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Newsbud
Title: NewsBud Telethon Part 1
Published: 2016-02-14
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwAJ7SvDkII
Title: NewsBud Telethon Part 1
Published: 2016-02-14
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwAJ7SvDkII
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Okay, hello everybody. Welcome to the Newsbud Telethon. My name is Pierce Redmond and I'm joined by so many great guests today that we're going to be talking to. My co-host for this Newsbud Live Telethon is for Scarmahimenis of traces of reality.com. So Guillermo, how are you? I'm doing well man, how are you doing? Great, I'm doing excellent. I'm very excited about this. We had a few2/369
little technical snaffudes at the beginning. Just a few, yeah. Yeah, they all seem to be smoothed over right now. So fingers crossed. And joining me of course is the the woman behind Newsbud, Sebel Edmonds of course. Sebel, how are you? I'm great to be here. I've been running on Rocketview and I'm wired and excited. So this is great. I'm so excited to be with all of3/369
you here. So I can share this excitement and we can share it with each other. And you know, I can't even sit still. So my webcam is not able to really focus on me. It keeps going out of focus. You know, you got five cups of coffee since 5 o'clock this morning. Hello everyone. Yes, I've also had quite a bit of coffee and cigarettes this morning.4/369
So I'll be a little wired as well. And joining us also for this telephone is of course Pepe Escobar. Hi everybody. I'm at London this closed location also running on Rocketview. That's all I can say for the moment. Alright, excellent. And also on the line for anybody that doesn't know or hasn't been following boiling frog's post are two other excellent excellent contributors and guests. And one5/369
of them is of course, Christoph Guierman, my good friend and co-hosts on pork and screen. Christoph, how are you? Hi guys, thanks. I'm fine. Excellent, excellent, excellent. And of course, rounding out this amazing group of people for this first news, first news by telephone is of course the one and only Peter B Collins Peter. How are you? Here's some doing great today. I appear to be6/369
the only one who's showing up here caffeine free and ice-flop last night. Oh, okay. Very good. At least at least one of us got a little bit of sleep and isn't caffeine dependent. Well anyway, thank you all everybody out there for joining us for this first telephone. And we'll be another one in about roughly speaking for five hours that will be keeping everybody up to the7/369
mat as well. But of course this is the this is the day. This is Valentine's Day. This is the launch of our Kickstarter for news. So for anybody that hasn't checked it out, then I would definitely suggest that you go to the Kickstarter page. You can see right now we already have over $25,000 pledged. So we have about 241 backers right now. As I said, $25,0008/369
has already been pledged. So that's already excellent and amazing. So if you have not donated some money, then please go ahead and do that. Of course you can find the links to all of this both on of course boiling frogsposts.com. You can go to my website as well, which you should all be seeing at the bottom of your screen. And I have links to the Kickstarter.9/369
And for anyone that is joining us within the Google Hangout. Of course you can go to the event page. I've tweeted that out and I believe Sebel has as well. And if you go to the event page and then you you'll see the hangout, you'll click on the Q and A live function. And that will bring you in and you can start submitting questions to us.10/369
And if you're in that as well, you can go to the showcase option. And under showcase you will see links to newsbud.com as well as to the Kickstarter page. So I hope that everyone does that. I know Google Hangouts can be a little a little funky, but hopefully everything will go well. You can also submit questions if you don't want to use Google Hangouts. You can11/369
submit them on Twitter. And you can use the hashtag newsbud or you can also tweet directly to me. And my Twitter handle is of course at pork and policy. So we're going to we're going to try something right now. I'm going to try and play for everybody our Kickstarter video. And of course if you go to the Kickstarter page, you can see this amazing video with12/369
Sebel Peter Pepe is in it. I'm even in it for a little while. So I'm going to try and do that right now. And I hope that you all enjoyed this this little video. So just give me one sec. Thank you. Thank you. The world of mainstream media has changed over the last few decades from recording news and conveying information to creating markets and encouraging consumerism.13/369
So, integrity only exists in theory that in academia, actress, that entire piretium has disappeared from both the mainstream media and from the pseudo author of media. When you have a particular interest group giving you millions of dollars to your news organization for you to be the vehicle to deliver their message and get them close to their objective. That is not journalism. And you see media outlets14/369
that consider themselves as public model. You see that less than 20-30% of their funding comes from public. The rest comes from the megacopulations, from the dynasty families whether they are rock of hellers or solos or the Koch brothers and the various agenda groups and their interest in no point interested with the people's leaders. And funding is extremely important because when you have megacopulation, the zero-priced or15/369
