As the economic crisis deepens, climate change approaches critical levels, and global tensions increase, the need to break the monopoly on television daily news has never been greater. We must know why the crisis is happening and what we can do to defend ourselves. Corporate TV news won’t ask the real questions, let alone provide answers.

The scale of the problems facing us demands original and profound solutions. If ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, get ready for an era of unprecedented imagination and innovation. But there will be no progress without a fight against forces wedded to the status quo. We are entering a period of action, where people take solutions into their own hands and create a bold vision for new ways of living and doing business. The Real News Network is such a solution; it’s the missing link in the global media landscape.

We need video news that cuts through the propaganda and spin with facts and context. But we need more than that. We must have journalism that reports on models for change and people getting organized seeking justice and transformation. We require a platform for the best minds on the planet to debate solutions and speak to millions of people. We need video news with the courage only economic independence provides, to follow facts fearlessly to rational conclusions.

Over the past year, our beta news production has given you just a small taste of what we can do. TRNN has challenged the official version of events in 2000 stories that have received more than 15 million views. Now it’s time to further popularize the content and style, and take the project to scale.

The Real News Network is at a critical juncture. New distribution deals put us on the verge of an audience in the millions. Yet, this comes at a time when the financial crisis has knocked out some of our expected seed funding. We need thousands of new donor/members now if we are to continue. We have to move to a primarily small donor model now.

There are two important developments you should know about. We have an agreement with the McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau that delivers The Real News stories to millions of viewers who visit McClatchy papers’ websites. Here is a recent screen grab from the McClatchy DC bureau website that shows what this collaboration looks like.

We also have a contract with Tivo that puts The Real News channel in one million households across the USA. Other content partnerships (including dedicated apps for cell phones) will push our video news service to millions of people. Soon, we expect to establish a presence on cable TV on-demand services and on radio. We are working on similar arrangements in Canada.

Over the next 12 months, The Real News Network is expanding its news and current affairs programming to more directly target a mass TV and Internet audience. We will enhance our news coverage and introduce innovative, interactive programming that enables citizens to engage in the process.

The Real News will develop a “beat” system with production units dedicated to:

• Solutions, models for change and visions of a better future
• The economic crisis and daily life
• Issues that affect families, students and young workers
• The climate change crisis and its solutions
• Foreign policy, national security and the abuse of power

The Real News Network will produce branded segments on specific issues, including:

• • Global Warning: Investigating the climate crisis, its implications and potential solutions – with the urgency scientists say is necessary. This will include a regular debate segment devoted to finding solutions to the climate change crisis.
  • Women’s Take: Tapping into the knowledge-base of women who are systematically left out of broadcast news and asking them to take a dominant role in shaping the news, its delivery, and the ensuing dialogue that drives political change.
  • Organize This: Highlighting the importance of organizing and issues facing communities and working families.
  • Military Intelligence: Focusing on the perspectives of soldiers dealing with questions from 'what are we fighting for' to the problems of coming home.
    
  • Our Kids: Covering the health, well-being and future of our children.
  • The Politics of Faith: Analyzing what happens to policy and religious values when politics and faith collide.

Over the next year we will:

• Launch the Internet’s first live, interactive debates show that will take debate beyond narrow partisanship, beyond conventional borders, with wit and edge.

• Produce a media watchdog show, ‘Watch the News With The Real News’, allowing viewers to join in by phone, webcam and chat as we watch major TV news – live. Together with our guest journalists and experts, we will discuss and debate ‘the real story’.

• Expand The Real News Network’s reach as a video aggregator, making TheRealNews.com the go-to site for video news, political satire, socially conscious videos and news about solutions.

• Establish a production unit dedicated to covering Canadian affairs

• Expand our Washington bureau, focusing on the US Administration and Congress. There will be an investigative emphasis on issues relating to corruption and influence, particularly as it affects the role of banks, oil and arms in shaping US policy.

Join us in making The Real News a reality. Here’s what you can do.

• Make a tax deductible donation*

• If you are now a one-time donor, become a monthly donor

• If you're a monthly donor, consider increasing your amount by $2, $5, or $10

• If you have the means to make a major gift, please call us at the phone numbers on the donate page or donate online

• Consider a Real News Membership as a gift for a friend, co-worker or family member

• Recruit five new members - send this email to your friends and ask them to become members. If each of our current members recruits 5 new members, we will have reached sustainability

• Watch and pass on our video "Reality Asserts Itself"

Now more than ever - Our future depends on knowing.