Current TV

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September 10, 2008

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Current TV

An alternative TV channel from San Francisco takes a radical departure from conventional structures. At Current TV the programmes are produced by the viewers themselves.

Making TV with the viewers for the viewers: (from left) Allison Davis, Ezra Cooperstein, Matthew Sultan, Fhay Arceo

The channel, founded in 2005 by former US Vice President Al Gore, might broadcast a report on the effect on Tibetan sherpas of tourists flocking to climb Mount Everest, or the personal point of view of a young person who was shot in the mean streets of Oakland. "At current TV we're creating a dialogue among young people, saying ‘Let's talk about this'," says Allison Davis, Current's creative executive.

Creative executive: Allison Davis.

The website allows anyone to submit their own news, documentary and opinion videos. The submissions that earn the highest number of votes by the audience on the website are broadcast on the television channel, which now reaches 58 million households in the USA, Ireland and Italy. The editors work with viewer-created content (VC2) producers from around the world who reveal how crises directly affect their corner of the earth.

"We often turn to the video diary format," says Andrew Fitzgerald, manager of the collective journalism department. "What we do is ask people to submit their personal stories. We show the really authentic, personal videos of those who are directly affected."

Get the full story by Lisa Hix in the San Francisco edition of MINIInternational