From Morph "Current Debut Week"
My Guest Blog From Todays MediaCenter Morph.
MY THOUGHTS ON 'CURRENT' TV: Current's debut week has gotten some tough reviews. Why? TV critics aren’t technologists. They tend to respond to what’s in front of them, not the potential, challenges and long-term significance of new paradigms in programming. That’s fine - but let’s take a moment and give Current its due. Al Gore’s “Current” vision is relevant and important both in its use of content and technology. We need to look past the network’s opening day difficulties. Three years ago, Al Gore looked out on the media landscape and saw a change. As he explained it back then, there were two forces on the horizon that would impact media deeply and profoundly. The first was technology; the tools to make media were going from specialized and expensive to ubiquitous and cheap. The second was an uneasy sense that more and more people were being disenfranchised by media organizations that were talking to themselves rather than to their audiences. How do I know this is what Gore was thinking? Because he said so - to me and others working in the emerging areas of user-contributed content and audience-empowered media. What he didn't say (but what I thought at the time) was that he also had just had an intensely personal and deeply painful experience being in the white-hot center of the media universe. You don't have to have run for president to figure out that the current state of mainstream media is deeply in need of a re-think. But, I suspect that Al has to have thought at least once or twice about the coverage of the election, the recount, or about the barely-considered Supreme Court decision that effectively elected a President and has had a profound impact on our democracy. So I think it's easy to see why Al feels like maybe it's time the media should change a bit and become more diverse and inclusive. Does this mean Current has a political agenda? Well, if by “political” you mean to embrace our democracy and invite a wide-ranging collection of views, then I'd say yes. That's freedom. During my conversations with the Current team (back then called indTV), I lobbied for something akin to "open-source TV," an inclusive and adventurous programming mix. I was pleased to turn on the network on its opening day and see Deepak Chopra right up against a piece about Paris Hilton. Now the critics have been fast to poke at the Current network with a pointy stick. The Houston Chronicle ran a 400-word column about Current going black on Monday night for 20 minutes. Please... that "new network has opening night tech problems" is not news. The fact of the matter is that Gore's prominence is a double-edge sword for the fledging enterprise. It generates tune-in, buzz, press interest and drive-by viewers. But it also asks a brand-new network to look like it's fully conceived when it's very much a work in progress. Let's take an “innovation inventory”: - A television network that invites its audience to send in finished video segments. Never been done before. (Yes, the show I created for MTV Unfiltered certainly was the genesis of that, and Al has been generous in his praise of our early work - but we did six shows a year, not one a week. As an order of difficulty, he's raised the bar dramatically.) - A network for young people that dares to think that 22-year olds are interested in something other than music videos and Girls Gone Wild. Current’s programming is uneven, and it's hit or miss as to whether or not a segment will keep you watching, but the idea that an audience under the age of 30 will tune in to nonfiction is to be applauded, embraced and encouraged. - Current is based in San Francisco. Not New York, Not LA. It has a whole new vibe, with a different kind of staff and a unique POV. Yes, CNET is there, but Current is most certainly NOT a tech network. - Current is a network that has GOOGLE on air. Has everyone forgotten that Google Video is happening? That Google's traffic is earth shattering? That Google understands how to attract, serve and advertise to niche audiences? These guys are scary smart, and they’re not hanging around the water cooler at ABC or even CNN. They're chilling at Current. I bet they’ve figured some stuff out, like they're not going to start their own TV channel. I bet they'll test some stuff with Al’s channel. - Hmmm, what about those iPod guys? Yeah, APPLE. Oh, they're not a media company, are they? They just own the platform for podcasting (iTunes), the device (iPod) and the tools that are empowering a generation of media makers (Final Cut Pro, Sound Track, Garage Band, Motion, iMovie, IDVD). And once again I ask... where does Steve Jobs go when he wants to talk about video? Over to Al's house. To recap: The Negatives: The format is a bit all over the place, the packaging is too smooth and slick (making the user content look too handmade in comparison); there are too many ads (the network has my TiVo working overtime); and sometimes the diversity of subject matter turns the channel in to a melting pot of non sequiturs. The Positives: No one has ever served an under-30 audience with nonfiction subject matter; inviting users to contribute is brave, forward-thinking, inevitable and will result in some real honest- to-goodness surprises; and partnering with Google, Apple, Sony and others will create some genuinely new tools