one person funding you have, they are making people irrelevant. Or you're creating here a model that doesn't exist today. Our team is made up, seasoned investigative journalists, talented, independent producers, podcasts and video editorial cartoonists, analysts, columnists. What news but wants to do is something that's on the internet you can see back here. But you'll find it in a very recognized way. From deep-stage shenanigans to foreign16/369
policy blunders to the new great gain all across Eurasia which is the big story of the future delivered directly to you, in fact sponsored by you and financed by you and catering to your own interests and really trying to inform you of what's really going on across the planet. We know that the mainstream media is bought in the pockets of a 1% that can effectively blackout17/369
stories and headlines. The news but we will report all the stories that the mainstream media is willing to hate and not to talk about. This is a one of a kind chance right now of opportunities to really be involved in the alternative media and to really make a true impact within this media sphere. And everyone involved in this project from Seville Edmonds to Peter V. Collins,18/369
Bill Conroy, but that they asked about Tom Sector, Chris Bup Harman, the list goes on. These are real people doing real actual work reporting out there. The only way to achieve this is to have a 100% publicly funded media outlet. And that's exactly what we're going to be about. Meaning there's no loyalty to the bill to their dynasty families. There will be no loyalty to the19/369
mega corporations and their advertisement because we are going to be 100% advertisement-grade. With your support, we can deliver the kind of reporting that is sorely missing in America at a time when it's needed more than ever. We're asking for your financial support of our Kickstarter campaign and for your endorsement of our News Bud plan to your friends and contacts. Let's change the media in 2016 with20/369
News Bud, the true alternative to compromised media. Together, we can reach that kind of a media that we are talking about in towering media. Okay. Well, that was a Kickstarter video if I ever saw one. So I guess with all of that in mind, let's sort of get into what we're all excited about in terms of News Bud. We've all been talking about it for quite21/369
a bit, but there's a lot of different areas within News Bud that I think are what has attracted this all-star cast of producers and writers and bloggers and whatnot. Well, I'm really interested from all of you, why News Bud is going to be so great and why you're also excited. So, Kristoff, I know we recently just recorded a podcast for our show, Pork and Trey Game.22/369
We made it a News Bud special. We talked about a whole lot of different geopolitical machinations that are going on particularly in Turkey and Syria. And that's the sort of stuff that we're interested in. But I'd like to really, I'd like to really, you know, I'll put you on the spot right now, Kristoff. And ask you, what are you most excited about in terms of News23/369
Bud and why you are so excited about being part of the News Bud team? Yes, my work focuses on the new great game in Central Asia and the Caucasus region. But I've been also following the war in Syria and Ukraine, German-Russia relations, the new Cold War, and more recently the battle between Turkey and Russia in Syria. I've been involved in alternative media since 2013. After watching24/369
Sebel's interview series with James about Glad you be in early 2013, I became interested in Central Asia and the Caucasus region and started following developments in the region more closely. And shortly thereafter I came into contact with Sebel and she asked me if I would be interested in compiling a weekly news round up about Central Asia and the Caucasus for boiling frog spots. And that's what25/369
I've been doing since May 2013, more or less on a weekly basis until the end of last year when I had to focus more on my studies. And since early 2015 I've been also writing for Russia Insider, where I focused more on German-Russian relations. For example, in last May I was in Moscow for a couple of days and did my best to represent Germany on Victory26/369
Day. With a group of other Germans who were also discussed by Chancellor Merkel's snub of the Victory Day parade. And I covered as an Arctic-Ferrussian insider and as some of you hopefully know, peers and I have been doing a podcast called Pogenskreet Game, where we usually talk about recent developments in the region Balkans and other interesting stories relating to the war in terror and the global27/369
competition between NATO, Russia and China. And especially our last podcast, I think gives a good example of the work that we are trying to do at NewsBud, in depth reporting, are very important geopolitical issues and other things that are really mentioned in the mainstream media and don't get enough attention until I turn to the video. Oh yeah, absolutely. And I think beyond just the fact that28/369
we do dive deep into the stories we cover and obviously with NewsBud, I mean then the sky is the limit. You know, Christoph and I do our best, but essentially it's just me and Christoph, you know, emailing one another and you know, going on the internet and mostly opens for stuff, it's most news. So I think we present a great, we do a great podcast to29/369
