Since this site was originally about breaking the media matrix, I want to talk for a moment about plans I have to create a nightly news program on cable and satellite. American Liberty TV is a project I started shortly after BTM made their announcement, although my approach is slightly different.
My understanding of Break The Matrix's (BTM) plans, based on a phone conversation I had with Rick Williams in March, is that they're going to concentrate on building a radio network first. Then, after that's in place, they plan to go after television. While I respect their plans and their approach, my approach is different. I think we need to focus on television first and foremost, because that's where the overwhelming majority of Americans get their news and entertainment. It's telling that when Paul supporters complained about the media, they weren't complaining about national radio networks. Instead, they were complaining about ABC News, CNN, CBS News, NBC News, and the biggest, baddest daddy of them all, Fox News. Most important, they were focusing on the respective nightly newscasts of these networks, where the dearth of Paul coverage was the most pronounced.
That's why I'm working on building a TV news program first. I know that a good news program isn't going to be a big money maker like for instance Oprah Winfrey or American Idol or Dancing With The Stars, but I think it can be the anchor around which a network can be built. What would separate our news program from the others is that we would emphasize telling the whole truth, not just what the media's corporate parents and the governments spinmeisters want us to hear. By combining donations with advertising, we can insure that no advertiser can hold us hostage for broadcasting news they don't like, and we similarly are less likely to fall victim to slow fundraising periods like public TV sometimes experiences. Having both revenue streams would be like spreading out your financial investments. All our eggs would not be in just one basket.
Imagine how different America's understanding of Iraq or Real ID or Health Care or the Federal Reserve or any of the dozens of other key issues would be if they had the whole story and not just the corporate/government-sanitized story! People in the Paul Revolution and in the liberty movement at large have long bemoaned how uneducated people are about the issues, yet how can we expect otherwise when their main media sources don't present them with the information they need the most?
We're currently preparing a demonstration news program, a sort of a "pilot" to show people what such a nightly newscast could look like. Since we don't have any big money yet, we're forced to work with cheap camcorders and makeshift editing using products designed for a the consumer market, so it's taking quite a bit of time to put it together. While the result can't be as good as a real newscast produced with professional equipment and paid, full-time staff, we're hoping we can put together something that will give people an approximate idea of what can be done. The target date for the release of the demo newscast is May 15.
Visit the website at www.americanlibertytv.com to show your support and to learn more about the project. Your comments and suggestions would be appreciated.
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I'm excited to see the appearance of ALTV, and I truly believe there is room for others. We already have Prison Planet TV, and Walt already links to Current.tv from his website which I hadn't heard of, and there's probably others that are out there too. The more the merrier!
The difference of opinion is also good to see, and I hope this leads to strong individual approaches from BTM and ALTV. I think the discussions about it being inappropriate for Walt to talk about ALTV here is petty, and only shows that we have a ways to go yet before we understand this new medium of interactive news. Even if they both end up being direct competitors, the market will decide the outcome, not internal bickering which will only turn people away from BTM.
We're at the forefront of this new medium, so let us try everything and see what works. Rick is spot on when he says that we need to build community first. Keep going Walt!
On the Internet, no one can hear you stream!
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Anyone fancy running a hiking website? I'm having to close it down in July.
http://www.hikerbox.net
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That's why I'm working on building a TV news program first. I know that a good news program isn't going to be a big money maker like for instance Oprah Winfrey or American Idol or Dancing With The Stars, but I think it can be the anchor around which a network can be built. What would separate our news program from the others is that we would emphasize telling the whole truth, not just what the media's corporate parents and the governments spinmeisters want us to hear.
Yep, in order to truly break free from the matrix, the entire truth is going to have to be broadcast 24, ON ALL CHANNELS, and people hitting chat rooms, irc, networks, blogs, groups, forums, etc, leaving crumbs the the many files of consolidated data, and many data points around the web(so the more sites like these 2 the better) so that the information is dynamic and not so prone to attack from the enemy who wants to suppress it.
This Movement is nothing new, it has been going on since the late 50s publicly. And has been around the net since its conception. Let us now move it forward to critical mass event, and when victory for Humankind!!!
Trevor,
I honestly did not intend to disaparage your project in any way, and I am sorry if I offended you. Yes, I said I think that my approach (working on building TV now rather than radio first and using a donations based model rather than using an IPO model) is better, but I really didn't intend that to mean I was competing with you guys. Rather, I was responding to some people who had previously told me they thought your model was better. I was replying to them why I disagreed with their assessment.
By the way, I did specify in that same video that I have a lot of respect for what you and Rick are doing and that I hope your effort succeeds. Did you notice that too? I wouldn't have even applied for an account here at BTM if I didn't feel that way.
I also like the idea of promoting BTM in my program. In fact, I hereby invite you or Rick to do a Skype video interview with me for my demo newscast about BTM. I don't currently have a way to include both of you at the same time, unless you can share the same webcam at the same time. I'm experimenting with some software packages I've found that allow you to record a video call on Skype, so that I can do video interviews like this going forward.
If it can't be done within the short time frame within which I'm creating the demo newscast (this week), I invite either of you to do a video interview with me afterward, which I will include in the next broadcast.
At this point, I'm hoping to actually begin doing regular (daily?) video programs on the news of the day, including special focus on RP Revolution news. BTM would certainly be a good focus of such an interview.
