Independent World Television?
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Thursday September 09, 2004 18:38
by redjade
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Independent World Television?
There's a proposal from a bunch of big name media activists and left leaning journalists to start, Independent World Television [ http://www.iwt.tv/ ], international progressive television news network. They aim to raise a fair amount of money, 100 million dollars, and have a professional staff of journalists while drawing on some AP and/or Reuters footage.
It seems like it's a cross between a progressive english language version of Al-Jazeera and a TV version of IPS.
The general drive seems to get alternative content out there to an audience, not change the relationships around which media production and consumption are built. This is quite different from the 'media revolution to make revolution possible' and 'become the media' missions of indymedia. I bet the two will co-exist similarly to the sometimes tense, sometimes cooperative relationship between democracy now and indymedia.
What i do wonder, is this. Is this the best strategy at the moment? Aren't we about to see a revolution in the way TV is transmitted similar to what is happening with VOIP in the telephony world? Will the 24 hour news channel go the way of the evening news? What are the implications to ubiquitous bandwidth, narrowcasting, very low cost barriers to entry for production, and the end of broadcast television?
more info and links at....
Comments (5 of 5)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5Who will they get to carry their news channel?
I mean most of the major satellite and cable networks are corporate run, so if the station presented any ideological threat, I can easily see the big media kahuna's giving a nod of the head and the channel finding no one to carry it except maybe on the internet.
the revolution will not be televised.
I remember people getting excited over "TV iniatives" before, but they always flopped.
Why? Why is it that in this day and age with over a hundred home shopping channels, countless pornography channels, and countless religious channels, that we don't have at least one Michael Moore channel?
TV is toxic.
to watch.
to make.
to dispose of.
who on earth will give a 100 million to a bunch of activists. These guys have been smokin' too much.
Also as the article says broadcast media is on the way out. Within 10 years if bandwidth and access increase its quite probable media will switch from the broadcast model to a publish and subcribe model, like Tivo but downloading instead of time shifting.
Once that happens, providing the hardware isn't locked to a single provider, we can all make our own TV shows!
I was seven years of age and my mammy helped me cut out up a cardboard box, and I put it on my head, and the truth is my grandfather bless him, used prefer watch the evening news on my Telly to the other one.
That was in the days before RTE2, you know, and there wasn't even a channel 4!!!
Of course the younger people today know nothing of such simple pleasures, it's all rap music and hip hop and interactive video games and online chat rooms for them.
(Beyond TV was originally thought of as if it were going to be an alternative webcast TV station.)
Copy of Their invite:-
BEYONDTV 5th Video Activist Documentary Festival
November 19th-20th 2004 in Britain
Don't drink from the mainstream!
Welcome...
to the 5th BEyONdTV annual video activist documentary festival, hosted by Undercurrents, an award winning multi-media charity.
BEyONdTV screens the latest documentaries, community video and animations from the world's most radical producers which are overlooked by mainstream broadcasters.
What's showing?
This year's festival will include amongst others:
Surplus: Terrorised into being Consumers
Consumer confidence has been low since September 11. A successful war against Iraq was supposed to be the only way to restore that confidence - and our happiness. But is shopping our salvation? Do we have a choice?
First prize at the 2003 IDFA-Amsterdam Silver Wolf Competition.
Granny goes to Palestine
A grandmother from Swansea goes to the Middle East to protest against the Israeli wall which is splitting up Palestine families.
Life Before Death
Is the West disconnected from Death? An exploration of what happens when people face a terminal illness.
Tibetan Stories
How two film makers supported remote Tibetan people telling their own stories (part of a presentation on Participatory Video).
Presentation by the Swansea stars of Channel 4's "Wife Swap" program.
The festival will open with a concert by top political band Seize the Day (Winners of the BBC3 world music award and then banned)
followed by visuals and music from top VJ's.
How do I get my film into the BEYONDTV festival?
Do you have a short film, documentary or animation concerning environmental campaigning or social change?
To submit YOUR video into the festival line-up, contact us with details of your entry.
Guidelines on http://www.undercurrents.org/beyondtv
Send your tapes to:
Undercurrents BEyONdTV 2004
Old Telephone Exchange,
Pier Street,
Swansea SA1 1RY.
Wales, UK
Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.