In a major restructuring, cable channel Current TV -- co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore -- has laid off 80 staff members, about 25% of its staff.
Most of the axed were based in the Los Angeles office, affecting in-house production and striking a yet another blow to the city's already suffering entertainment industry. The original programs Current Tonight, Current Takeover and Current Exposed have been canceled and David Neumann, the head of programming was fired. About 300 employees total remain in San Francisco, New York, the now much smaller LA office and the international offices in London and Milan.
The pioneering, Emmy-Award winning channel was originally conceived by Gore and businessman Joe Hyatt as a peer-to-peer news and information network with one-third of the on-air broadcast featuring viewer created content (VC2) and geared to 18-34-years-olds. During the 2004 campaign, Gore envisioned a news network with no political leanings
that would help change the tide of "consolidation and conglomeratization" of the media by leading the change to "democratization."
Now that videophones and Flip cameras are in almost everyone's pocket, most local news channels-as well as the cable news networks-allow viewers to email or upload raw footage and short reports. The tide of consolidation hasn't turned, but with YouTube and Vimeo, democratization has happened. If it exists, if it happened, or if you think it's a conspiracy, it's been videotaped.
Current TV's new CEO Mark Rosenthal, who replaced Hyatt, is now revamping Current to a more traditional model of 30-minute and hour-long programs, much of it to be acquired, reports Variety.
Current said it will now move money into creating departments focused on program development, licensing and acquisitions, talent management, research, marketing, affiliate relations and advertising sales. In other words, start operating like a more traditional network.
Short-form videos will continue to be a part of the network's lineup, but now as part of regularly scheduled programs.
Rosenthal, the man behind the upheaval, is the former COO and president of MTV, which made the same sort of changes in the mid-1990s, shifting from music videos to longer-form programming. The logic is that original, longer form programming attracts more advertising dollars. Current TV is available in over 59 million homes in the US, UK, Ireland and Italy thanks to cable and satellite.
No word yet on the changes from Current Media chairman Al Gore, but Current.com, the channel's internt portal reports that Current Media's COO, Joanna Drake Earl said that this year is set to be Current's most profitable year since its launch.
No wonder: A year ago to the day, Current fired 60 employees as a cost cutting measureIn a major restructuring, cable channel Current TV -- co-founded by former Vice... more
Current's new (old) strategy is to regress to standard 30 and 60 minute TV programming to get away from user created content, the one thing many Current users like about the website and channel. Interestingly they claim the move is not financially motivated. Yet they also claim the move is meant to attract traditional advertisers who shy away from user generated content. Sounds like a load of crap.
This is typical management behavior from what I've seen in business. Mangers seem to continually have to shake things up to justify their existence. The management mantra: If it ain't broke, fix it anyway. It looks good on the performance review.
I also heard that Laura and Euna are being let go.
Maybe it hasn't worked so well to mesh the short-video-clip culture of the Web with traditional cable news: Current Media, the edgy cable company co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, announced Wednesday it has laid off 80 employees in conjunction with a programming shakeup.
Over the next few days, you may slowly bump into stories that are featured as "Developing Stories" on Current. We're trying something new out, and would like your help. Read all of the details about this new community challenge over on the Current blog:
The Martial Art of Difficult Conversations by Peter Bregman How We Work - Harvard Business Publishing
An online article
My wife Eleanor and I used to live in a small house in Princeton, New Jersey. One night we returned home to find a car parked in our single space driveway with no owner in sight. We were tired and had nowhere nearby to legally park our car. So we had the car towed, parked our car in its place, and went to sleep.
The next morning there was a loud knock on the door. Eleanor was the first to answer. She immediately regretted it. It was our next-door neighbor, we'll call her Leslie, and she was mad. As soon as she saw Eleanor she burst forth with a barrage of angry words and accusations. I was in the back of the house and could hear her clearly.
It turns out the mystery car we had towed belonged to her son. Eleanor, usually calm and collected, began to defend herself against the bombardment of accusations, which only made Leslie angrier and louder. So they went at it, both arguing their points.
Meanwhile, I had a brief moment to consider the best way to rescue Eleanor. I had to diffuse Leslie's anger, otherwise we'd never get anywhere. The only way to do that was to give Leslie the experience of being heard. Once she felt we understood her point of view and appreciated how angry she was, she'd calm down. Then we could talk.
I decided to do three things that, together, communicate listening:
Ask questions. I would ask open ended, exploratory questions. Who, what, when, where, how, why, etc. Questions that would clarify what she was saying and feeling. Questions that would help me unpack the situation from her perspective. I would stay away from leading questions and statements that pretended to be questions but wouldn't fool anyone, like "You don't actually believe that, do you?"
