Al Gore was questioned Saturday at the SXSW festival about the sale of his Current TV to Al Jazeera, which as the interviewer noted, is owned by Qatar–a government largely funded by oil money.
Gore replied that he placed the desire to make a “disruptive move” above the “obligations to investors” when he made the decision with his partners:
I knew when I made that decision with my partners. I had obligations to my investors, but that wasn’t going to drive the decision. I knew that my principal obligation was to do business in a way that makes the world a better place. I thought it was the most disruptive move on the chessboard.
You have heard me be very critical of American television journalism. I think that the addition of a very high-quality, 24-7 honest-to-goodness news channel that covers international news as well as national — that covers climate, that covers poverty, that cover issues that are ignored today — has the potential to be disruptive in a creative and positive way, and raise the game for television journalism here in the United State of America.
If “disruptive” is the measure of a company’s strategy, what else might Gore endorse?
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Is AlGore wearing a yellow ball earring? On that ear does it indicate he’s a moron?
Yes. He’s the ultimate idiot. And an a**hole to boot.
And like his old man, more than willing to sell out American to her enemies.
“… my principal obligation was to do business in a way that makes the world a better place …”, except when it conflicts with my “… obligations to my investors …”
Notice that it isn’t his investors who are suing him.
Now now, I am sure Al Gore has his reasons for this sale of his network. Like 100 million reasons.
Came to comment just on that earring. Wow! He’s awful.
Didn’t read the article. Didn’t watch the video. I refuse to waste any time on that refuse spewing machine. The most despicable, pathetic, and politically vile things come out of his mouth. I am totally guilty of being filled with hate… when it comes to that political whore
AlGore will keep trying different spin until finds one his partisans can support, or at least stomach.
He’s disgusting.
I knew when I made that decision with my partners. I had obligations to my investors, but that wasn’t going to drive the decision.
Gore’s obligations to his investors are presumably fiduciary ones. They should take precedence over his personal preferences including political ones, unless every single investor agrees.
Throw his ass in jail. If that is excessive, at a minimum conduct a process of discovery wrt the best price he could have gotten; then require Gore to make every single dissatisfied investor whole out of his personal wealth, and to pay a substantial fine.
Wait till Betty Warren learns 😯 what Gore is getting away with.
It took you all this time to come up with that weak spin Al? You have to get yourself some better spinmeisters. Here’s a free sample: I didn’t sell Current Tv to oil rich jihadi tv, my evil twin did. There you go Al, that’s better than what ya got so far.
If Al-Jazeera can cover climate, poverty, and “issues that are ignored today”, then why didn’t Current TV do those things in the decade or so that Algore ran it and its predecessor companies?
I never watched Current TV. My guess is that he probably did try covering those things but wasn’t able to siphon off enough viewers from MSNBC to make Current TV economical. If Al Jazeera follows Algore’s strategic advice and covers those things (which I doubt it will do), then P.T. Barnum was right.
More Al Gore: “Don’t knock rationalization. Where would we be without it? I don’t know anyone who’d get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations”
Thanks for clarifying, Al. I thought it was a payoff from the oil Oil Sheiks for disrupting domestic energy production.
“I knew that my principal obligation was to do business in a way that makes the world a better place. And the world is a much better place if I have a really swollen bank account.”
manbearpig did it.
Al could still be right.
What are the chances that Al Jazeera will be a doormat for a US President ?
Small , for their market is global not US. If they do have a worldview it is not US centric. You have to understand 310 million vs 6.5 billion .
Al Gore…
crock-o-dile…heavy on the “crock”.
The Chakra Con.
Al knows what a “chess board” is?
Your ‘Principle obligation’ is to sell out America and make allot of money doing it. It has became the ‘hip thing to do’ in Washington. You are no different of a hypocrite than a blood sucking leech Al-Gorzeer. imho
Has a bigger turd ever floated to the top of our politics than this “crazed sex poodle”?
Good luck Tipper.
Al Gorzeer, the world is a better place ever since you invented the internet. No! Acutally, since you got out of politics.
That still and the circle arrow at first glance made me think Al was blowing a bubble. Upon listening to the video I KNOW he is blowing a bubble.
Imagine, had Gore sued his way into the Presidency in 2000, how his favorable tilt toward ‘disruption’ might have done just about anything except to benefit the citizens of the United States.
But he can stop sniveling – Obama has outstriped a mere Gore disruption by an order of magnitude, and is on his way to disrupting our Republic beyond the wildest dreams of Al Gore.
Just so, gs. If I were still practicing law and representing one of those investors, I would be salivating. That tape is exhibit A in a breach of fiduciary action making it difficult for the bloated one to get out on a summary judgment.
Al Jezeera is often a very good news outlet far superior to CNN. They employ professional journalists , have good visuals & are quite sharp. It covers almost all the world with some knowledge & are not always biased .
There is no US network of comparable breadth. They still have staff embedded in actual cities not just fly ins .us networks have like 3 know nothing’s that fly in to cover everything anywhere.
Al Gore is another issue but he is not rich for nothing
Whilst you don’t have to like AL Jezeera they are controlled& based in Qatar – a US ally. If you don’t like them then take American bases & forces away .
But yes we all have to live in a real world . Out there Al Jezeera is real & it is getting much better.
It is always a danger to refuse to see the dynamics. Us news media 0/10 Al Jezeera 5/10.
The Plaque on Al’s desk reads: DEFACO ERGO SUM.
Al Gore is one of several Democrat billboards along the highway of American culture and politics, one for which this conservative is deeply grateful. Every time he opens his mouth….
Wasn’t this a made for SyFy film?