We're not covering them, we're covering us

When I tell the story about how act.tv began it starts with our appreciation for activists' ability to get on the cutting edge. 

Movement efforts offer a massive incentive for brilliant and dedicated people to innovate. Our team in turn first started coming together during Occupy Wall Street and we have been building out our approach alongside the movements we've had the privilege of working with ever since.

Occupy Wall Street reflected a technological inflection point as smartphones with social media on them allowed an individual activist to become their own communications center. 

Livestreams, photos and videos could be disseminated rapid response to millions without having to go through media gatekeepers.

This was something I thought about deeply at the time while writing a chapter for From Cairo To Wall Street: Voices From the Global Spring, and continued through our support of the Bernie Sanders campaigns, the Sunrise Movement, The Movement for Black Lives, Netroots Nation, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and many more amazing groups. I also was interviewed about this phenomenon in the book Generation Occupy: Reawakening American Democracy released shortly before the 10 year anniversary this fall (excerpted in The Atlantic).

A revelation throughout this experience has been that most political efforts just do not have the same kind of resources or expertise available that a media company would.

It's hard to run a studio or edit video when you are in the middle of a rally—much less a direct action! That's the hole act.tv saw and has been trying to fill ever since.

Our mission is to create media to empower activists. We're not covering them, we're covering us.

And we see a new technological inflection point coming and are acting accordingly. 

act.tv has invested in innovative broadcast television equipment that makes it easier to get high caliber feeds from the ground to our virtual studios without needing a satellite truck. 

The pandemic in tandem has compelled all sorts of inspiring speakers to set up home studios and become experienced using tools like Zoom to go on camera. Congress Members, celebrities, and grassroots organizers alike now feel comfortable participating in a show remotely as opposed to requiring an in-studio appearance. 

The distance between what cable news networks and independent media can do has shrunk. We are acting in kind!

act.tv has recently jumped to TV sets through Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV. 

We have also launched a membership program to more efficiently be in touch with our community about how you can take part.

Our goal is to support the progressive movement by building a better media

It's ambitious! There are a lot of moving parts, and we need your help: act.tv/join

Join us! And stay tuned, we're still just getting started.