and formats as audience members get up off the couch and begin to engage in the media conversation that is taking place. So, Current has challenges - hey, it's a start up - but for all the ink being spilled about blogging, vlogging, podcasting, tagging, wiki's and other evolving participatory media forms... Al, Joel Hyatt and team have plunked down real money and not a little bit of their personal credibility to be first. For media professionals interested in understanding where media is going, watching the evolution of Current is instructive, maybe even essential. For the staff of Current, embracing the production realities of the nascent user-content universe will be frustrating and at times will seem impossible. But they'll do it, because the alternative is to become another me-too network. Al didn't commit himself to making something average - he's shooting for extraordinary. In today’s media environment, you can't say that about many people. My vote on Current: Stay Tuned for sure. Posted by steve.rosenbaum at 05:06PM on Aug 5, 2005
Comments
25 year old virgin trying to make the swill merchants happy @BenFontores<Cover of a rolling Stone, no not me, I m very unipopular, got caught cheating at Athens PoliSci101 Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM If you ask me, I saw the "buzz" is fawking with the critics. Ive been up honoring Peter Jennings for like 60 hours, I even broke my vintage Hendrix acoustic as a memorial Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM No "earned" degrees of education, just a huge failure in OU@athers. Some ones gotta stir it up with a couple scarletbegonias, or Rosie, or RAin dancer,......you feeling the new vibe yet? Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM The vibe is everywhere, not in religion, but in Faith, a way of life, you know Original sin, er fuzzbox distortion Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM I used to think I was outside the box because the Main" Psyco-DR..perscribed me some powerfull pills..............FUCK PSYCHOLOGIST! Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM Member when they took me away? Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM When i was young dumb n full of cum, they took my plants and seeded a "BIPOLARUNIVERSALCODE" Into my Main frame. Fawk that smoke plant use cents not a $1 with some liars face on it. Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM Only burn your drumstix if you get caught with them in a chinese dog cafe Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM Im an americain boy with no skills. I had a silver spoon and freebased home page with it. Did JErry Gar..Gar..GARCIAPARA smoke coke in a BMW? Not sure but his plates were expired so stay on top of the BMV dont lettem catch you shooting purple hazer beams, use nerf arrows, fun and safe........I dont wanna quote IWANT TO REROTE. Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM HIGH BREAD OF MEXICALLI CHIX for sale to Swill merchants(BEN FONTORES). Yup I ate a rollingtone and shit paper. Then I smoke it fast as possible b/c the Main GREY FRAME needs to CHILL on ANTI-CAUSEING PCHOCITC TEDancie. Yup I was trapped in Bi polar land with a dead bear on my slit wrist. I saw Aurora Borriallis and smoked 0ut with WildWildWillyWorldsmith. Not recomended for CHILDREN What about that Fawker MikeJennTheif, who gate crashe my GRADPARTY? FUCK uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Im still gonna get who ever hit my dad with a sample in a bottle(budwiserswillmerchant)JAy BIiiiiiiiiird, Thanx for hiting a homerun with you humugus muscles that night, YOU SHOWED ME THA FLIGHT CLUBS arn't here. Fuccka NICKSHide, The war pigs are smokeing hyperweed again, run get yer stupid Margurita and HIDE!!!!! Trave thne USA!! I CANT IM POOR I HAVE NO INCOME BECAUSE SOCIAL SECURITY IDed ME AZ A SUPRIZE,.HOW many grammy's did Janice Jopperlin And Jimmi Headflix win, NONE because they were a risk to THE MAN IN GREY! Fuck Awards Fuck Applause, thats what Celeberties get for being FUCKING SNOBS. Celeberties Bitch=Eat Tabloid Fodder. Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM Swillmerchats do your job KILL a GREATLYPROFOUND ARTIS BASQUAT.you War pigs, Uncle humpin throw invisible hoops.....it did it again. Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM Enjoy the Veiw, no not the"CoffeTalkinSTARJonez"View the live view...the pulse...the new reevolution of "dirtyHippies " that would rather smoke grass than hit class. hit glass, no that causes CRACK:FATALERROR" FIX IT BITCHES. FIX YOUR PILLINILLFAKESCIBIOMEDICALCHARTS. ERASE WHat CHAOS U AMERICAIN GOV.origionally fweaked up with. So stop the CRACK DEALERS FROM MAKEING CRACK,...let the grass pass by, enjoy a big contact OHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHOOOOOOO Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM ><>{ Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM <<)ENTRANCE Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM Napolean rumoured to be WROG> Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM CRYSTALKEY__)_))_code,,modulation morph. or MORP, yes MORP,,,, the BackwardsHomeCommingQUEEN BEEEzzzzzzzzzzzzzofff my kool aide kiddieS! Posted by Hunter S Thumperman on Aug 5, 2005 at 05:06PM All around this nation to far Regions of IRAQ:fic>MISTAKE!!!#$% @AN XCORONER!
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