Venezuelan a key part of network’s success; 26-year-old Jason Silva now stars his own show as the host

EFE News Service (Antonio Martin Guirado): Venezuelan immigrant Jason Silva is one of the most visible faces of Current TV, a 3-year-old cable and satellite network that has already won an Emmy for programming that combines professional news reporting with viewer-generated, citizen-journalism content. Owned by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt, Current TV began broadcasting on Aug. 1, 2005, and has tripled its viewership in just three years – from 17 million to 56 million homes in the United States alone.

In September 2007, the network won an Emmy in the newly created Best Interactive Television Service category. Months earlier, Current TV was launched in Britain and Ireland and it also has been on the air in Italy since May.

Silva, a 26-year-old producer/host for Current TV, explained how he became involved with the channel. "I grew up in Caracas, where I lived until I was 18. In 2000, I graduated from high school and went to the University of Miami to study film and philosophy. I'm crazy about documentaries and feature-length films."

"In the last semester, my best friend and I -- at that time we were working on a short film about hedonism -- found out that Al Gore and a group of investors wanted to launch a new television program," Silva recalled. "The idea was to change the rules of the game in terms of the way in which television is created and consumed."

At present, 30 percent of Current TV's content is audience-generated. "Anybody with passion and a digital camera can edit on a computer and make video that looks professional," Silva said, adding that he is pleased to be able to convert viewers into "producers and part of the programming."

Silva and buddy Max Lugavere were offered a job at Current TV after finishing their university studies. They moved from Miami and became founding producers/hosts of the youth-oriented cable network. The Venezuelan said the pair's goal is to "take away from the media groups the exclusive power to say what is happening in the world and give television an independent voice."
In their work on Current TV, the duo provide space for cultural news across the world that is not broadcast on other television networks, which, according to Silva, are only interested in sensationalism and show business. "We feel the media report on whatever sells, but we prefer to give a voice to people who don't have one and show perspectives that few people talk about," the TV personality said. "And we try to do it in a fresh and young way that feels authentic."