Presented by Thom Hartmann Original language(s) English Camera setup Multi-camera | Country of origin United States Location(s) Washington, D.C. | |
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Genre Political news/opinion program | ||
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann is an American TV talk/news show owned, hosted and produced by political commentator and radio host Thom Hartmann, and Hartmann's production company (which also produces his radio show), Mythical Research, Inc., and is represented by WYD Media, Inc. The Big Picture started in 2008 in Portland, Oregon, as a half-hour TV show and was originally syndicated exclusively on Free Speech TV.
Over the next few years, more community TV stations and cable systems picked it up, and Hartmann moved to Washington, DC, taking both his radio show and The Big Picture with him. With that move, he expanded the show to an hour, and also licensed the show to RT, partially in exchange for use of their television studios and facilities. While the show carries the RT bug, it is entirely owned by Hartmann's company, which has contractual editorial control over the program. The editorial staff of the show are employees of Hartmann's company, while the TV production staff work for RT.
The show is now recorded and broadcast live by RT America, the Washington, D.C.-based affiliate of RT with a presence on both over-the-air and cable TV systems in many major American cities, and also syndicated by Free Speech TV and carried nationwide on both Dish Network channel 9415, DirecTV Channel 348, and on local Public-access television stations across the country. From January 17, 2012 RT's international English-language channel started to broadcast it worldwide in over 100 countries.
As with his overall political stance and his talk radio program, The Big Picture is liberal/progressive in American politics and primarily focuses on American topics while featuring many debates with conservative and libertarian personalities. Hartmann also regularly interviews left-of-center personalities.
Until September 2011, RT personality Lucy Kafanov filled in for Hartmann when he was unavailable for broadcast. Since that time, writer and producer Sam Sacks has served as primary alternate host for the show; other fill-in hosts include Democratic Party strategist Erikka Knuti and political analyst Nathaniel Sweet.