Upon reading the article Freedom of Press Launches Fundraiser to Aid Heroic Journalists in Police Brutality Investigations by Glen Greenwold, I was instantly filled with a strange sense oh hope within myself. Ever since I started along my journalistic path my freshman year of college, I had begun to hear horror stories of all of the occasions in recent history that the media have simply and sorely failed at getting the information that the audience needs to hear. The harsh realities of the world that we live in that the public - who so often have their heads turned in other directions - need to hear.
I never understood why or how news or journalism even started becoming corrupt. It was a complex problem that I couldn't seem to previously wrap my head around. I strutted around as a wide-eyed freshman, beyond excited to make my way up to working for CNN if I play my cards right. But after sitting through courses of journalism ethics, history and hours of Citizen Kane and sifting through countless articles on the News Corp and Rupert Murdoch and I began to feel a sinking sensation in my heart and in my stomach. I was finally beginning to understand that the news could be purchased and owned by a single person and can therefore be manipulated in a similar way.
The news didn't belong to the people. It belonged to whoever had the highest paycheck, or so classes and statistics seemed to say. News organizations like the New York Times and the Washington Post seemed to no longer be the location for breaking news. It was independent news websites like Free Press that helped me really figure out who actually owns the news. It was a little shocking to see just how few names were on the list of news company owners.
I have heard of people getting their careers started or launched through the internet and viewer support. Make-up artists like Michelle Phan with millions of views that have launched their own make-up lines.
Seeing the news industry follow suite instilled a feeling of pride. Like some sort of integrity is slowly being re-instated in the journalism profession. The idea that journalists are willing to leave the corrupt institutions that are accepting black money from auto and gas companies. I love the idea that new independent news companies are starting to hire new journalists who are thirsty for the truth.
Journalists like Brandon Smith who are starting their own independent news projects and are allocating money for them through the internet just shows how thirsty their audiences and internet communities are for breaking news and cutting information that does exactly what the 4th Estate is supposed to do; keep the government and corporations in check.
Seeing this makes the idealistic journalist within me happy and eager to follow suite to help provide important information to those who it is being kept from.
No comments:
Post a Comment