Al Gore Takes on Big Media
Posted August 28th, 2006 by Jen Howard
Big Media’s latest opponent is former Vice President Al Gore. In an interview on Sunday, Gore blasted corporate media giants, calling them “a major threat to democracy.’
“Democracy as a system for self-governance is facing more serious challenges now than it has faced for a long time,” Gore told the Edinburgh International Television Festival. “Democracy is a conversation, and the most important role of the media is to facilitate that conversation of democracy. Now the conversation is more controlled, it is more centralized.”
He noted that in places like Italy and Russia, a few economic and political interests control the media, stamping out free expression and censoring important information. But he didn’t pull his punches when it came to the U.S. media.
“The only thing that matters in American politics now is having enough money to put 30-second commercials on the air often enough to convince the voters to elect you or re-elect you,” Gore said. “The person who has the most money to run the most ads usually wins.”
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