Broadcast Efforts
Weyrich promoted a view that the mainstream news and entertainment media exhibit a liberal bias. In response, in 1993, FCF launched a Washington, D.C.-based satellite television station called National Empowerment Television (NET). Its logo featured a square of nine dots, referring to a puzzle that cannot be solved without drawing lines "outside the box."
NET served in part as a platform for FCF and Weyrich's views and interests. For example, Weyrich was a supporter of rail and Amtrak had a program on the channel called America on Track; another program, The New Electric Railway Journal, covered light rail. Other programs focused on FCF activity: Endangered Liberties discussed privacy issues; Legal Notebook emphasized judicial nominations, and Next Revolution covered FCF's take on social conservatism. A popular program was Direct Line with Paul Weyrich, in which the host interviewed lawmakers and other prominent figures live, permitted the public to call in directly with questions and comments and delivered a commentary in the final segment.
NET was also a broader resource for the conservative and free market movement. Many organizations bought the rights to air programs on the channel, including the National Rifle Association, the Christian Coalition, the Cato Institute, Accuracy in Media and others.
The channel featured high production values and cost a great deal and in response to donor and investor pressure for a clear focus, FCF dropped all programs not directly related to public policy and conservative activism, and rebranded the channel as NET: The Conservative NewsTalk Network, with the initials NET no longer standing for anything and the nine-dot logo replaced with one evoking the US Capitol dome. It also began news reports and updates, and a full-fledged investigative journalism program.
FCF planned to make NET a self-sustaining, even profitable commercial enterprise, rather than a money-losing tool of outreach but was unsuccessful. In a decision he later came to regret bitterly, Weyrich turned over day-to-day operation of the channel to an industry veteran who had been successful with other startups. After a power struggle which Weyrich lost, NET was rebranded again into "America's Voice", and the channel abandoned all conservative identity, marketing itself merely as a non-ideological way for the public to make its views known to policymakers. FCF had to pay to retain its four programs on the channel and after controversy over their content, even those were removed. Viewer support collapsed, and Dish Network dropped it. Eventually America's Voice was sold, becoming "The Renaissance Network" (TRN), airing on a few broadcast stations, mainly UHF and low-power channels. Facing ruin, TRN brought back FCF content but it was too little, too late, and the channel folded.
FCF has also experimented with radio broadcasting, airing weekly taped programs on the Liberty Works Radio Network and other outlets.
Today, it offers interviews, soundbites and commentary readings on its website, FCF News on Demand,
Read more about this topic: Free Congress Foundation
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