Ron Paul Channel Brings Libertarianism Its Own Internet Voice

Impact

After the GOP and the mainstream news networks shamelessly kept Ron Paul out of the media loop during the 2012 election cycle, the Texas libertarian has decided to the media into his own hands. With the official launch of the Ron Paul Channel this week, the recently ex-congressman adamantly hopes to promote quality information, "because the mainstream media is not telling the stories that Americans really need to know."

Now this is not to say his new channel is unbiased. On the contrary, from a short preview of an interview with Wikileaks Julian Assange, Paul seems to heavily advocate the libertarian agenda, the very same he touted while on the presidential campaign trail. This online news source claims that it is the "next chapter of our revolution," and almost combatively states "Turn Off Your TV. Turn On the Truth." Because as we all know, libertarianism is the truth — inevitably stated with an uppercase T, and complete with dramatically patriotic background music and a swooping eagle.

That said, the three 30-minute shows per week have had an "outpouring of interest" in the first few days, and this may be due to Ron Paul's genuine concern for the issues at hand, making his new channel one worth lending an ear to. "There is no space for people to have a real discussion about the Fed or drone strikes abroad or the pharmaceutical industry, let alone how our freedoms are being infringed upon by big government," he said. "These are issues that affect Americans daily and this channel aims to address that directly."

He also explicitly stated his real intentions for the show (whether they may be good or bad), describing the medium as "the one place where I can finally express my opinion, unfiltered and uninterrupted." And for $9.99 a month, the average Joe can listen in on those opinions, with the respectable former NBC and ABC News correspondent Diana Alvear contributing her journalistic history.

The general consensus is that the show is "less news channel," and "more format-for-Paul-to-broadcast-his-ideas-and-beliefs, like a video version of a talk radio show," according to the Guardian. But this doesn't exactly pose a problem. Paul's well documented and devoted small government, anti-interventionist followers are likely to be his main demographic and source of revenue, most of which actually come from the younger generation of Republicans — a task none of his nominated competitors ever were able to accomplish.

Ultimately, while the new channel has its own explicit biases, its real purpose and value lies somewhere else. Paul noted that his channel "gives me an opportunity to have an open dialogue with viewers about what I think is important and the cause of liberty and freedom." It's this dialogue, one breaking away from simply left and right wing jargon, that may remind us of the deeper complexities that come with political ideologies.