The purpose of the Transformational Media Fund is to provide timely seed funding for media projects that deal with urgent issues around the world and promote a better understanding of people on both sides of seemingly intractable conflicts, in order that these projects can reach national and global audiences.

With Russia and the US on the brink of a nuclear confrontation, with Iran’s people rising up against the repressive regime, with billions of humans facing hunger and displacement due to climate change and war, there is need for a trusted source of information presented in compelling ways that can break through the media fog of ‘fake news’, biased and incomplete reporting, as well as advertiser-driven content.

These challenges call for a fast-responding team to work through the cracks in the media monoliths to quickly bring new transformative programs to terrestrial and satellite TV, YouTube, and other online platforms. Based on our long history of relationships with broadcasters in the US, Mexico, India, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, and elsewhere, these new programs have the potential to reach millions of people who are affected by critical global issues. We also aim to reach broad audiences in the West who are supporting policies that contribute to these conflicts.

Project Director Bio:

A producer of more than 70 documentaries and television news specials, Kim Spencer was a co-founder of Internews Network in 1982, an NGO that now supports independent media in 100+ countries. He helped pioneer satellite ‘spacebridges’ between the US and the Soviet Union in the 1980s and was instrumental in creating ‘Track II’ citizen diplomacy dialogues with Russians. Spencer was the coordinating producer at the launch of the ABC News weekly magazine show “Prime Time Live”, producing live reports from multiple countries reported by Diane Sawyer. He subsequently co-created the Vis à Vis interactive format for European and North American broadcasters, and produced the DocsPlus human rights series that aired on the commercial NDTV network in India.

In 1999, Spencer co-founded Link TV, the independent satellite network devoted to global affairs, and served as its president and senior programming executive for 23 years. At Link TV he helped create the Peabody Award-winning daily news program Mosaic: World News from the Middle East, the documentary series Bridge to Iran, the digital media platform ViewChange and the weekly series Earth Focus, now the longest-running weekly environmental program on American television. Most recently Spencer was the senior producer of the Emmy Award-winning Global Mosaic documentary series, that aired on Link TV and public television stations in the US and Mexico in 2020-21.