Act.TV is a left-progressive media company that originated within the Occupy Wall Street movement. Act.TV has supported activists in the left-wing “resistance” to President Donald Trump. Act.TV focuses on digital strategy, political videos, and livestreamed productions. The group also employs an aggressive social media strategy. ¹

Background

Act.TV, established in 2012, is a project of Democrats.com, which calls itself the oldest and largest independent online community of Democratic Party and left-of-center activists. Act.TV claims to have been the first progressive video network on Facebook, and has since grown to regularly livestream “resistance” protests against President Donald Trump across the country. ² The company frequently partners with other left-of-center organizations to cover protest events. ³

Projects

Act.TV has done live streams of Democratic presidential candidate forums and a question and answer session with left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore. Act.TV covered the first 25 stops on U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) 2020 Presidential campaign trail. The organization has also covered protests outside immigrant detention centers. ⁴

Act.TV produced a viral video in August 2020 that showed Republican politicians disparaging President Donald Trump for character flaws during the 2016 Republican primary elections. The video pushed the theme that Republicans acknowledged President Trump’s alleged deep character flaws before he was elected but proceeded to support him anyway. Those shown in the video include U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who claimed that then-candidate Trump “cannot tell the truth” and is a “narcissist at a level I don’t think this country’s ever seen.” The video also shows U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) saying, “Donald Trump is a delusional narcissist and orange-faced windbag,” and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) saying, “Donald Trump is a con artist.” ⁵

Act.TV also made a video about “systemic racism” that was supposed to serve as an education resource. After a public school teacher in Fayetteville, Ohio showed the video to students, parents criticized the video on social media for promoting a political agenda. ⁶

Act.TV coordinated with several other left-leaning groups to host rallies in support of impeaching President Donald Trump across the United States in December 2019. ⁷

Leadership

Bob Fertik is a co-founder of Act.TV and was also a co-founder of Democrats.com in 2000. In 2016, Fertik also co-founded #VOTEPROCHOICE to elect pro-abortion Democratic candidates at all levels of government. ⁸

Harry Waisbren is the co-founder and CEO of Act.TV. Waisbren supported the “resistance” movement agsinst President Donald Trump and promoted Sen. Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign. Waisbren first worked for  Ready for Warren, a super PAC that unsuccessfully attempted to push Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to run for president in 2016. Waisbren was also involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement. ⁹

Brad Gans is Act.TV’s creative technical director, where he oversees production of multimedia for Act.TV social channels and technical direction of the livestream system. Bran Fans previously worked as a researcher in the United Kingdom on the impact of illicit drugs in communities. Gans was also involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests. ¹⁰

Kelli Daley is the Act.TV digital director and previously an Occupy Wall Street activist. ¹¹

Julianna Forlano is the senior correspondent for Act.TV. Forlano was previously a left-of-center host on Fox News Radio and has hosted on Pacifica Network. ¹²

1. About Us. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/about-us
2. Our Team. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/our-team
3. About Us. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/about-us
4. About Us. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/about-us
5. Montini, EJ. “Donald Trump is a Crazy, Lying Bigot, Said … His Closest Allies.” Arizona Republic. August 24, 2020. https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2020/08/24/donald-trump-crazy-lying-bigot-said-allies-act-tv-quotes/5622862002/
6. Francisco, Courtney. “Brown County Parents Complain About Systemic Racism Video Used in Class.” ABC 9 Cincinnati WCPO. September 15, 2020. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/brown-county/brown-county-parents-complain-about-systemic-racism-video-used-in-class
7. Randhava, Heidi. “Rally Supporting Impeachment Held in Fountain Square.” Evanston Round Table. December 18, 2019. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://evanstonroundtable.com/Content/Default/City-News/Article/Rally-Supporting-Impeachment-Held-in-Fountain-Square/-3/228/17329
8. Our Team. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/our-team
9. Our Team. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/our-team
10. Our Team. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/our-team
11. Our Team. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/our-team
12. Our Team. Act.TV. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.act.tv/our-team