Topic: Media
Let's Become Mainstream Media The Ron Paul money bombs have proven to be a terrific way to get a whole bunch of people contributing to liberty. Can the same principle be used to help us become part of the mainstream media?by Walt Thiessen
(Libertarian)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
When I was first coding this website, one of my mantras to keep myself focused on doing the coding (which was a constant struggle) was, "We must become the media." It took me three months just to get the site to a point where I could launch it on August 19, 2007. I really didn't have much hope for it, but I figured it would give me a place where I could write my own stuff and invite others to write their own stuff. I thought, "Who knows? Maybe it'll get somewhere."
By October 2007, it was becoming apparent that we were going to get a lot of traffic from Ron Paul supporters. The traffic boom began in earnest. While it has subsided substantially due to the current state of the Republican nomination race, our traffic is still very high because of the interest and participation of supporters of liberty. We're now reaching out to people from other political camps, and slowly we're establishing a base to grow on for the future, which looks bright here at the Nolan Chart.
When the Ron Paul money bombs started hitting in November 2007, they really caught everyone's attention. I was astonished by their success levels, as were many others. Indeed, since that time they've become something of a rage within the liberty movement online. The Revolution is alive and well, and it has given voice to itself in a lot of ways, including the money bombs.
Dr. Paul's treatment at the hands of the mainstream media, however, has been less than inspiring. Indeed, many have written about it unfavorably, both here and on other websites. This has reinforced my belief that we must become the media. And what's the most influential media around? Clearly, that distinction belongs to television. For better or for worse, TV news and programs are the gold standard of mainstream media influence. Get noticed on TV, and your political chances improve. Get ignored, and they decline. Political careers are made and destroyed by television. Change is facilitated or blocked by television. Its influence is unavoidable.
Long before I started the Nolan Chart website, I had previously started Libertarian TV, although I didn't actually do anything truly productive with that website until the 2004 elections, when I made some videos about the presidential campaign of Libertarian Party nominee Michael Badnarik. Prior to that, I had tried to drum up some interest in the idea, in the hopes that somehow it could become a reality. The dream was to have a cable/satellite TV network. The problem, of course, is that such networks are extremely expensive to build and use. Ultimately, inadequate funding meant I had to put the idea on the back burner.
Just the costs for establishing a public TV station are daunting, to say the least. Take a look at an article I found which details the typical costs of funding the equipment for such a station, published by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, a department of the U.S Department of Commerce. We're talking about millions of dollars, according to this document, and that's just for the equipment needed to run a basic station. It doesn't include:
Costs of land, buildings, power installation to transmitter building meter panel output, generators, air conditioning, renovation, and other facilities expenditures that are ineligible under the PTFP.
Costs of office and studio furniture (except for video switcher and audio console cabinets), office machines, and similar ineligible costs under the PTFP.
Manpower costs
Now granted, these numbers come from the government, so they're undoubtedly suspect. And also granted, they don't take into account the relative savings that can be accomplished using state-of-the-art technology that makes it possible to put an entire tv studio in your hands, in the form of a camcorder. What it does show is that, if funding a public TV station is expensive, you can bet that funding a TV network is bound to be expensive.
And yet, I wonder. Can it be done? Is there a way to get started in an industry that is dominated by some of the richest people in America?
Without funds in the millions of dollars, it's an unrealistic fantasy. What if we were to somehow raise, say, $10 million? Could my dream of becoming the media become reality? Could we finally create a venue that would put us on cable and satellite TV, thereby giving us access to the mass millions with our messages of liberty, hope, and freedom from the oppression we currently all suffer under?
I think it's possible. Imagine if we started with a single television program, a weekly talk show that appeared on one of the lesser cable and satellite networks. One network that comes to mind is the Product Information Network (PIN) or one of the other infomercial networks. Their obvious disadvantage is that they're not CBS or Fox or CNN, but the huge advantage is that they're on the cable and satellite TV menus. Best of all, such minor networks are far cheaper to access for a startup program than time on a highly popular network would be.
An hour long talk show could be broken up into segments. There could be 10-15 minutes of news, an interview segment, and perhaps a segment for a special report on something or other.
Even a weekly TV program requires a lot of people be involved to do the job right. People cost money, because (funnily enough) they expect to earn a living and get paid for what they do. As any employer will tell you, payroll is the number one expense in the day-to-day-operations of any company. So the trick would be to keep the number of people involved down to a reasonable number, and try to do as much as possible to make the show happen with that group of people.
But while that's being built, there will still be a lot of ongoing expenses to meet. Just the cost of doing a simple talk show will add up pretty quickly. 16 years ago, a talk show cost about $100,000 to produce on a major network. The cost is probably double that now (inflation), and that's per episode. Do 52 episodes per year, and you've got a cost of roughly $10 million.
Conceivably, once the show hits the network, some of the money (perhaps all) can be earned back via advertising revenues. A good sales staff can help make that happen.
It's obvious why the major networks make the big money, while the minor networks struggle to survive. The top rated shows on the major networks typically earn between $100,000 and $300,000 for a 30 second spot. But minor shows are lucky to earn $1,000 for the same ad. You have to do everything possible to pare down your costs while building your viewership. The shows with the big viewership win big rewards. Those shows that don't earn viewership can lose big money.
The question remains....would Paulites and other supporters of liberty be willing to give to a money bomb for the purpose of launching such a show? My ultimate goal would be to turn the project into a stock-financed venture, but that's something that would have to come further down the line. The reason is the myriad of SEC regulations regarding investment in such a venture. That's why I think it has to be a simple fundraiser at this point and nothing else. You have to be willing to expect that you'll never get any share of ownership or anything like that. You'd simply be helping create a liberty-based media organization with no expection of any financial rewards for your money gift.
