Gore Hits Corporate Media, Defends Current TV Sale

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Al Gore is defending the sale of his television channel to Al-Jazeera, saying the news organization is hard-hitting, especially on climate issues, which is his passion.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera earlier this month struck a deal to buy Current TV for $500 million. The cable news network was co-founded by the former vice president. Gore said on Tuesday that he had no reservations about selling it to Al-Jazeera.

He says he considers Current TV to have been a success in that it won awards and was profitable each year.

Gore in his latest book titled, “The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change,” makes only a fleeting reference to Al-Jazeera. He calls it a “feisty and relatively independent” satellite network.

He also takes aim in the book at corporate media for “suffocating the free flow of ideas.”