Actually listen. I would shut up and hear what she had to say. And I would avoid thinking about anything except what she was saying. I would also try to hear what she wasn't saying but was implying, the desires, fears, and assumptions that were behind what she was saying.
Repeat and summarize. I would recap what I heard, trying to use the same words she did. I would also summarize what I heard and check with her to see if I understood her correctly. If she told me I didn't get it, I wouldn't ask her to repeat herself because, well, she would and I'd hear the whole thing over again. What I really wanted to know is what I got wrong. So I'd ask her what I missed. Once she told me, I'd repeat that part again and ask her if I got it right this time.
Most importantly, I wouldn't bother to defend our decision until her anger was diffused. And I picked a sign for myself: once she took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders, I'd make my point.
I felt as ready as I was going to be. My adrenaline was pumping as I walked to the doorway where they were standing yelling at each other. "Leslie," I broke in, "Hi. You're obviously really angry about something." She saw a new victim and pounced. "Angry doesn't even begin to describe it . . ." I listened. I asked questions. I repeated and summarized. Eventually, I felt like I really understood why she was so angry.
After about 15 minutes I said, " So your son only visits once in a blue moon and you really want him to have a good experience when he's with you. And then the people who you think are your good neighbors have his car towed. One more reason for him not to come home."
"Yeah, that's right," she said, a little more softly. And then . . . nothing. She was silent. She had nothing left to say. I had understood the depth of her reaction. Her emotional transaction was complete. She felt heard.
continued....The Martial Art of Difficult Conversations by Peter Bregman How We Work - Harvard... more
We get questions about our featuring and editorial practices on a regular basis. So, it felt like the right time to open the doors, spell out our policies, and make sure everyone understands what goes on behind closed doors with regards to editorial decisions. Here's a snippet from the blog post:
"Our editorial team is relatively small on Current.com, especially in comparison with some of the more editorially driven sites out there. We see Current.com as a joint partnership between our internal team, and the community that frequents the site. While we produce content for TV, the amount of content we produce for the web is fairly small in comparison with what our community produces on a daily basis."
To read the details behind our processes and guidelines, please make the jump over to the blog post.
We've done away with the bulky process of old. Meet the new story and comment submission tool.
Let’s face it, contributing to Current.com has never been the easiest thing to do — a refresh of this workflow has been long overdue. With this new release, clicking the “Post a Story” button (located in the green navigation bar) will now produce a submission tool overlaid on whichever page you’re on.
We’ve streamlined the process, so here’s a quick walkthrough:
1. Title and Description Please: We now offer only two initial fields to enter, one for Title and one for Description. The new tool will work with you to customize your post, while putting the focus where it counts: clearly titling your post and adding a description. So focus on the description & the title and then add the link to the end of the description.
2. Link it up: Adding a link to your post is super simple — merely copy the link into your description field. Once you paste a link, the submission tool will immediately process any and all available media (photos, video embeds, etc.) on the source page and offer them as selections for you to include in your post. Click on the one that makes the most sense, and you’re one step closer to posting. Don't forget to add the link to the end of your story!
3. Place your post where it counts most: A story is only as good as its location, and we use groups and tags to help place stories in areas that make the most sense on Current.com. You’ll find an easy groups dropdown menu pre-populated with all of the groups you belong to, along with an open field for tags. Tags are really important. They help lost stories find groups to live in. If you don’t belong to a group that you think the story might make sense in, use relevant tags to help it along its merry way.
4. Time to go pro!: Anyone can submit links to Current.com, but it takes a true professional to raise the bar by posting alongside video, images, or webcams. Clicking the “add video/image/webcam” link, you’ll open the secret door to file uploading, webcam recording, and embedding video. Are you up for the challenge?
Those of you who mastered our older submission workflow will recognize that all of the essential pieces are still here, just repositioned and streamlined.
Remember this is round 1 of the improvements and we're still working on making things even better. Please give us your feedback & let us know what you think.
