Report: Al Gore considering starting cable television network

NEW YORK (AP) _ Former Vice President Al Gore, once a newspaper reporter, may be getting back into the media business. <br><br>Gore has been meeting with potential investors interested in creating a cable

Thursday, June 19th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Former Vice President Al Gore, once a newspaper reporter, may be getting back into the media business.

Gore has been meeting with potential investors interested in creating a cable television network, Time magazine's online edition reported Wednesday.

There's been a lot of talk in Democratic circles about launching a media enterprise to counter dominant GOP voices. Political talk radio is dominated by conservative voices and Fox News Channel, the top-rated cable news outlet, is also very popular among conservatives.

A spokeswoman for Gore did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.

A television executive who has had discussions with Gore said the idea is in its ``embryonic'' stages. But it's not a liberal version of a cable news network, said Steve Rosenbaum, head of the New York-based documentary producers Camera Planet.

Gore was a fan of ``Unfiltered,'' a series Camera Planet produced for MTV that put cameras in the hands of viewers. The idea of empowering viewers is ``philosophically appealing'' to backers of a new network, Rosenbaum said.

``The only thing I'm confident of is that it will look like nothing you've ever seen on television, which is part of the excitement of it,'' Rosenbaum said.

Gore has been consulting with Joel Hyatt, founder of Hyatt Legal Services and an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Senate from Ohio in 1994, according to Time.