Al Gore Skewers TV News

BuzzFeed ^ | January 25, 2013 | Andy Meek

[2ndDivisionVet]

Three weeks after announcing he would sell his struggling cable news channel, Current, to Al Jazeera — pocketing an estimated $100 million in profit — Al Gore skewered television news in an interview with BuzzFeed.

"I think that the influence of television over the last half century has been harmful to the operations of our democracy," said Gore. "In the age of our founding, and for much of the history of the republic, crucial. Individuals could gain easy access to information and could express their own views. They can't do that on television."

"They get plenty of information from it, but they can't participate in a dialogue or engage in collaborative decision-making," he went on. "But the internet is now growing in importance and pervasiveness, to the point where soon it may offer an alternative to the TV media environment that reinvigorates democracy. I'm hoping that's the case."

Gore's dissatisfaction with TV won't stop him from making the talk show rounds next week to promote his new book, The Future. He is expected to make appearances on Late Show with David Letterman, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Today show, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

In his book, Gore complains that "virtually every news and political commentary program on television is sponsored in part by oil, coal and gas companies," a conflict of interest that, he argues, prevents them from reporting the truth about the issue most important to him: climate change...

[2ndDivisionVet]

Isn't Al Jazeera owned by Muslim oil barons?

[jakerobins]

I guess it’s better than trying to skewer his massuse! LOL

[basil]

"I think that the influence of television over the last half century has been harmful to the operations of our democracy," said Gore.

Hey, Al Baby! I'll try too make this simple for you: The USA is not a democracy. It is a Republic. See if one of your keepers can look it up and explain it to you in words of two syllables or less...........

[Alex Murphy]

"I think that the influence of television over the last half century has been harmful to the operations of our democracy," said Gore. "In the age of our founding, and for much of the history of the republic, crucial. Individuals could gain easy access to information and could express their own views. They can't do that on television. They get plenty of information from it, but they can't participate in a dialogue or engage in collaborative decision-making," he went on.

They can if they'd get off the couch, go outside, and talk to their neighbors.

[headsonpikes]

Luckily, there are plenty of shyster lawyers in America to sue for truth.

[twister881]

Fat Boy is the same moron who wanted a satellite in orbit with its only function to beam back pictures of Earth on your TV. An outer space Yule Log 24/7. Also the moron who wanted space-based traffic reporting, instead of the 10,000 Morning Zoo programs already doing so. “Ad God made Idiot and named him Al-gore.”

[Madhattan]

This man’s hypocrisy knows no bounds! The writers at The Onion should be fearful for their jobs. Just follow him around with a stenographer.

[Madhattan]

“But the internet is now growing in importance and pervasiveness, to the point where soon it may offer an alternative to the TV media environment .”

I’ve also noticed that more households are owning cars thus allowing them to travel greater distances on a daily basis which could lead to geographically distributed traveling.