyatt, purchased a Web site called V.tv from The .tv Corporation, which supplies .tv domain extensions to customers like TBS, the Lifetime Channel and PAX. The company’s Web site lists Mr. Hyatt as V.tv’s administrative contact and as a representative of INDTV, L.L.C., located in Stanford, Calif., where Mr. Hyatt teaches business at Stanford University. An industry source confirmed that INDTV is the working incorporated name of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt’s TV project, which has been characterized in press reports as either a news network for the reality-TV generation or a liberal answer to Fox News, or both.

As of this writing, V.tv has not yet been activated.

According to the .tv Web site, the price of a fancy one-character domain name is $10,000. Mr. Hyatt didn’t return calls seeking comment, so it’s hard to know what the V in VTV stands for. One can only visualize Winston Churchill—or John Lennon—holding up two fingers.

If VTV sounds like that other three-lettered channel so beloved by the Oxy Cream generation, that’s no coincidence. Mr. Gore’s channel will reportedly be geared toward the young Democrats of tomorrow, who can relate to Mr. Gore’s fixation with the Internet and hand-held digital-video cameras (V for va-va-video!). Mr. Gore was a fan of MTV’s late-90’s video-diary show, Unfiltered, and met with the show’s producer earlier this year to talk about similar programming concepts.

With that in mind, The Observer called up a few members of the potential consumers in VTV’s future target audience to see if they’d ever flip to a channel that aired "edgy" 24-hour news about, say, Iraq and file-sharing and those bad, bad Fox News commentators.

"Yeah, I’d be interested," said Jimmy Jung, a 23-year-old advertising assistant. "I’d be curious. I don’t know if I’d check it out all the time, but probably."

Mr. Jung assumed that, if Mr. Gore was involved, it would be "liberal-slanted media." In fact, Mr. Gore’s name had to be considered, even if the respondents were fond of the idea.

"I’d be hesitant, because it’s being operated by former Vice President Al Gore," said Sarah Lewitinn, a 23-year-old assistant editor at Spin magazine whose friends call her "Ultragrrrl." "But at the same time, it’s cool that he’s trying to bring current affairs to the young. I think people get their information from MTV anyway, so here’s a network for them, which is kind of smart. I know a lot of people in my age group are really unaware of what’s going on in the world. They know more about the new Strokes album than what is going on in Iran and Iraq and Syria."

She said it would have to be something with a sense of humor, like The Daily Show, to work. But Elliot Aronow, 23, a public-relations assistant, said it needed to have some gravity. "It depends how seriously they took themselves and how much they gave young people an opportunity to report what they see," he said. "I think young people need to be informed, but not pandered to with all sorts of jump-cut, MTV-style editing. On the other hand, I do believe that most conventional news is totally disconnected from most young people."

Karen Ruttner, a 22-year-old intern at a music-booking agency, gave The Observer the bottom line: "The truth is, when it comes to important news, I don’t really care what people my age think. I’d rather hear the professional opinions of, like, seasoned news vets—people who know history and can really be comforting."

Josh Rosenblatt, 20, a student, said he had actually worked on Mr. Gore’s Presidential campaign in the former Vice President’s home state of Tennessee in 2000—and even he wasn’t too sure about Mr. Gore’s new thing.

"I like him as a person and as a candidate, but I don’t know how much I trust him with TV," he said. "I just think, for the average 18-to-21-year-old or whatever they’re aiming for, you can’t fool them into liking politics. At the end of the day, they have to compete with The Daily Show."

But what do the seasoned professionals think of it?

"I think there’s a market for it, but a small market," said Jim Murphy, the executive producer of the CBS Evening News. "How are they going to engage people? Personality? Smarts? You can do it by being hip, but news is not a hip thing. College-age kids and kids in their 20’s are interested in what’s going on, but it doesn’t mean they want to consume news. Can you make them feel young, smart and hip by watching this? Sure. But can you do that with homegrown documentaries? No."

For now, Mr. Gore and his partners are still negotiating the $70 million acquisition of digital-cable network Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal after French-owned Vivendi agreed to merge the rest of its entertainment assets with NBC.

Another unresolved question: Will VTV air reruns of V, the 1980’s sci-fi series about rodent-eating aliens who take over the earth? They should! That is, if their deal with Universal isn’t Vaporized.

For now, the only place on the tube where you can see the Gore-like Vulcans is on Star Trek: Enterprise. [WWOR, 9, 8 p.m.]

[GA Russell]

I can believe that there are a lot of young liberals who consider the status quo newscasters to be stick-in-the-muds, but how many want to watch a news channel?

Although the viewing audience might be small, I bet Al Gore's channel will have the demographic the advertisers want, and so will be able to sell enough spots to stay afloat.

