The guest speaker Zach Ford came to discuss his personal success within the independent media industry. Being a heterosexual white female, I had never really given much consideration towards the LGBTQ community other than the fact that I supported their rights and their pursuits to happiness. I understand, however, that as a community LGBTQ 's voice is growing stronger.
Zach, like so many other internet writers, started his writing career accidentally. He used his blog as a venting method, writing about the court trials occurring in California at the time. This strikes me as interesting. All of these people who end up launching serious independent careers or platforms over the internet start out simple because of a hobby; something that they are actively interested in and want to engage others about. Hobbies also require a lot of time on someone's hands, but that's a different story altogether.
Another thing Zach Ford said that really resonated with me was that he noticed that all of the other LGBTQ outlets that he was following at the time never really seem to be covering the events in a way that accurately represented the other members of the community. "It was a lot more about the G than anything else." Zach Ford said referring to gay community that was dominating at the time.
This is a common theme that we have been studying in our independent media course: independent media filling in the gaps of mainstream, conglomerate news. Ford told us that within months he was getting noticed by the Freedom to Marry organization and found himself within elite 'bloggisphere' of the topic, even though he does not consider himself a blogger anymore.
"I consider myself an educator above anything else." he told our class. I found myself reflecting upon this. He, like so many others who have flourished within independent media, is passionate about educating the audiences; to help them understand a different viewpoint that has never been presented.
When asked about objectivity, Ford responded : "it's bullshit". He discussed the idea of "objectivity vs. neutrality", or the idea of not taking a side, but still not being neutral about a certain topic or opinion. His example of this was the Huffington Post, when reporting on Donald Trump, will always have Trump disclaimers.
"objectivity takes away our level of expertise." Ford added.
These things get my thoughts churning...
More posts soon to come.
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