Time - Since deciding not to make another race for the White House in 2004, former Vice President Al Gore has been devoting considerable time to another dream, one he shares with many Democrats these days — creating a media enterprise that could challenge the dominance of conservative voices in cable television and talk radio. Numerous sources in Hollywood and Washington tell TIME that Gore has been quietly sounding out potential financial backers for a cable television network that would feature "progressive" viewpoints. Additionally, Gore has helped arrange meetings between key Hollywood figures and a wealthy Chicago couple who have publicly announced plans to invest $10 million in a liberal radio network.
Gore has long been interested in the nexus between politics and media. His 99-page senior thesis in college was titled "The Impact of Television on the Conduct of the Presidency, 1947-1969." Before running for Congress in 1976, Gore worked as a newspaper reporter for the Nashville Tennessean.
The ascendancy of conservative outlets such as Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel — and particularly such ratings powerhouses as commentator Bill O'Reilly — have been a growing source of frustration for Democrats. And while liberal commentators such as former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower have made a stab at syndicated talk shows, they have by and large been unsuccessful. In March, the MSNBC cable news network canceled Phil Donahue's talk show after a disappointing six-month run against The O'Reilly Factor. However, some liberals point to the success of Hillary Clinton's just-released memoir as evidence that a marketplace exists for their viewpoint.
They don't mention that the constrained Donahue had more than double the ratings of the conservative who replaced him.
No comments:
Post a Comment