Genre News program Country of origin United States No. of episodes 40 | Presented by Daniel Noel Original language(s) English Running time 30 minutes | |
Liberty News TV is an American monthly grassroots progressive television news program produced in Portland, Maine. The show took a two-year hiatus from October 2009 to June 2011, when it relaunched on the progressive non-profit cable channel Free Speech TV on Dish Network, over the Internet, and on a number of Public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable TV channels across the country. No new episodes have been released since July 2012.
Contents
History
Written by professional journalists, the program first aired in 2005, originally showing on a monthly basis. In the program's original format, two-thirds of the program offered straight news—though with a clearly progressive perspective—anchored by Liz Chambers. The remaining third offered an editorial by Kevan Quinn, who was replaced by substitute commentator Daniel Noel in 2006. In 2007, the program was revamped and re-tooled, with progressive satire included along with news gathering and analysis. Chambers was replaced for a short-time by the two-host team of Noel and Lizzie Reinholt, but Noel was eventually installed as the sole host.
In 2009, it was announced that Liberty News TV would stop airing with episode #40, released in October. The producers noted that the poor economy, along with the election of Barack Obama as president—whom the program argued was inaccurately perceived as a liberal reformer—had greatly reduced their funding from progressive viewers. However, in 2011, Liberty News TV resumed production, with Daniel Noel returning as host. A complete high-resolution archive of the 40 half-hour episodes and a detailed index with links to the archive can be found online. The show's post-2011 episodes have been produced sporadically, with the current last episode aired in July 2012.
Description
Until 2007, the program ran on a timed format, featuring Chambers reading news stories for the first twenty minutes. Occasionally, a special report submitted by a freelance journalist was introduced. The last ten minutes then featured a commentary segment on a particular topic hosted by either Quinn or Noel. Since the 2007 re-tooling, a new format was introduced prominently featuring comedy sketches satirizing both certain current events as well as Republican and Democratic politicians and American public policies. Liberty News TV reports have often been critical of corporate news and media organizations such as Sinclair Broadcasting, CNN, and the Fox News Channel, which they see as propaganda institutions serving corporate and military interests.
Past episodes of Liberty News TV covered the opposition to the Iraq War, the Christian Right, gay rights, climate change, and media criticism. The new format will return to a two-part program, with host Tess Van Horn focused on social, political and economic news and criticism, and host Daniel Noel returning to host "Mock Therapy," a commentary segment that skewers ignorance, racism and other facets of American culture.
Production
The show ran on a very low budget, yet had the "look" of a professional studio setting. The set, as revealed on a local WGME news report, was initially shot in a leaky basement, and was composed of lumber and a bluescreen. Production of the program was supported entirely by donations from individuals and like-minded organizations, who typically donated via Paypal on the website, or sent checks to the Portland address.