tube my own horn. But I think beyond that there is a lack of going, you know, even deeper. And I think with NewsBud, that allows for so much more, this allows for us to actually contact people in some of the areas that we talk about. This could mean, you know, sending people there, getting researchers, this sort of opens up the door. And again, the work that30/369
we cover is really nowhere. You know, there's a little bit in the alternative media about it, but the mainstream could, you know, they can find Kyrgyzstan on a map, let alone know it's significance in the geopolitical landscape. And I'll say another thing too, to kind of keep this light and fresh. I think too, Christoph, we have a really fun time doing the podcast. We joke around31/369
a lot. You know, we've made a, you know, a sort of running gag where we talk about all of our, you know, our favorite Georgian politician, Mikhail Sakitvili, our favorite, you know, Turkish Turkmen rebel leader. It's a lot of fun. And I think that that's, people really enjoy that within the podcast. And I think that that's a great thing that we can bring to NewsBud. Again,32/369
we have a lot of contact with our followers. You know, we get a lot of emails. We get a lot of people sending us tweets and links and things like that. And I think it only can, you know, expand out from that with NewsBud. And again, I think it's also really important in this sort of media landscape where, you know, everyone is sort of yelling at33/369
each other. You know, I unfortunately watched about 20 minutes of the Republican debate last night. And it was just, you know, a bunch of old white guys yelling at one another, you know, saying who is the toughest and the biggest badass around there. And that's kind of boring. But I think with NewsBud, you know, there's so much more that can happen there. And again, it can34/369
be fun. I think there's this distinct desire that everything has to be, you know, super serious. And obviously we talk about serious topics, but we do it in a fun way. So I think that's wonderful. I don't know, a Pepe. You are, I assume, well known to everybody out there. But let us, you know, let us into a little bit. Why did you want to be35/369
a part of NewsBud? What are you most excited about? What are the stories that you want to cover at NewsBud that you may not have been able to do? And other News outlets? Well, that's a very long story. In fact, CeBel more or less rescued me from some deep funk that I was. Because my previous online adventure was more or less extinguished. I'm sure all of36/369
you, or most of you know about Asia Times Online. It doesn't exist anymore. Now it's called Asia Times. And it has been hijacked by a bunch of a Muslim American bankers. And Asia Times Online used to be something unique on the internet. I was with them from 2000 to 2014. So I was the Asia Times guy, and virtually all over the world. Five continents, really, all37/369
over. I did everything with them. I did the war on Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, before, during, after. You run all across Central Asia, Western China, NATO, you know, so. And it was a fantastic model because it was actually a known model. We defended on a benefactor, a C-not-I benefactor, and we had a monthly budget. And then we more or less organized themselves with that. The38/369
newsroom was basically three people, one editor and two sub editors. And a network of correspondence, 50 or 60 correspondence, all across Asia. And I was the roving correspondent from the beginning. I had a column, and I did reportage, and analysis, virtually everywhere, all across Mina, as the Pentagon likes to call it, and all across the region. But obviously, we couldn't make money out of it. And39/369
we depend on the wobbly fortunes of our benefactor. But when this all six started going down, for him, in Thailand, politically, diplomatically, economically, financially, obviously, and then one day, our fans were caught. So I was at the point of establishing myself in Hong Kong for good. The same day, I got a call from her secretary saying, look, Asia times is online, by the way, it's not40/369
going to exist anymore. So three of us, more or less, we tried to save the whole thing for a few months afterwards. It was very complicated. There were American groups were interested in buying Asia times, but try to imagine a bunch of New York lawyers showing up in Thailand and in Hong Kong to examine an Asian dysfunctional family company. They wouldn't understand anything, and they obviously41/369
freaked out completely. And it was, Asia times online was not exactly a company. It was a shell. It was something that involved a lot of, I would say, slightly dodgy operations by the media and business empire of our former benefactor. So this terrible story, in fact, at the end, like the year of 2014, was very, very sad. At the end, obviously nothing happened. And at the42/369
point where Asia times online was going to close down, another dodgy operation was set up. In fact, a group of American bankers, in fact, they bought our domain name and our archives, but not the deaths of the company. And that's included all of us journalists, and in my case, it's no fortune, in fact, which we're still going to fight for. In fact, and we still cannot43/369
