Then you'll want to be supporting Independent World Television (www.iwtnews.com).
Build it and they will watch?By GAYLE MACDONALD
Monday, July 4, 2005 Updated at 10:00 AM EDT
Globe and Mail Update
Fed up with the platitudinous news coverage he felt he was being fed by mainstream network and cable TV, documentary maker Paul Jay came up with an ambitious solution.
In just over a year, the Toronto-based Jay plans to raise roughly $25-million to launch a new network, Independent World TV, which the 54-year-old filmmaker and CBC veteran is unabashedly billing as a left-leaning, non-corporate, kick-ass antidote to the "superficial" news coverage he generally sees on the small screen.
How exactly is he going to drum up that kind of cash? Simple, really, says Jay, who plans to recruit an Internet force of about 500,000 truth-craving donors who will shell out $50 a year. That will give him the capital he needs to get IWT up and running -- and informing the English-speaking world about events in a non-biased way -- by 2007.
His network -- which will initially target 25 million U.S. households -- will ban all commercials, sponsorship or government funding.
http://www.iwtnews.com/files/Globe%20and%20Mail%20-%20Jul%204%202005%20-%20Build%20it%20and%20they%20will%20watch.pdf An antidote to corporate televisionSean Dodson Monday June 20, 2005
The Guardian
Billed as a leftwing contender to rival the might of CNN and Fox, and weighing in with a annual budget of just $25m, Independent World Television (IWT) plans to create a news network that will counter a corporate media culture that has become infamous for placing profits above the public interest. The mission is to convince an "internet army" of half a million donors to contribute $50 each to secure the $25m that the network needs to fund its first year of broadcasting. It is a big ask. The network will take no commercials, sponsorship or government funding. IWT plans to start broadcasting to more than 25m US homes by 2007.
The network is the vision of Paul Jay, the Toronto-based director of the award-winning documentary Return to Kandahar. "With the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, we saw much of television news at its very worst," he says. "What we need is a network where journalists don't need to worry about the interests of their ownership, about selling commercials nor worry about government funding or interference."
<snip>
The cause is helped by the presence of Nico Mele, the former webmaster of the Howard Dean campaign. Dean failed to win the Democratic nomination, but not before becoming the most richly funded presidential candidate in history - proof that micro payments can work. In the US, PBS already raises tens of millions through public donations. Is an annual budget of $25m enough to run a global news network? Despite its claims of unfettered investigative journalism, the old maxim that facts are expensive but opinions are cheap could prove true. The network will initially schedule six hours of programming - one hour of hard news supplemented by current affairs, debate and political satire.
But how global will Independent World Television be? Like baseball's questionably-titled World Series, IWT is pitched at North America, for now, although it will start organising in the UK in the autumn and it is also campaigning in South Africa, India and Australia. Is there an audience outside the US? "Even though the BBC and other European broadcasters do a much better job than the US networks, I don't think they have the freedom to attack stories the way we will," says Jay. "Everybody needs to help build a network that might change US political culture. We are all affected by US policy. Sometimes in a deadly way." See www.iwtnews.com.
http://www.iwtnews.com/files/Media%20Guardian%20-%20june%2020%202005.pdf The reason I'm making this post is because I got a fundraising email from the folks at IWT today, and wanted to invite all DUers to partake of the opportunity of delivering a well deserved kick in the seat of the pants to the ass-kissing, coporate media whores by supporting IWT.
Here is their fundraising email
Dear Friend,
Corporate television news is undermining your right to know.
Thousands of people have died, and are still dying, in a war that a
majority of people believe is based on half truths and misinformation.
U.S. Congressman John Murtha said, "We've increased terrorism in the
Middle East... We've increased instability in the Middle East." The world
is a more dangerous place for all of us.
Canadian troops fight in Afghanistan with little national debate about
their mission, following a policy set in Washington. The problems of
social injustice, the health care system and environmental degradation
receive superficial treatment while government corruption goes mostly
unaccountable.
We have a right to know the truth, but corporate television reports on
propaganda as if it's reality. This leads to public support for
policies that have little to do with the facts.
Watch the new 3 minute video with Gore Vidal, Phil Donahue, Amy
Goodman, Naomi Klein and Paul Jay at
http://click.iwtnews.com/t?ctl=102C30D:40B4599 See their take on how
corporate TV news failed on the Iraq story from the start and how IWTnews
is building an independent television network brave enough to report
the truth.
Democracy depends on an independent and responsible media that reports
the facts and stands up to power with the truth. With your support,
Independent World Television will be such a network. Being free from
advertising, corporate control and government funding makes it possible.
That's why your support is so important.
Help us cut through the bull. Go to
http://click.iwtnews.com/t?ctl=102C30C:40B4599 and donate to help us
produce independent journalism.
Major donors Susan Adelman and Claudio Llanos have offered a challenge
to IWTnews supporters. They will match, dollar for dollar, funds we
raise before December 31st, up to $25,000.
We're creating production units in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans.
IWTnews will produce short current affairs documentaries that deliver
the uncompromising journalism we so urgently need. Our flagship news show
- IWTnews Nightly - will be an hour-long news program, fearlessly
reporting on the world as it is. It will be seen on cable, satellite and
the web. Your support makes it possible.
Tell the world that your right to know is worth fighting for. Tell the
world it's time for independent journalism that will stand up to power.
It's time for all of us to step up to the plate and build the kind of
news network that defends our right to know.
Help us break the monopoly on information. Bring independent fearless
journalism to public view. Donate now at
http://click.iwtnews.com/t?ctl=102C30C:40B4599
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