Keith Olbermann, as you probably know, is moving to Current TV, which boasts Al Gore as its co-founder. It’s a curious move considering that about seven people have ever even heard of Current TV. Of course, I jest…but not really. So what is Current TV and why on earth is Olbermann going there?
Olbermann was never really on top in the cable news world, usually falling well behind FOXNews and others in the ratings game, but he was a legitimate draw and an impact player. Brash, controversial, loud, some might say annoying and maddening, he was, at least, relevant.
But now he’s moving to Current TV, which seems like a misnomer. Olbermann will have, so it seems, full editorial control and will be the chief news editor. So he will wield more power, and that’s likely the reason he made the decision, but if a TV station broadcasts in a forest and nobody’s around to hear it, does it even matter?
So why, exactly, have we never heard of Current TV? It was founded by Al Gore, and he’s successful, right? The network trumpets its presence in 75 million households worldwide, but that isn’t all that many, and besides, how many of those 75 million have actually watched it?
On the one hand, it’s tough to just up and create a cable network, no matter who you are, as Oprah can attest to.
The larger issue, however, is that Current seems to have no clear message or unified vision. And it’s not even an actual news network, although its website does offer some commentary and news updates.
It’s like NPR-lite on TV except worse, less focused, and maybe even more liberal.
Its programming is an odd scattershot of hipster-friendly shows like This American Life with Ira Glass, infoMania, which is like a nerdy politico’s version of The Soup, and The Long Way Round, which, as far as I can tell is about Ewan McGregor and his buddy riding their motorcycles around the world. There’s also my favorite, Cooking in the Danger Zone, where a culinary writer eats and cooks food in tumultuous areas of the world like Venezuela, Burma, and Afghanistan, all while addressing some sort of political—and politically correct—issue. (For real.)
There are a handful of other shows, but not many, and they all seem to be run in a loop, over and over. So maybe this is as good a place as any for Olbermann to recycle his moral outrage, and hey, he’ll have full editorial control over that outrage.
The ideology of Current and Olbermann certainly align, but do they have the power to make a mark in the news media world?
I suppose Olbermann will be a draw, and he would almost have to bring in more viewers than Current already has, but this certainly seems like a place where relevant news people go to die. Kind of like another of our favorite, forgotten lefty firebrands.