Before I put up a money bomb website to try raise that kind of money (probably at my other Libertarian TV website where I currently store the videos for my main Libertarian TV website), I wanted to post this article and see what kind of reaction it would draw. I want your feedback on this. Leave a comment using the form below this article. If you're so inclined, tell other liberty supporters you know about the idea and encourage them to leave their feedback to.
Make no mistake...this is a proposition with risk. It might not work out. But I think the possibilities are intriguing, and the potential rewards could put the ideas of liberty on the media map. And best of all, it would help me realize my goal of making us the media, so that our messages can't be safely ignored anymore.
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2008 Walt Thiessen, all rights reserved.
Published: Saturday, March 1, 2008
Last modified: Saturday, March 1, 2008
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Not to be rude but only to save space and time and answer your queston ...No.
I believe you would be better served to develop your internet portal "Libertarian TV". Establish some verifiable numbers as to traffic and use that as collateral or start up solicitation evidence to go broadcast.
Mark my words YouTube TV (half hour E! tv dinner time filler show) is right around the corner.
The advantage of a network is obviously control of the content. But I think you can have tremendous success and impact and maintiain content control as well as lower cost control using the internet. At least in the beginning. Not for nuthin' but I honestly believe the internet is the delivery model of the future. The challenge is making it the business model of the present. Plus I think something of this nature lends itself to internet style production values and short form content.
Posted By: Kevin Houston
Date: 2008-03-01 11:54:21
I agree with Jim.
Why should we try to become the dinosaur when they are clearly on the way out.
If we are going to invest in a start-up, let's set up a polling company to make sure that future freedom candidates get a fair shot at being taken seriously.
If Ron Paul could have shown 5% last summer, it's very likely he would be in Mike Huckabee's place. If he could have shown a 10% somewhere last summer, he could possibly be the frontrunner.
I am concerned that there is a significant dilution of effort going on. I see some good ideas being proposed, but there are a lot of us committed to liberty. We may not all be on the same page, but as they say there is strength in numbers. And, in my opinion Dr. Paul has to be the focal point for just one program that we can all agree on. I think it is safe to say that we all have confidence in him. I am sure that what ever idea was adopted that he could draft a board of very prominent people equally committed to less government and more freedom. With such in mind, raising money would not be a problem. IMHO.
Posted By: Louis Nardozi
Date: 2008-03-01 15:44:56
No really, I think your idea is brilliant! However, I do not think it sound to CREATE a new network. Far better to try to buy a cable station that already exists - like the military channel or the science channel. But to do this you'd have to find somewhere a #2 that'd like to take over, and a financier who could handle the financing given some 'seed' money. Email me if you want to talk more about it - lnardozi at cox dot net
Go for it....Live your dream! Nothing wrong with looking at the BIG Picture.
Here locally one person with some old used tv transmitting equipt. set up a studio in his garage and started his own station producing news for Earth First as they couldn't get air time. Since then he moved up to cable and Public Access TV and is doing extremly well.
In my scan of your article and what Lyman and Co. are trying to do, have I missed some significant differences?
I certainly agree that we must BECOME the media, and I see that already beginning to happen; anything that can be done to accelerate that process will help. There are perils, pitfalls, and profound opportunities here. Surely worth discussing, and I will stay tuned to where you're going to take this with considerable interest.
As per my above comment , I found this interesting news blip on the suggested site:
This bill removes the video franchise requirement that helps fund your public access tv.
the "Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act" (S.1504), proposed by Senators Ensign (R-Nevada) and McCain (R-Arizona), and Senate Bill S.1349 and House Bill H.R.3146 - known together as the "Video Choice Act of 2005" - would end or severely limit the operation of public, educational and governmental access television (PEG TV) nationwide.
Posted By: Scott from Oregon
Date: 2008-03-01 20:25:11
Creator said it. You are in line, thinking like Trevor Lyman and CO...
The best way to start an enterprise like this is to aquire the means to host your very own You- Tube type of site.
You use the ad revenue generated from that to proceed into other areas.
The trouble with using second rate TV venues for your shows is that you won't get the advertising. Then you will pump all of your money into a few shows, and then you'll be out of money.
Also, if your programming doesn't include money making shows like "House" or "American Idol", your idealistic Libertarian talk shows and what not will not carry the venture. Politics is only interesting about once every four years...
We’re starting a new media company from the ground up. Impossible, you say? We don’t think so. Here’s why.
THE MESSAGE OF OUR ADVERSARIES IS WEAK
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen—their message is weak, not strong. Fox News; CNN; CBS; Rush Limbaugh; Sean Hannity; AirAmerica; Clear Channel—we have nothing to fear from these people. They are the old. They are the tired. They are the past. They are the ones with nothing to offer for the future of America. All of their billions and all of their high overhead structures are linked and tied to the failed policies of a collapsing regime. These people; these companies; the old media institutions themselves—they are on their way to the dinosaur graveyard of bad ideas. They cannot, and will not, escape their fate.
Bad ideas. The old media structure reeks with them. Bad ideas permeate everything they say; everything they do; everything they stand for. They offer war—when the American people want peace. They shill for big government—when the American people want government to get off their backs. They stand for taxes, and socialism, and a crumbling welfare state—when the people want freedom. We hear lies and propaganda every day—at a time in America when truth is desperately needed. Bad ideas, ladies and gentlemen. The reason they will fail.
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