Thanks!We've done away with the bulky process of old. Meet the new story and comment... more
I enjoy using this website, however the news section is really starting to seem like a bit of a poorly structured mess. Stories are constantly added about a variety of topics and for some reason it seems like Current is not trying too hard when it comes to organizing the news in a sensible fashion. Users who are exposed to the string of articles on the site appear to rarely go beyond the first 150 or so stories. The same news stories are repeatedly posted for days on end and/or they cycle through the top 100 until enough new stories are posted to force them out. Current needs a topic web, repeated post cancellation option, and a trash article option to keep the site from being flooded by articles which most people will end up ignoring. I really do like the concept of Current, but feel it is being so poorly implemented that a select few individuals seem to constantly dominate the picked for tv arena. Rather than being a forum for discussion, it seems like it is turning into a race to see who can post the most popular and already mainstream media acknowledged story the fastest so that someone can get their name on tv. Personally, I have always hoped that the picked for tv topics for Current would be the hidden jems of the internet that most people never hear about. I look to Current to learn, and lately it's not happening......I enjoy using this website, however the news section is really starting to seem like a... more
If You Don't Want Current to turn into Myspace FIGHT SPAM!!! REPORT IT!! HERE'S WHAT I FOUND IN MY INBOX (I COPIED AND PASTED IT BELOW):
hi
williams100 sent on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:19:02 +0000
Dear,
I am Mrs Vivian Augustine,nationality Zimbabwean,residing currently in UK.
I want to know if can be possible for us to know each other,if that is acceptable,try and confirm to me as to enable us to start immediate communication together as i will need your advice.
Please your attension is needed.
Regards,
Mrs Vivian Augustine
contact me at vivianaugustine@she.comIf You Don't Want Current to turn into Myspace FIGHT SPAM!!! REPORT IT!! HERE'S WHAT I... more
The "Vanguard" team is breaking convention and new stories with a breed of journalism. Young, aggressive and willing to go places few other people go, "Vanguard" is telling stories in a way that manhandles the stand up, scripted, bizarre cadence and dearth of content that has come to define so much of TV news. By pushing boundaries, borders and limits, "Vanguard" has been at the forefront of a series of original stories.The "Vanguard" team is breaking convention and new stories with a breed of journalism.... more
The recent decision to pull the plug on the missile shield in Central Europe came as a surprise to Prague and Warsaw. It seems curious that the president didn't plan the new move with Poland and the Czech Republic. Instead, the decision hit newstands mere hours after Obama telephoned the Central European democracies.
Is this is a sign of future disrespect to smaller international players from the new administration? A tactical mistake from the state department? What ever the case, Obama's choice to reward the gleeful Russians on his own terms begs some questions.
What was the intended message to these younger NATO member states?The recent decision to pull the plug on the missile shield in Central Europe came as a... more
I wonder if the Sun will be one day our main source of energy, limitless, powerful,
are wars, among people, still going to exist?
I was driving, unfortunately not a solar powered car, and traffic lights were not working at an intersection.
A car next to me tries to drive through this fast flow of running cars in front of us.
He can't make it, no cars are stopping.
I decided to couple him,
a few seconds later,
magically all those cars gradually stopped.
We crossed the intersection together.
We both looked at each other with a big smile on our faces and went on laughing.
"Have a great day sir" we said to each other and both went on different directions.
I felt that human connection, unity that lives inside us and inside our Universe, such a small event, almost insignificant someone could think, not to me, not to me.
“There is hope in dreams, imagination, and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality.”
By Jonas Salk
"The Guardian's George Monbiot on the evils of advertising and the hypocrisy of journalists."
This is the sentence I remember the most after having watched this video:
"It's very uncomfortable... that my pay depends on the very companies I spend my time campaigning against"
A little old but timeless in its message.
This reminds me of the "Washington post" which had a good article about the environment and on the left side there was a monsanto advertisement.
That was enough to disgust me and drop that article altogether.
I might still quote one of their articles if it is very important and deserves attention but they are definitely not on my white list.
This is only an example of many out there.
I hope we won't start to see this kind of advertisement here on Current.com as this would create a bit of outrage in our community.
What do you think about the Evil advertising and how should it be approached and solved?"The Guardian's George Monbiot on the evils of advertising and the hypocrisy of... more
Hey folks! Zombelle and I thought October would be the perfect time for an Art Gallery/Zombies Group team up- so this month's challenge is all about the brain loving undead!
Bring us your paintings, sculptures, drawings, even crazy Halloween costumes and make-up and anything else you can think of! Zombelle of the Zombies group will be co-judging this challenge- join the Zombie group today! (http://current.com/groups/zombies/) The user with the coolest Zombie Art will get free goodies from me!
2. Go to the "add something" button at the top right of the screen.
3. Upload a picture of your sweet ZOMBIE art.
4. Submit it!
The winners of the last contest will be announced shortly, I'm still in discussion with the co-judge! To my September winners, if you haven't gotten your swag yet it's on it's way so keep your eye on your mailbox :)
If you have a group and would like to collabo with me for next month's challenge, HOLLER!
Thanks everyone, have fun!Hey folks! Zombelle and I thought October would be the perfect time for an Art... more
I love Current and mostly found it a fair website made of intelligent and respectful individuals, from members of the community to its management.
What happened to me though is ridiculous.
I created a group called : The Best Of Current, eight members joined it, was very happy about it.
