Independent World Television Network

I just posted a diary on kos on this subject, but this post will be slightly different. (diary here)

We are informed, via buzzflash, of the in-progress creation of the Independent World News network. The idea is to create a non-profit, sponosor-supported, world-wide news network, as an antidote to the corporate- and government-sponsored news media organizations. This is the brainchild of a Toronto native filmmaker and CBC Producer. It looks like most of the work was initiated last month, and he's secured some seed money from some big sponsors, but they're shooting for full netroots-sponsorship in three years of going live. They're shooting for a 2007 go-live date.

There doesn't seem to be much coverage of this project in the mainstream US media, but The Guardian, the Globe&Mail and the Toronto Star have covered it, as well as Variety and some other Hollywood-insider channels. As was mentioned in the Guardian article available on the IWT website "Press Releases" section, the initial goal is going to be towards breaking into the North American market, with plans for global expansion later.

From their "Programming" section, they appear to be shooting for a primarily News Reporting and Analysis format, heavily tilted towards politics, with some smatterings of culture and entertainment thrown into the mix.

Clearly, this is an idea whose time has come. My first thought was that yet another ambitious netroots-sponsored project would be one more organization chasing after an increasingly smaller slice of the same pie, but if the global intent of the network is realized, there will be a significantly larger pie to slice up.

As I mentioned in the diary, I want to find out more about the situation before I toss them any cash, but if it works out as planned, this is one project I would definitely consider backing with some funding.

***Update (10:53pm)***

Kos user J@ffa has started a pledgebank petition, pledging $25 if, and only if, 20 other people commit to it. I've signed it, and I encourage anyone who cares to do so as well.