Will We See Gore TV?
The former Veep is assisting in an effort to create a liberal alternative to
conservative talk radio, and is exploring a cable television venture
By KAREN TUMULTY

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,459345,00.html

(Updated 3:15 PM ET)


Look out, Rupert, here comes . Al?

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. Separately, 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.

What role Gore himself would play in any of these ventures is still far from
clear. "He can pull out at any time," says one associate who has spoken to
him about the concept. "He can say, 'This isn't my deal.' But he's
interested." Gore has been exploring and encouraging several types of
possibilities in recent months, and consulting closely with Joel Hyatt, the
founder of Hyatt Legal Services, a nationwide chain of low-cost, storefront
legal clinics. (Hyatt ran for Senate from Ohio in 1994, unsuccessfully
seeking the seat that was vacated by the retirement of his father-in-law,
Howard Metzenbaum.) One entertainment industry source who met with Gore and
Hyatt earlier this year said that, at that time, part of what they
envisioned was youth-oriented programming, "putting video cameras in the
hands of kids." Another source close to Gore and Hyatt says the venture
would not resemble a traditional cable news outlet, but would be "something
totally different in concept and format."

Gore is also making his influence felt in other ways in Hollywood, a place
where he has not always been warmly received. When the former Vice President
attended the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, earlier this year,
he arranged a series of private meetings with politically oriented
entertainment industry figures. One session was with a handful of people
from the Environmental Media Association, a group that promotes the idea of
incorporating environmentalist story lines into movies. "He was very
interested in what we are doing, because he is very interested in media,"
says Debbie Levin, the group's executive director.

Gore has also been helpful to Chicago venture capitalists Sheldon and Anita
Drobny, who announced in February that they planned to fund a liberal radio
network to counterbalance such conservative commentators as Rush Limbaugh.
Several sources said Gore has helped introduce the Drobnys to such Hollywood
political forces as producer-director Rob Reiner. Comedian Al Franken,
author of the book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot," is considering
hosting a show on the Drobnys' network, and added that the couple has
approached Gore to do regular essays. Anita Drobny declined to comment about
any venture involving Gore, telling TIME: "I'm not at liberty to say
anything about that. As far as Vice President Gore, you'll have to call him
to ask him about his project and what they are doing." Gore and Hyatt did
not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

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.

Gore has shared their frustration. In an interview last December with the
New York Observer, he described the conservative outlets as a "fifth column"
within the media ranks that injects "daily Republican talking points into
the definition of what's objective."

"The media is kind of weird these days on politics, and there are some major
institutional voices that are, truthfully speaking, part and parcel of the
Republican Party," Gore said. "Fox News Network, The Washington Times , Rush
Limbaugh - there's a bunch of them, and some of them are financed by wealthy
ultra-conservative billionaires who make political deals with Republican
administrations and the rest of the media."

Claudia D. Dikinis
http://starcats.com
Political & Personal Astrology for a New Millennium