Move Over, Tim Russert

Are you: a) A political news junkie? b) Constantly surfing political blogs? c) An activist seeking a national audience? Now there’s a political news network just for you—but not on your TV. Go online and load up Politics TV. Officially launching March 7, this progressive online TV network will provide daily news delivered with a satirical edge; DSPAN, a progressive version of CSPAN that allows nonprofits and think tanks to submit videotapes of their events, and the Candidate Channel, which will feature video commentaries by candidates running for local, state and federal office.

Politics TV is not just about the news viewers can watch, but about news viewers can produce. On the soon-to-be-launched Satire Channel, PTV viewers can submit flash cartoons, sketch comedy, and other humorous content. Over the next few months, Politics TV will also roll out the Pundit Channel, which is billed as “the American Idol of political talk shows.” Politics TV producers will travel the country looking for the best “pundits” in cities across the country.

Politics TV’s Executive Producer David Mannett puts it this way: “Politics TV is the continuation of the democratization of media. Blogs have leveled the playing field for print media and journalism. Internet TV is going to take on conventional broadcast and news TV.”

20 years of FAIR-ness

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) celebrates its 20-year anniversary in 2006, and the media monitoring group is taking a look back at its accomplishments in the January/February issue of Extra!, the group’s bimonthly magazine. Throughout the years, FAIR has mounted creative protests, worked with anti-racist and gay activists to fight bigoted commentators like Bob Grant and Michael Savage, and has time-and again marshaled organizers to demand more accurate coverage of marches, military actions, and the putative “liberal” bias of the media itself.

“FAIR provided the foundation for the explosion in media reform activism of the past decade,” writes media scholar Bob McChesney. “What Voltaire said about God is true about FAIR: If it did not exist, we would have to invent it.”