The members are ThoughtNu, Leahl (Current green producer), naty_forty, Xiola, Kaecvtionr, JonRaymond and me as the leader of the group.
Suddenly I realize the group does not belong to me anymore. "CTV" a Current stuff member has taken leadership and kept me as a member.
He even kept my written original description of the group.
How did this group suddenly become his?
Why wasn't I informed about this?
This is not only an insult to me but to all of us as a community.
This is outrageously unfair.
I hope it has been an innocent mistake as I want to believe in fairness and respect from Current and within Current.
I request my group: The best of current which was created to give a second chance to posts from community members that never made it to the homepage, to be given back to me.
"CTV", you are still welcome to join my group as a member if you wish so, it would make me very happy, supposing this was a mistake.
I can't help in the meantime to feel disappointed, disrespected and discriminated.
Waiting for an explanation.
Thank you very much Current community.
P.S.: In my scroll down list Current.com blog does not appear although I am a member of it.
I was not able to post it there. I ask Current to please do it for me as this concerns our community. ThanksI love Current and mostly found it a fair website made of intelligent and respectful... more
I write to you, America, as a Muslim-American who is frustrated at seeing both sides of my identity spreading myths about each other. In part one of this two part article, I address America from a Muslim perspective. In part two, which will follow in the coming weeks, I shall write to the Muslim community, from an American perspective.
Dear America,
Our world today is assaulted with myriad headlines describing rising extremism and terrorism, and political instability in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East. Despite the plethora of bad news, most recently we have seen a day of hope marked by the end of Ramadan, where Muslims from all nations, social classes, and sects openly united in the spirit of humility, brotherhood, thankfulness, and peace.
As human beings, you and me have a tendency to let the negative marginalize the good and the true. But in this Ramadan the unity and the message of peace and humility that nearly a billion Muslims have exhibited should not go unnoticed, nor should it be underestimated.
America, even though you are part of us (Muslims) and we are a part of you, you often fear and misunderstand the one thing that unites the billion of us around the world is peace, love, and spiritual strength. You fear our religion, Islam. I write the following to not accuse anyone or apologize on behalf of any group. In part one of this article, I speak to you America, as one Muslim who is part of the majority of Muslims standing against the Ahmedinijads, Bin Ladens, and Taliban and Al Qaeda. These men have stolen my voice... our voice. The actions of a violent minority have for too long trumped the selfless and righteous actions of the moderate majority who do good in the name of Islam.
Firstly, Muslims are not a violent people and Islam is not a violent religion. I fear you overlook the fact that the faith of Muslims has been monopolized by the corrupt despots of Muslim countries and Muslim extremists. And it is the extremists whose power is bolstered by a media that has paralyzed the voice of the Muslim majority, who in fact abhor violence and terrorism.
It can be confusing even to me because on one side we only see Muslim extremists on the TV preaching hate in the name of Islam and we barely hear the majority. As I will touch on in part two of this article, Muslims have even marginalized themselves. But America, Muslims are a community of over a billion people, most of whom live in poverty within developing countries governed by oppressive, abusive, authoritarian regimes. These very regimes remain bunkered against an alienated group of extremists who are taking to the gun instead of a potentially rigged ballot. It is our mothers and daughters and sons who are being killed on a daily basis by either violent extremists or botched missile attacks by NATO. We are against violence and terrorism America, be it from Muslim extremists or NATO bombs. We are against violence because it is we who are the primary target of most terrorist attacks today. And while we may disagree with your military actions and policies, we look up to the principles that make up America... I speak of the freedom to be critical of yourself as a society and government; the opportunities awarded by the most comprehensive education system in the world; and your effortless ability to adapt in an ever transforming world.
We're thrilled to announce Embedded -- a new show coming to Current TV on October 14th. Shana Naomi Krochmal, Current Music's online producer, has posted all of the details on the Current Music blog, so follow the link for the full scoop:
"The best part about my job as online producer for Current Music is that I sit right here in the heart of the department, and since January I’ve had a front-row seat to watch the development of a new show unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Embedded, premiering on Wednesday, October 14, is the kind of TV any music fan dreams of—and though you have no real reason to believe me, I swear I’m saying that first and foremost as that lucky music fan, not because I work here. (Rolling Stone also picked us as one of their 50 reasons to watch TV. In one of the weirdest but most awesome and accurate reviews I’ve ever read about anything, they said, “If Animal Planet had a show that captured musicians in their natural habitats, it would look like this refreshingly raw documentary series.”)"
To check out and join the Embedded group, head in this direction: http://current.com/groups/embedded/We're thrilled to announce Embedded -- a new show coming to Current TV on October... more
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