See write up below the Ghion Cast video for a detailed explanation behind the #IndependentMediaWeek initiative. We ask readers and producers of Independent Media to get behind this effort and lend your ingenuity and drive to this effort.
Mainstream media sucks. This is about as close to consensus that we arrive at as a nation aside from the fact that Congress is about as useless as pint of Häagen-Dazs in the middle of an Antarctica winter. Most rational people have arrived at the fair conclusion that the Corporate State Media (CSM), from the Washington Post to the Wall Street Journal, from CNN to Fox News and all in between are a collective of jesters who are making a mockery of the notion of a free press. The only thing that has a lower approval rating than our government is the so-called journalists employed by the CSM who are more interested in getting retweets and clicks than they are in reporting news and keeping the powerful in check.
We know the problem, we rightly condemn the yellow press jackals who are driving our nation to the brink by reporting outliers as fact and peddling sensationalism as news. Yet we, the people, keep going back to the toxic CSM well and drinking from the poisoned pool that is pushed by the these alternative humans in expensive suits. It’s like a sick addiction; we know the drivel being reported by the CSM is unhealthy for us and most of us discount their brand of journalism as nothing more than partisan hackery and corporate indoctrination. But at what point do we stop blaming them and start to realize that we too are a part of the problem; if we continue to patronize the trash and smut that is solicited by the imbeciles in the Corporate State Media, we have only ourselves to blame for the continued erosion of public discourse.
Let me quickly outline the problem with the Corporate State Media; you see, the minute any media entity decides to take a red cent from corporate ads, they cease to become a news sources and become instead infomercial hubs. Reporting news takes a back seat to inflating top and bottom lines; the race to realize year over year profits takes precedent and what suffers is the profession of journalism. I’m not saying that reporters and journalists need to lead monastic lives and plead a life of poverty in order to pursue the news reporting profession. But when reporters are paid seven figure incomes and outlets from Fox News to MSNBC and the rest of the CSM becoming de facto mouthpieces of Wall Street corporations, they cease to be the news and become nothing more than DBA appendages of the Corporate agenda.
Money becomes both a stick and a carrot that corporate sponsors use in order to intimidate and bait reporters. If Ghion Journal was collecting seven figures based on ad revenues bankrolled by Wall Street firms, do you think I would be able to write what I write without fear that I might lose my corporate paychecks. This is the conundrum that journalists face in the CSM, they are forced to serve two masters as they concurrently try to report news and please their corporate patrons. When plutocrats like Jeff Bezoz and Warren Buffet can put the squeeze on reporters for what they perceive to be unfair criticism, how many reporters in the CSM do you think will have the fortitude and risk losing their jobs in order to speak truth to power. The whole CSM model is broken and bankrupted by corporate money, we can’t trust the Corporate State Media for anything other beyond entertaining us with their salacious articles and gaudy headlines.
I think most of us know the problem, what then is the solution? Well how about we block off an entire week to support truly independent media and use that as a launching point the get more and more people to tune out the Corporate State Model and instead patronize media entities that refuse to take part in the corporate graft hustle. We are a nation that keeps coming up with one “day” after another to honor an endless litany of foods, people and occasions. Two weeks ago was “national donut week”; if we can bestow a national day to donuts, I sure don’t think it’s a stretch to come up with a national Independent Media Week.
There will be two facets to this endeavor. The first being the most vital part, I ask that you the reader embrace this initiative not as a parody but as a serious venture. Use social media not just as a means to spread memes and to advance the garbage put out by the Corporate State Media, use social media to return power back to the people. I know I run the risk of being self-serving by writing this article since I too count myself as part of the Independent Media collective but the truth is there are countless number of independent journalists and reporters who are doing a fantastic job of reporting news and trying as much as they can to speak truth to power. We depend on readers just like you to empower us in order to maintain our independence and remain true to the principles of journalism. We are not doing what we do for the sake of money, most of us just have a passion to fight for justice and to stand up against corrosive power even if we end up living a monastic life in the process.
The second facet of this initiative pertains to independent journalists and media outlets. The only way we can take on the 800 pound gorillas who are the Corporate State Media is to band together and support one another. I like to think of it as dingoes versus the lion. One dingo against a lion becomes a mince meat in the span it takes Donald Trump to mangle the English language via Twitter. But when dingoes group together and leverage each other’s skills and support each other’s initiatives, dingoes become more powerful than lions. So I’m asking you, if you are an independent journalist or are a part of an independent media portal, embrace #IndependentMediaWeek as though you came up with the idea yourself. No need for pride of authorship; regardless of who gets the credit, if this effort becomes successful, the success will benefit all who call themselves Independent Media.
So set your calendars, starting Monday June 26th through July 4th (how appropriate), let us make that the entire week #IndependentMediaWeek. Whether you are an reader who loves original ideas or you too are a writer, editor, photographer, videographer, or in any way associated with conveying stories, reporting news and speaking truth to power, take part in #IndependentMediaWeek. In the days running up to June 26th, start telling your network of friends and family about this initiative and when #IndependentMediaWeek arrives, dedicate your time and efforts to supporting Independent Media outlets.
There are six publications which I have incorporated into the GhionLink tab comprised of media sources which I support—you can visit GhionLink by clicking here. If you have suggestions for other independent media outlets I should add to GhionLink, email us at info@ghionjournal.com and send us links of your trusted sources who refuse to put corporate money above journalistic integrity. If you are a member of the Independent Media family yourself, send us your site along with a logo and your RSS feed and we will do our level best to support you as we spread the word about #IndependentMediaWeek. Let us stop bemoaning the sorry state of the Corporate State Media and let us come up with the solution instead. We’ve had enough of reactionaries, let us be solutionaries and make #IndependentMediaWeek trend and give the public a legitimate source of news and edification.
“If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.” ~ Thomas Sowell
If you appreciate the imperative message contained in this write up and agree that we need to empower independent media more than ever, share this article on social media using #IndependentMediaWeek and help spread awareness of this effort and while we are at it, heck let us colonize the rich and powerful for once and make #IndependentMediaWeek trend on Twitter and beyond
I discuss on video in the Ghion Cast below the nexus between corporate news, cooperate politics, and corporate injustice that is bleeding this world.
It is because Ghion Journal and our associated Ghion Cast retain independence that I can put together a presentation like the one below without worrying about offending corporate sponsors and speak this truth from the heart instead of thinking about revenue and profits.
Teodrose Fikremariam
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