Who is Gary Franchi

Gary S. Franchi Jr. President and Network Executive Producer of the Next News Network

Gary S. Franchi Biography
By William Grigg

If a person’s character can be measured by the enemies he makes, Gary Franchi received a significant endorsement when the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) listed him as number nine in its roster of patriot movement leaders in 2010.

The SPLC, which acts as a self-appointed political “watchdog” group, is the kind of organization that uses the term “patriot” as an epithet. The group objected to Franchi’s role in producing video documentaries exposing threats to civil liberties, and his effectiveness in organizing grassroots activism on behalf of the Constitution and U.S. independence. Although the SPLC grudgingly admitted that Gary – who holds a Level 4 national security clearance — promotes the rule of law and equal treatment of all citizens, the organization still depicted him as a dangerous “extremist.” That description is entirely true, once it’s understood that his “extremism” is of the same variety that inspired colonial patriots like Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, and that he is dangerous only to those who exploit ignorance on behalf of unaccountable power.

Gary lives in his scenic hometown of Northbrook, Illinois, a picturesque Midwestern city familiar to millions of moviegoers from classic John Hughes films like “Home Alone,” “Breakfast Club,” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Given Gary’s middle-American upbringing in such a cinematic setting, it’s not surprising that he became involved in freedom-centered media enterprises at a very young age.

Aaron Russo, Filmmaker and Patriot

Gary began his activist career as an associate of the late filmmaker and liberty activist Aaron Russo, who wrote and directed the acclaimed documentary “America: From Freedom to Fascism.” Russo, who had previously produced such films as “Trading Places” and “The Rose,” used his documentary to expose the fraudulent origins and criminal activities of the Federal Reserve System and the IRS. His documentary was released shortly before the collapse of the Federal Reserve’s real estate bubble and the Wall Street bailout – events that underscored the timeliness and relevance of Russo’s film, and validated his warnings about the pervasive corruption of the banking system.

Unfortunately, Russo died in August 2007 after a long and courageous struggle against abdominal cancer. When that valiant freedom fighter fell, someone had to pick up the flag and continue the struggle – and Gary, who at the time was 29, volunteered for that task. He succeeded Russo as National Director of Restore the Republic (RTR), a national activist network devoted to promoting the ideals of individual liberty, the rule of law, and the restoration of America’s national independence.

Franchi and Congressman Ron Paul in 2008

Within a year, RTR made its influence felt by inspiring tens of thousands of activists and volunteers to support the Constitution-centered presidential candidacy of Congressman Ron Paul – a contribution that earned a public expression of gratitude from Dr. Paul himself. Four years later, Gary would raise more than a million dollars in the first Super PAC organized to support the 2012 Ron Paul campaign.’

In 2008, Gary co-hosted the “Revolution March” in Washington, DC – a proto-Tea Party rally that was attended by over 15,000 revolutionaries from around the nation. During the same year he inaugurated an alternative media news program entitled “The Reality Report.”

Over the next few years, Gary’s profile continued to rise as he made appearances on Fox News, PBS, CLTV, and numerous local and national radio programs. He produced campaign commercials that were seen on CNN, the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel. In partnership with award-winning director William Lewis, Gary produced three documentary films examining the loss of individual liberty and the timely resurgence of “constitutional awareness,” which was manifest in both the Ron Paul presidential campaigns and the emergence of the Tea Party Movement. Gary was a featured speaker at the “Boston Tea Party 2010” rally at historic Faneuil Hall.

Franchi hosting WHDT World News

Gary is currently Executive Producer and Lead Anchor of WHDT World Television Service 6 O’Clock and 11 O’Clock News & Weather in Miami, Florida and Boston, Massachusetts. Described by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman as a “sophisticated social media entrepreneur,” Gary has received numerous awards, including the American Freedom Hero Award from the Freedom Law School and a place in the Freedom Force International Hall of Honor.

But all of this was merely a prelude to Gary’s most significant undertaking – the creation of the “Next News Network” (known in Web shorthand as N3), which he describes as the first 24/7 broadcast network dedicated to the restoration and preservation of individual liberty and America’s distinctive values and institutions. Gary serves as President and Executive Producer of N3. As if this weren’t enough to keep him busy, Gary is currently in pre-production on his next documentary film – which will probably do nothing to endear him to the SPLC.

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