PressEthic

I have come across a fair few young film producers in my relatively brief time in New York City. All of them are abuzz with excitement at Current TV. One independent producer I met on Friday had already had one short piece broadcast, and had two others pending...something which would be close to impossible at his age if the broadcaster had been a major network or cable channel.

Amidst an age of burgeoning corporate power amongst the broadcast media in the US and elsewhere, is such a forum for broadcast expression and news reporting only likely to appeal to a small, disenchanted minority, or will it become a must watch for the 18-34 demographic, in much the same way as MTV exploded in the late 1980s and early 1990s - an analogy encouraged by Current's press releases?

Is Current TV, founded by Al Gore and the entrepreneurial Joel Hyatt, set to change the way we watch TV? Already in the UK, the BBC and Murdoch's Sky TV encourage audience participation in the content of their news shows, by allowing voting for topics of interest, through SMS (rather like the Pop Idol voting concept).

Gore was quoted as saying that "young adults have a powerful voice, but you can't hear that voice on television." With Current TV, the idea is to give a voice to those same people that have been empowered by the internet, through their creation of online content - best demonstrated by the medium of blogging.

It certainly seems to be an attempt to "Democratize" (excuse the Gore/Democrat allusion) our TV content, so the question is whether this will result in a "dumbing down" of content, and a falling of standards; or will the opportunity to have their work published galvanise the brightest and best independent filmakers and reporters into acheiving new levels of broadcasting quality? We shall doubtless have an answer soon...compare the example of MTV for a possible clue.