“The Promise” represents The Real News Network as we hope it will be when fully funded. What you have been seeing so far on our web site is just a taste of what’s to come. We need your support to make this vision a reality.
Story Transcript
PAUL JAY, CEO & SENIOR EDITOR, THE REAL NEWS NETWORK: Endless wars, abuse of powers, declining living standards. Now a profound economic crisis has ripped asunder the American dream itself. Millions of people losing jobs and homes. They lack proper health care and any real sense of security. As unemployment rises, we need to know why this crisis is happening and what we can do to defend ourselves. Why are wages so low? Why is this society so laden with debt? Is it in ordinary Americans’ interest to have a trillion-dollar military budget to project power across the globe? Big oil and arms companies shape American economic and foreign policies with far-reaching effects on the lives of ordinary people. With allies in government, trade unions, the media, and think tanks, they’re a hidden hand that controls the commanding heights of American politics. Corporate television news won’t ask these questions, let alone try to find answers. Only a truly independent news network can tackle these questions with courage and with ordinary people’s interests in mind. What makes The Real News different is our funding model. We don’t have to worry about quick rating results. We don’t have to worry about companies getting peeved and withdrawing their advertising. We don’t have to worry about losing government subsidy. It means we can think and act independently and courageously.
VOICEOVER: The real news is a non-profit video-news and documentary service that provides independent, uncompromising video journalism. The Real News will be financed through the economic power of thousands of people around the world. We won’t accept advertising or government or corporate funding. Our goal is to compete for a daily news audience in the millions. We plan to break stories throughout the day on our 24/7 Web site, and our daily world news show for television will be available in over 50 million homes across North America. The Real News will feature entertaining and hard-hitting programming, including Global Warning, reporting on problems and solutions in the environmental and climate-change crisis.
Welcome to The Global Underground. We’ll be looking at our planet through the eyes of young artists from around the world.
VOICEOVER: Skewer: the best of the world’s political satire. Face off: lively, witty, and fair debate. How did television news shows cover this week’s big story? Did they get the facts right? Did they get the context? Join us for The Real Story.
ERIC MARGOLIS, THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, SUN MEDIA: The United States has played a major role in fueling the civil war—something that the American media is not telling the American people.
VOICEOVER: Other programming will include The Politics of Faith, about politics and the prophets. International Justice: the law and human rights. Follow the Money: the global fight against corruption. Organize This: working people and unions. Think: featuring leading minds from around the world. And Rearview Mirror: the history behind the news. The heart of our service will be our daily news, where we change the definition of what’s news and who’s a newsmaker.
Are Canadian mining companies violating the rights of indigenous people in Canada and around the world? We report from Guatemala.
WOMAN (SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): Because we are indigenous people! We are Q’eqchi! We are the owners of this land!
MISHUK MUNIER, BROADCAST OPERATIONS, THE REAL NEWS NETWORK: We’ve got a satellite up on the roof, and it runs throughout the day, multiple feeds, different parts of the world, the top stories of the day. That’s a start. We are already working with journalists from different parts of the world who are well established and highly respected in the regions.
STEPHEN GREY, AUTHOR, IN LONDON: More than 7,000 people have been captured in America’s war on terror. Some have been released. Some of them some were sent to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But where are all the rest?
REDI DIREKO, IN SOWETO: Africa supplies a third of China’s imported oil.
MUNIZAE JAHANGIR, IN PAKISTAN: President Pervez Musharraf’s army has deep historical ties to Islamist forces.
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SAM HUSSEINI, IN WASHINGTON, DC: Do we owe something to the Iraqi people other than just getting out? Do we owe them reparations for having brought about this war?
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D): I don’t believe that.
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URBAN HAMID, IN BAGHDAD: The Iraqi people are paying the highest price for the failure of American policy.
JAY: The daily news is critical, because that’s where people form their first opinion about a breaking story and that’s where they form their worldview, because of the repetition of daily news. We have to break the monopoly on video-based daily news.
