...This diary is basically a
"what if" idea that I would like to see come to pass.
I've long felt that Priority # 1 of people who want to help the progressive cause should be to establish a foothold in the news media. It doesn't matter how good Democratic ideas are or how bad the shit the Republicans do is, if the media won't cover it & cover it properly. An example of this is the UK Government Memos about Iraq, that has been covered extensivly by the BBC, but here we have CNN wondering whether a dog could take care of a baby
The Republicans have a voice in the media with Fox News, and with that they have the ability to control a news-day. A rumor with no substance gets reported on Drudge, and is ignored as gossip by most of the networks, except for Fox News. The other networks then jump in soon after for fear of being left behind. Then you have the other conservative news outlets spinning the story. This is what we lack.
So with all that said, would you watch: Television News?
...A couple of weeks back I posted a
diary about a story in
The Hill about George Soros putting together a
"Democratic Alliance" of 70 millionaires & billionaires to realize...
...long-term political and ideological yields from an expected massive investment in "startup" progressive think tanks."
..The Democracy Alliance will act as a clearinghouse and is expected to channel much of its money to new organizations and existing ones such as John Podesta's Center for American Progress and David Brock's Media Matters for America...
...Rob Stein, a veteran of President Bill Clinton's Commerce Department and of New York investment banking, convened the meeting of venture capitalists, left-leaning moneymen and a select few D.C. strategists on how to seed pro-Democratic think tanks, media outlets and leadership schools to compete with such entrenched conservative institutions as the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and the Leadership Institute.
...So there is investment capital for something like this.
Why Google?
Google is an established name in retreiving information (& porn), and their Google News is a major portal for finding news stories on the web. They also seem to want to take the place of Microsoft in building a media empire. They've started expanding into other areas, and a news network with their name pasted on it would be a great cross-platform. They're already involved with Al Gore's Current.
Also, it seems that Google is a Democratic leaning corporation. I found this on a conservative site, bitching about the left tilt of Google...
...a search of Google's political contributions as recorded by the Federal Elections Commission shows a staggering $463,500 went to Democrats in the last three election cycles with a paltry $5,000 going to Republicans.
Of approximately 200 individual Google employee political contributions to political candidates in 2004, 2002 and 2000, all but six went to Democrats, Democratic Party organizations and Democrat-supporting organizations such as MoveOn.org. One $250 contribution went to Ralph Nader, one went to President Bush's campaign and three went to Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's campaigns.
...Google Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt was by far the biggest benefactor, giving $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 2000, $25,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2004, as well as maximum $2,000 contributions to 2004 Democratic presidential candidates Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Richard Gephardt.
Schmidt also gave $11,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2000, according to records of the FEC, as well as tens of thousands more to a variety of other Democratic candidates including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York...
..But there are a bunch of reasons why Soros, Google, or other left-leaning investors might not want to do this:
- Market Share - Is there enough of a market share for a 4th Cable News Network?
- Startup Costs - Fox News lost almost 200 million dollars in it first years.
- Microsoft Example - The last time a media corporation did something like this, it turned into MSNBC. Microsoft has reportedly been trying to escape from it ever since
- Advertising Money - Any network seen as the left's answer to FOX, will get conservatives bitching about it. Will the other corporations sponsor ads on it.
...Like I said, we need a foothold in the news-media.