about  /   archives  /   contact  /   subscribe  /   twitter    
Share this entry
Make this entry better

What are we missing? Is there a key link we skipped, or a part of the story we got wrong?

Let us know — we’re counting on you to help Encyclo get better.

Put Encyclo on your site
Embed this Encyclo entry in your blog or webpage by copying this code into your HTML:

Key links:
Primary website:
current.com
Primary Twitter:
@current

Editor’s Note: Encyclo has not been regularly updated since August 2014, so information posted here is likely to be out of date and may be no longer accurate. It’s best used as a snapshot of the media landscape at that point in time.

Current is a youth-oriented cable television network and website co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore.

The network airs original news and entertainment programming with a heavy emphasis on viewer participation, including Vanguard, a documentary series produced by young journalists. It was described as “MTV without the music” at its launch in August 2005.

Current’s distribution has grown to include cable and satellite providers that reach 60 million American households, as well as providers in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Italy.

Until a format change in 2009, Current aired short features called “pods,” many of them created by viewers and voted up by users of current.com. After Gore and co-founder Joel Hyatt reportedly tried and failed to sell the company, Current underwent an overhaul, laying off 80 staff members, canceling some programs, and introducing traditional 30- to 60-minute time slots.

In April 2011, after severing his contract with MSNBC, Keith Olbermann announced he would take his news and opinion program, Countdown, to Current TV. Olbermann was named the network’s chief news officer. He was fired in March 2012.

Cable giant Comcast Corp., which owns MSNBC, also owns a 10 percent stake of Current’s parent company, Current Media.

Peers, allies, & competitors:
Recent Nieman Lab coverage:
July 10, 2018 / Nicholas Quah
The Washington Post wants to figure out the best places to put ads in your favorite podcasts — Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue 168, published July 10, 2018. Into the Woods. The rollout for Crooked Media’s first audio documentary, The Wilderness, began yesterday with the launch ...
July 25, 2017 / Nicholas Quah
What’s coming next in podcast adaptations: Adaptations of other forms of media to podcasts — Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue 129, published July 25, 2017. Hey folks! We’re talking about adaptations, once again. Gimlet wraps a big week for Homecoming. In the same week that th...
July 26, 2016 / Nicholas Quah
Hot Pod: Are too many people skipping the ads in podcasts? — Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue eighty, published July 26, 2016. Ad-skipping. I wasn’t able to cover this last week, but it’s a topic you shouldn’t sleep on: The Wall Stre...
Nov. 24, 2015 / Nicholas Quah
Hot Pod: Revisiting the question: Why doesn’t audio go viral? — Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is Issue Fifty, published November 24, 2015. Why audio doesn’t go viral, revisited. Do you remember what you were doing back in January 2014? I do. I was freezi...
July 16, 2015 / Shan Wang
How KPCC in Los Angeles grew its Latino listenership while trying to keep its traditional audience — In California, Latinos now outnumber whites as the largest ethnic group in the state, and Los Angeles County is home to the largest Latino population of any county in the United States. To better match these shifting dem...

Recently around the web, from Mediagazer:

Primary author: Andrew Phelps. Main text last updated: July 18, 2013.
Make this entry better
How could this entry improve? What's missing, unclear, or wrong?
Name (optional)
Email (optional)
Chicago Tribune logo

The Chicago Tribune is the 11th-largest daily newspaper in the country and the flagship publication of Tribune Publishing. The paper has been under the ownership of the Tribune Company and Tribune Publishing since its founding in 1847. In 2007 the paper, along with other Tribune Company properties including the Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun,…

Put Encyclo on your site
Embed this Encyclo entry in your blog or webpage by copying this code into your HTML:

Encyclo is made possible by a grant from the Knight Foundation.
The Nieman Journalism Lab is a collaborative attempt to figure out how quality journalism can survive and thrive in the Internet age.
Some rights reserved. Copyright information »