November 11, 2003

| That Damned Dean >>

This post has been an age in the making, so let’s get to it. Gore TV: a new cable news channel for young people. I think it has potential. But how to make sure it doesn’t suck?

So glad you asked.

I offer three guidelines gleaned from my extensive experience as a young person disappointed again and again by cable news channels.

Read on, Gore & Co. — get this right.

It’s all about the web.

Clearly you will rely on the digital cable providers of America to broadcast your pirate signal deep into The Matrix. But what happens when all those zombified kids snap out of it and want to join your tribe of hip, young news rebels?

What will you tell them? “Stay tuned”?

No. You’ll tell them: Click over to Gore TV dot net, and let’s keep talking.

Your website should be a place to talk to your viewers about their concerns, curiosities, ideas, discoveries. There is a wave of participatory journalism on the rise, and Gore TV can use a great website to catch it, ride it, push it, and really get it.

Your website should also be a place to extend your coverage with background material and links to blogs and other news sites. It should be an equal partner with the TV operation, with a fully integrated staff and a shared bottom line.

I mean, come on. Why settle for another one-way news channel with a one-way website when you can build a hive of interaction and inquiry instead?

It’s all about the tone.

You must not hire TV people.

At least, you must not hire TV people who talk like this:

An outbreak (pause) of deadly food poisoning. Tonight, a look at (chin sharply down) what went wrong. (Head ten degrees left.) But first (wait for it) our top stories. (Nod.)

Gyeahhh. It’s so creepy. Someone deprogram these people.

At Gore TV, every voice should check Authority at the door. Every cadence should be authentic. Every face should look at the camera like it’s a friend, a co-worker, a confidante.

Tonally, you should be more blog than broadcast news; more This American Life than This Week; more Howard Dean than Dick Gephardt and, for that matter, more Dick Cheney than George Bush; more Daily Show than Nightli — actually, no, scratch that. Nightline