The Young Turks Get $4M In Funding To Expand Their Reach

Popular progressive internet network The Young Turks is getting $4 million in funding with the plan to expand to other platforms.

The Young Turks, if you aren’t familiar, started as a radio talk show before moving to MSNBC and then the Al Gore owned Current TV. When Current TV was sold to Al Jazeera, The Young Turks, which already had a YouTube channel (running since before the MSNBC deal) that rivaled its Cable television show, went completely digital.

While the progressive talk show that shares the channel’s namesake is the most popular program under The Young Turks umbrella, they also have shows that cover movies, sports and various other subjects.

The funding comes from Buddy Roemer. While other media outlets have called it an odd pairing because of Roemer’s “conservative” views, the pairing isn’t all that strange when one considers Roemer’s actual stances.

Having previously appeared on the Daily Show, progressives may remember that Roemer has spoken out strongly against the corrupting influence of money in politics. His stances on (un)fair trade, corporate power and money in politics are very much inline with The Young Turks and other progressive ideals. Just because Roemer was the Governor of Louisiana and ran for the GOP nomination in 2012 does not mean he should be lumped in with “pro business” conservatives. Roemer may fit the traditional mold of a conservative from fifty years ago, but he isn’t inline with the Republican party.

If anything, it shows the emerging lines of the true battle in politics, those who have been corrupted by money and those who are not.

The Young Turks are already available on YouTube and Roku, but this investment should help them bring it to even more platforms. Presumably mobile devices, but possibly other set top boxes like Amazon’s recently announced device. The money will also be used to increase hiring of its ad sales team.

[Photo Credit: ChrisM70]