Yeah, yeah, I'm late on the draw for the New Years, not so new anymore now that were almost half-way into January. So here are a few morsels to chew on:
>> I'm not surprised in the slightest about the sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera. The channel has struggled since its inception, and despite the chameleon-like reinventions over the years, it never was able to capture a substantial viewership. It was a good idea, but I suspect that like Air America, it was mismanaged and under-capitalized. I hope that Al Jazeera keeps the best of what Current produced - Vanguard documentaries are the first thing that come to mind. Even an occasional, back-to-the-future viewer-produced video production wouldn't be a bad thing - those home-videos were the freshest feature of the network when it started up, and I'm sure that more than a few careers were started by those video submissions. The programs on the air now - Stephanie Miller and Bill Press, Jennifer Granholm, etc., will likely remain on the air for another few months, but I suspect that by the end of April, Current will be no more. RIP.
>> I've been watching RT's news offerings lately. So far, I'm impressed - even though the leftward slant is noticeable among the feature hosts (Thom Hartmann, Abby Martin, et. al) and the anchors. The channel's shows do lob a fair number of journalistic bombs at those that represent themselves as left-leaning, though - such as what is seen in Abby Martin's Breaking The Set. Check it out here.
>> I will be expanding the subject matter of this blog a bit, as music will be making an appearance as a topic. Expect some posts in the coming months.
More later.