JONATHAN SCHELL, IN WASHINGTON, DC: Now we hear that new wars, even endless wars, may be on the horizon. Isn’t it time we debated whether a foreign policy that weakens our economy and cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people is in the interests of most Americans?
TOM MORRIS, JOURNALIST: Here are the stories. Here’s a guy living in a trailer in his backyard. He’s paying a mortgage on a house that was destroyed two years ago, and he can’t even find a job, and nobody’s helping him. But there’s 362 tons of US cash somewhere missing in Baghdad.
VOICEOVER: Coming up on Global Warning: avaaz.org, in an online campaign, says climate change is the greatest threat facing our world today and we’re almost out of time to stop it.
JAY: One of the most important stories The Real News will be covering is the global warming, climate-change crisis. All the issues of our time converge here, from the disproportionate effects on the poor to the very way we do business. Well, scientists are telling us we can’t keep doing business as usual. And that’s why we need television news that doesn’t do business as usual. There are solutions for the urgent problems of our times. At The Real News, people working for change to find solutions will be the most important stories we cover.
GAVIN MACFADYEN, IN LONDON: This is Gavin MacFadyen with the Center for Investigative Journalism, and I’ll be reporting from London for The Real News.
OKSANA CHELYSHEVA, IN MOSCOW: I am Oksana Chelysheva in Moscow.
DAVEY D.: This is Davey D. from Oakland, California.
PEPE ESCOBAR, IN SÃO PAULO: I’m Pepe Escobar from São Paulo, Brazil.
MAKANI THEMBA-NIXON, PRAXIS PROJECT, BOARD MEMBER OF THE REAL NEWS NETWORK: This is where information really could be power.
WILLY LAM, IN HONG KONG: I am Willy Lam in Hong Kong.
BABAK YEKTAFAR, IN WASHINGTON, DC: I’m Babak Yektafar, reporting from Washington, DC.
SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN, IN NEW DELHI: I’m Siddharth Varadarajan of The Hindu in New Delhi.
SASHI KUMAR, ASIAN COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM, CHENNAI: In India there’ll be enough numbers, huge numbers who would be subscribers to such a channel, to see something rational.
JODI RAVE, FLATHEAD RESERVATION: I’m Jody Ray, reporting for The Real News from western Montana.
FERIAL HAFFAJEE, EDITOR, MAIL & GUARDIAN, CITY PRESS: Large chunks of the world are very ready for a network of news that’s not CNN, that’s not the BBC.
TAGHREED EL-KHODARY, IN GAZA CITY: I am Taghreed El-Khodary in Gaza city.
DAVID NEWMAN, IN ISRAEL: This is David Newman of Ben-Gurion University.
PHILLIP ADAMS, HOST, ABC RADIO NATIONAL, AUSTRALIA: Here and everywhere, people want the Real News alternative.
LEILA HATOUM, IN BEIRUT: I’m Leila Hatoum, reporting from Beirut for The Real News.
ROBERT MCCHESNEY, PRESIDENT, FREE PRESS: This is the sort of thing we can build right now without anyone else’s permission, from the government or from the business community. The power’s in our hands.
JAY: If we’re not going to sleepwalk into more wars and into environmental disaster, we think we need to start with a television news network that won’t bow to pressure and has the courage to seek facts. And that means independent economics. And that’s why we need you. You can organize house parties, talk to friends at school and at work, send e-mail blasts, and spread the word. Distribute this video to everyone you know. Pick up the phone and call a few friends and suggest they visit therealnews.com. Invest just 10 minutes a day to ask friends and colleagues to join the campaign to create a truly independent source of Internet and television news. Together, we can build this network. Just 50,000 people at $10 a month gets us to our first level of sustainability. You can help us reach this goal. And when we do, we’ll move to television in millions of homes across North America. Help us reach an audience in the millions. Please contribute generously. Spread the word. Let’s make The Real News Television Network a reality.
VOICEOVER: Real hope means facing a complex reality. Your tax-deductible donation makes it possible. Please contribute. Visit therealnews.com.
DISCLAIMER:
Please note that TRNN transcripts are typed from a recording of the program; The Real News Network cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.