> Current TV comes to the UK
- 12 Mar 07, 05:19 PM
The topical events based website Current TV has today launched a satellite channel for the UK with some fanfare from it’s co-founder, Al Gore.
Users are invited to submit their own videos about whatever they want to talk about, from the nature of being English to climate change. Website visitors can then vote on the best, which will be shown on the new satellite channel.
In announcing the latest news, Al Gore says that, “As the internet comes to rank alongside or even surpass TV as the dominant means of communication, we must ensure it remains open and accessible to all.”
Those are fine sentiments that we can all agree with. Sadly, the reality of Current TV is that it does not yet live up to this ideal. Some time ago, Access 2.0 reviewed Current TV, and the issues we identified limiting access for some user groups remain in place. Contrast is still an issue, a CAPTCHA continues to be in place barring registration for visually impaired users, and so on.
Current TV falls short of it’s own guiding principle to “engage viewers in a conversation of democracy” when it to denies that opportunity to some user groups by having a largely inaccessible website. Someone visually impaired may record a fantastic video about global warming. But he or she will not be able to register and upload that video to the Current TV website.
Surely this undermines their own lofty aims as well. How democratic can Current TV really be when sections of community are denied a voice?
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
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How can I look at this sender from Germany. Is it possible?
Frank
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