[Monte Smith]

A ROADBLOCK FOR GORE TV
Diller's veto power is holding up cable-news deal
By J. Max Robins
TVGuide.com

If Al Gore wants to start a cable news channel, he's going to have to get Barry Diller's vote first.

The former vice president has been heading up a group that has been feverishly negotiating to buy News World International (NWI), a cable news channel controlled by Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE). Originally, the Gore team thought the deal would be done a month ago.

But Diller, who owns a substantial stake in VUE both personally and through InterActive Corp., the company where he is CEO, has veto power over the deal. And right now, he is in no mood to give the NWI pact his blessing. "We've told [VUE] that we have the right to approve the [NWI] transaction," says Diller. "We simply need more information before we say yes or no."

What is known is that Gore and company want to buy NWI, which reaches about 20 million homes, for a reported $70 million. Once in charge, the new team wants to transform NWI from its current lineup of newscasts from a number of international news operations to what has been described by one source close to the project "as a lot of MTV News meets a little C-SPAN."

Diller explains that his reluctance to give the thumbs up to the NWI sale is part of a much bigger picture. The 61-year-old veteran media mogul is still trying to work out other issues related to his VUE stake and the impending sale of that company's entertainment holdings to General Electric, which plans to combine it with its NBC properties. The combined entity, to be called NBC Universal, will combine such assets as NBC, CNBC, MSNBC and Bravo, with such VUE properties as Universal Studios, USA Networks, the Sci Fi Channel and Trio, making one giant entertainment and information powerhouse.

"This isn't about passing editorial judgment one way or another on [the Gore team's plans]," says Diller, a long-time supporter of Democratic candidates. "There is simply a lot that still needs to be sorted out."

I'll stick with my old stand by's PBS, and NPR.

Oh wait, I forgot, there aren't any liberal networks out there.

[Dr Dave]

These days attempts at nonpartisanship equate to "liberal." Not that I care, particularly.

So what's your point, Monte? Al Gore is going to be the lefty Rupert Murdoch? Gonna brainwash the kids with liberal claptrap on a faux-MTV channel? We are supposed to be alarmed by this? What?

[jesus marion joseph]

The format sounds like a loser to me (especially for $70 mill) BWTFDIK??

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by Dr Dave

So what's your point, Monte?

My point is to follow an interesting news story.

Finch, you have got to be kidding right?

What was so nonpartisan about the speech he gave a couple of months back when all he did was blast Bush.

Nonpartisan, my ass. Find me ONE nonpartisan player in politics today and I will eat a bucket of my own shit.

[Tanager]

Originally posted by Scott Dolan
Find me ONE nonpartisan player in politics today and I will eat a bucket of my own shit.

Hallelujah, I finally have a quest worth living for!

(To be honest, I think you're reasonably safe here.)

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by El Doloroso
Find me ONE nonpartisan player in politics today and I will eat a bucket of my own shit.

Sorry, Scott, but that might be worth the fun of it.

Nonpartisan, nonpartisan. Hmmm.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

I don't think the network would work, lack of viewers would kill it. Franly, the left may not be as passionate as the right.

[jesus marion joseph]

I don't think it has anything to do with a lack of passion, it just sounds like they want to be the same as MTV and VH1, but even less entertaining. They're attempting to bust into a field occupied by well entrenched opponents, then deliver something that there appears to be no real market for. And spend $70 million to do it. Hell, if he can raise that kind of dough, why not run for the presidency again?

Alright folks, I've got a full bucket of shit right here beside me. And I'm really fucking hungry. so whats it going to be? Shit? Or Chinese take out?

Actually JMJ, I think that Daryl is right on the money here. Not that all libs don't really pay that much attention to whats going on, but I think conservatives tend to be way more into it than the libs are. But, again, thats just what I've personally witnessed in the past.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

jmj,

I think passion drives the marketplace. I'm assuming Gore hopes to emulate the success Fox and right-wing talk radio has achieved. There has to be some passion involved to return to a media that repeats the same message over and over again. .

I'm a liberal, proud of it, but I'll be the first to admit that most of today's prominent liberals couldn't compete with their right-wing contemporaries. I'm talking about style. I was reading an interview with Camille Paglia (spelling?) where she was criticizing the style of most left-wing commentators. I think she called it a "smug, David Letterman-type" attitude. I'm paraphrasing badly, the interview's on the Salon web-site for those who are interested.

Like them or not. right wing commentators are definately red-meat types while liberals come across as vegans.

[jesus marion joseph]

Maybe I misunderstood the concept of the proposed TV station. It sounded to me like a "rock the vote" type thing, with "hip" tunes interspersed with "news". However you arrive at the conclusion, I guess it just sounds like a bad business proposition. Who knows, Darryl, we may both have to eat our words (and Dolan may have to eat worse!)