sue anybody. First of all, because we're foreigners, and second, because the way that this whole liquidation, which is not finished as well, the company is so complicated in Hong Kong, nobody knows where this thing is heading. Any Thailand, as a foreigner, you cannot sue a Thai citizen that is very well connected with a monarchy and with the military apparatus, which is the case of our former44/369
benefactor. So I emerged from this nightmare during the year of 2015, when I still continued to be, I was still writing stuff for the new so-called Asia times, but obviously it was a completely different story, because now it was almost like a ziocon operation. And I was like, Vodalaih, who is saying La Flare du Mal, the flower of evil inside planted inside. And then one day,45/369
the whole thing exploded, because I laughed, because one of my pieces about the Paris attacks in November was censored. But it was censored in such a stupid way, because it was already being reported, including many American websites, and they pulled out of the Asia times website three days later. So they were not even competent to do that. So I'm out, I was out. And obviously, I46/369
still write off at pages for a lot of places. But then a few weeks later, after that, I was considering the next step. I opened my own website, which is, I don't want to be a slave of my own website. I travel a lot. Sometimes I don't have time to take care of a website properly 24 hours a day. I was, there were some projects with47/369
people in the Middle East, or maybe in Iran, or even in Russia. So what I was analyzing is the CBL approach me. And it took me what? 30 seconds. When she laid out the idea of news, but I didn't say I mean immediately, because I was still thinking about what I would be doing in 2016. Like I was turning myself in a sort of machine of48/369
writing of ads, which is not exactly what I want to do in life. I, you know, it curtailed my ability to travel. I was writing too much. I don't like to write too much. I need space to organize and do, you know, cross pollination of different subjects, which is what I usually do. But when she fell, she didn't even pitch the idea. She just told him49/369
what she wanted to do with news, but I said, but that's it. That's it. That's exactly what we still don't have on the net. We have some very good independent websites on the net, of course. But they are not financed by donations, by the readers, most of them, or they depend on somebody who has a day job and then at now many of my friends do50/369
that. They have a day job and at night, they take care of their website or their blogs and the blogs as they tell me all the time, they eat their lives. So this is different. This is an extremely professional online media company supported by all of you who are listening to us now or who will contribute to the idea later on. And obviously the fact that51/369
this is not linked with that from an European or Asian point of view, there's absolute circus in America of cop brothers and the like. It's a completely different story. I see it not only as essential for an American audience, but international audience as well. And sooner or later, we're going to be translated into many languages and people are going to pick up our stuff from Latin52/369
American Southeast Asian to Central Asian. So it didn't need a lot of convincing and I'm totally immersed on it. And that's it. This is my new address from now on. I'm going to be the news bug guy all over the world. You know, that's really interesting better that you're talking about is a lot of the things you talked about are things are issues that we would53/369
visited before in our previous round tables, the sort of the economics of media and alternative media and how difficult that can be to navigate, which is why partly why there's a lot of reasons why, but that is part of the reason why I personally am also very excited about this project because it does circumvent many of those challenges that one can come across when working in54/369
journalism. One of them being let's face it funding is an issue and so doing this project like this where it's 100% people fund that I think not only does it alleviate that that problem in itself of funding per se, but it also as I said before in a previous round table, it also alleviates any doubts as to who the media outlet is beholden to. You know,55/369
whenever there's there've been moments where you know or times rather where you can look at a particular media organization you can say, oh, they're doing pretty good work or whatever and but you might have a doubt us to you know well with this story, why is it that with this story they took this particular angle is it because of this funding or that funding is always56/369
those there's those questions, those questions and doubts can arise and with what this kind of model like we said before you you get rid of all that which is I think is a beautiful thing. Now one thing I wanted to mention though as quickly as an aside sort of a technical issue with with this with this hangout that we're doing now as as as peers mentioned57/369
in the opening we want to hear from you guys as much as possible throughout this telephone like we said we're going to be going live until about 4 p.m. Central time so that's 5 p.m. Eastern and what is that 3 p.m. Pacific. But while we're doing that we want to get your questions when to get your comments we'd like to hear from you guys as far