If either of you have a webcam and would like to do an interview, please let me know.
Walt Thiessen
www.americanlibertytv.com
Thx for the invite, Walt, and no hard feelings on our end. Trevor and I aren't doing press interviews right now-- but probably later, and we'd be pleased to talk to you further some time soon after things here settle in a bit. R
Adam is correct that BTM is an outgrowth of what Ron Paul accomplished. So is Walt's effort, and we have nothing against what Walt is trying to achieve. He's onto the right idea, just as we believe we are. Mainstream television is an essential medium-- we must capture a position in that space-- whoever does it, or however it happens. Ron Paul's great message is no one's exclusive property, and it benefits all to see that message spread far and wide by anyone who chooses to carry it on. R
I think what BTM has tapped into is something that is humongous --- There is an enormous demand for accurate and intersting media coverage ----- and interactive media is a fairly new medium.
THere are still a lot of questions that will be raised about ownership, intellectual copywright, etc. because unlike newspapers, or tv - the content is created by the paricipants rather than a hired staff (or in addition to a hired staff).
If Walt can spread the message to a new audience or reach more people then I think it's great. If he is only able to find an audience out of BTM's existing users then it won't really be beneficial.
But don't forget that most people here were initilly brought together by Ron Paul and that BTM is an outgrowth of that
The more the merrier
Forgive me if I misunderstood the purpose of this site. I thought it was a social networking site for the purpose of helping to put people in touch with each other toward the goal of breaking the matrix. That's what I'm trying to do. If the purpose of this site is to preclude any other project from being discussed, then I apologize for intruding. My understanding is that that's not this site's purpose.
I'm sorry to hear that Rick is now saying that my project is classless. My project is not as new as Rick would like everyone to believe. When Rick and I spoke about my project in mid-March by telephone, he told me then that he wanted to help me get my news show on the air. Apparently he now attempts to rip me for discussing a project on this website which he previously voiced support for.
Let me clarify that I am not trying to compete with Break The Matrix. I think BTM is a good project and I hope it succeeds. I bear no ill-will toward Rick or toward anyone else associated with BTM. I think there is plenty of room for many different efforts to break the matrix. Some other examples that are already out there include Ron Paul Revolution Radio and We The People Radio. I'm trying to add another option. I think there's room for more than one approach to breaking the media matrix. Don't you?
Walt Thiessen
www.americanlibertytv.com
Walt-
I didn't see Rick calling your project classless, but rather your promoting here. I'd call
it a minor indiscretion barely worthy of comment. They could have deleted your post,
and that obvious fact can easily be seen as an excuse from having to ask in advance.
That any of this could be seen as a problem is itself a vestige of the banker induced
psychology of scarcity, made real by their incessant fake wars and constant debt thievery.
[The hunter-gatherers worked four hours a day, so apparently all this wonderful technology
we're surrounded by has been co-opted as a mechanism of enslavement.]Presumably
our motivations with these ventures are more directed at political and social reform and
empowerment than financial gain.
Their acceptance of this post creates a subtle obligation on your part to provide them
exposure, interviews or some such on an ongoing basis,and I can't imagine you'd
begrudge it. Sister stations, a freedom network!
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Good luck to you!
An aside:
Television as a medium bothers me. The brainwave entrainment created by the technology
itself drives the viewer into the low alpha and theta brainwave states which characterize
an hypnotic trance. Information received bypasses the critical faculties and is firmly implanted
in a person's deepest levels as truth, unless extreme vigilance maintained.(Speed reading is
even more pernicious in this regard, and without the technology.)Then there's the twenty-fifth
frame effect.
But Walt, you don't simply say that you have a good idea and that you want people to join you.. you talk about us and our plans (inaccurately) and then say that you are the better option (you say this in your video on your website). You approach is competitive rather than mutually beneficial.
Alex is right that Walt is showing a lack of class by advertising on our site. But we should remember that Walt has been a valuable part of the Ron Paul movement in the past-- his nolancharts was an excellent information source during the campaign. And all of us who believe in freedom need to work together, even when projects compete. The market and community will decide. R
I hope you realize that what you've just done is completely classless.
Breakthematrix just launched their project and has a large following and you're going to try to compete with them. Like it or not that's what you're doing...
I'm all for you and your project being a success. Anything that can get the word out and tell the truth is a great thing for this country long term and I wouldn't want to stifle that in any way, however you cannot use a competing project's site to promote your project.
It shows a lack of class and it makes you seem as though you're unable to stand on your own two feet. If I found about this in any other way I'd probably be much more apt to support you in your endeavor but now I'd rather not.
Trying to capitalize on Breakthematrix's success so far and basing your information on a conversation that's two months old isn't a good way to go about this. How do you know things haven’t changed in their plans? How do you know they don't already have 20 million in venture capital? The point is you don't... and you shouldn't go on the assumptive that you do.
Show some class and remove your post. Promote your project through proper outlets, purchase your advertising legitimately or let the grass roots spread it.
-Alex
A rating of -6... with no comments?
What about American Liberty TV do you not like?
I think this is a great idea and I hope other Liberty Lovers will support them as well. Having a variety of media outlets is going to be key, besides, competition brings out the best quality.