[Monte Smith]

Camille Paglia was on the Limbaugh program this week, when it was guest-hosted by Drudge. She said pretty much what you said she said, Darryl. She voted for Nader in 2000, she's probably voting for Dean in 2004, but she can't stand the sanctimony and condescension of the liberal elites nor the hate-filled spewing of the activist left.

I can't see how Gore is going to take on Fox News or AM radio by doing MTV programming, I really can't. Why doesn't Al go build somebody some houses or something dignified?

What ever happened to Gore's proposed lib talk radio thing? Is this just an extention of that?

Man, I'd hate to see Alan Colmes leave Fox for GoreTV.

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by Scott Dolan
What ever happened to Gore's proposed lib talk radio thing? Is this just an extention of that?

This is pretty much the same thing, Scott. Gore wants to be the King of All Media (I bet Howard Stern is nervous). So far, Gore has two Democrat gazillionaires on board and Al Franken. All he lacks is programming, stations, and audience. But the man invented the internet. He knows how to get things done.

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally posted by Monte Smith
But the man invented the internet. He knows how to get things done.

Originally posted by jesus marion joseph

[Dr Dave]

I never said Gore was nonpartisan. I suggested that NPR appeared to be liberal because it attempted to be nonpartisan. But never mind, it's enough to enjoy the thought of you sitting there with your big bucket of shit.

[Al in NYC]

Al Gore has become a liberal? When did this happen?

NPR has become nonpartisan? When did this happen?

[stonemonkts]

Originally posted by Scott Dolan
Finch, you have got to be kidding right?

What was so nonpartisan about the speech he gave a couple of months back when all he did was blast Bush.

Nonpartisan, my ass. Find me ONE nonpartisan player in politics today and I will eat a bucket of my own shit.

I nominate Donald Rumsfeld. I truly believe he is totally nonpartisan, and doesn't give a flying fuck if he pisses off Dems or Republicans, his boss, or anyone else in government. As far as the general population is concerned, he cares even less.

You may want to chill that bucket before you dig in

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by stonemonkts
I nominate Donald Rumsfeld.

No way. Republican Congressman. Office holder under Nixon, Ford, and Bush fils. He was spoken of as a possible Republican presidential candidate, too, back in the day. Partisan.

How about *David Gergen?*

Huh? Huh?

He worked for Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. He writes for Newsweek and appears on the News Hour on PBS. He wrote a fairly good book about his lessons learned on the use of political power.

You have any side dishes, Scott? Or is it all shit, straight to the bottom of the bucket??

[Underhound]

Originally posted by Monte Smith
...But the man invented the internet. He knows how to get things done.

That "Gore says he invented the internet" thing never gets tired does it?
The fact that it's a simple-minded misinterpretation of what he actually said hasn't stopped it from being a favorite mantra of mockery among dittoheads everywhere.

Someone let Camille Paglia know that condescension is not unique to liberals.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Rumsfeld's a politician? Don't you have to run for office? I thought he was a professional appointee.

jmj, my interpretation of this whole thing is that the left has been looking for some means to combat the domination of talk radio and cable news by the right. That's why I didn't view Gore's TV network as only MTV lite. What troubles me is when people who can't be edgy or hip try to pander to those who think they're edgy and hip. It makes them look silly and it chases away the audience they're aiming for.

Concerning NPR and PBS being liberal, I've never though of either in that way. Maybe when I think od liberal I'm thinking of something like The Nation on TV, or Pacifica Radio, something more radical that NPR certainly. But interpretations of what is liberal is funny. For instance, which is the more "liberal" network, CBS or Fox? Well, some survey group did a count of which networks had the most positive stories about or Iraq adventure (leadin up and during the war). It was CBS. ABC was the most negative. Fox came in second.

[stonemonkts]

Originally posted by Darryl G. Thomas
Rumsfeld's a politician? Don't you have to run for office? I thought he was a professional appointee.

Well, ok. I saw Scott's challenge as one to find any player in politics, and Rummy is certainly a bigtime player. As to Monte's points, hey, that was the past! His days of worrying about polls and partisanship are LONG over. His next stop is the ranch, or whatever abode he wishes to call his (retirement) home.

But ok...the point here is to rally the troups, and find a suitable person SO THAT SCOTT CAN INDULGE IN THAT BUCKET!

Gergen was a good choice.

Any others?

[Darryl G. Thomas]

This is going to sound sacreligious, but what about Kissinger? The impression he gives me is the only things he's passionate or partisan about are power and money.

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by Darryl G. Thomas
This is going to sound sacreligious, but what about Kissinger? The impression he gives me is the only things he's passionate or partisan about are power and money.

I was thinking along the same lines. You probably have to go to someone who takes international affairs seriously, like a Kissinger or Richard Holbrooke. Or someone who takes economics seriously, like Richard Rubin. But I don't know enough about any of those men to form an opinion on their level of partisanship.