{"id":1057,"date":"2013-01-06T17:32:22","date_gmt":"2013-01-06T23:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sebersole.wordpress.com\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2013-01-06T17:32:22","modified_gmt":"2013-01-06T23:32:22","slug":"al-gore-sells-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/al-gore-sells-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Gore Sells Out?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1060\" alt=\"gore_current\" src=\"http:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gore_current.jpg?w=300\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gore_current.jpg 559w, https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gore_current-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>In what is reported to be a $500 million deal, Current TV is being sold to Al Jazeera Media Network. With headquarter located in Qatar, Al Jazeera is a global news network with an Arab point-of-view and funding from the government of Qatar. Since its debut in the mid 1990s, the network has been controversial and that controversy only increased after 9\/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Frequently giving a voice to\u00a0&#8220;terrorist&#8221;\u00a0 organizations (as defined by the US government), Al Jazeera continued to expand and launched an English-language channel in 2006.<\/p>\n<p>By acquiring Current TV, Al Jazeera gains access to approximately 40 million cable households&#8230;greatly expanding their reach in the US market. Current TV has struggled for viewers so 40 million potential TVHHs may not be as impressive as it first sounds. And ratings history suggests that global news (from any perspective) is a difficult product to sell to an American audience. If the new network will be able to gain any traction it will likely be at the expense of left-leaning TV news networks such as MSNBC and CNN and other international news channels such as BBC World News.<\/p>\n<p>One of the founders of Current TV is former VP Al Gore. Also known for his award-winning environmental documentary\u00a0<em>An Inconvenient Truth<\/em>, Gore stands to gain about $100 million from the sale of Current TV. Gore will remain on the board of the new network, tentatively titled Al Jazeera America, and will have a role in shaping its identity. Considering that Al Jazeera is financed largely by petroleum revenue, and that Al Gore is known for his outspoken views on global climate change, some have criticized Gore&#8217;s profiting from an industry that is accused of being the greatest contributor to CO2\u00a0emissions. Current TV is <a href=\"http:\/\/daily-download.com\/al-gores-big-payday-al-jazeera-anti-american\/\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a> to have rebuffed an offer to buy from conservative pundit Glenn Beck on ideological grounds. According to the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>, &#8220;Glenn Beck&#8217;s The Blaze approached Current about buying the channel last year, but was told that &#8216;the legacy of who the network goes to is important to us and we are sensitive to networks not aligned with our point of view,&#8217; according to a person familiar with the negotiations.&#8221; \u00a0But legacy was not enough of an issue, apparently, to turn down Al Jazeera&#8217;s money.\u00a0As Al Gore himself once said, quoting Upton Sinclair,\u00a0&#8220;It&#8217;s difficult to get a man to understand something if his salary depends upon his not understanding it.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In what is reported to be a $500 million deal, Current TV is being sold to Al Jazeera Media Network. With headquarter located in Qatar, Al Jazeera is a global news network with an Arab point-of-view and funding from the government of Qatar. Since its debut in the mid 1990s, the network has been controversial &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/al-gore-sells-out\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Al Gore Sells Out?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11,18,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-media","category-journalism","category-politics","category-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebersolemedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}