My "Aha!" Moment with Independent Media

Prior to sitting through an Independent Media class, I thought I had a pretty good idea what independent media was. I knew independent media sources were separate of big media corporations, but as a mostly mainstream news consumer I wasn't fully aware of the importance behind the independent media's missions.

Mainstream media corporations have an economic attachment and loyalty to their advertisers that can completely dictate which stories are reported to the public and which stories are hidden from the public. The stories also will come with an underlying narrative that remains true to the partisan of the owners/ advertisers of the corp. Although it is known and accepted by the public that mainstream media contains biases- Fox News being the extreme conservative source and MSNBC being the extreme liberal source on the spectrum- I have never truly taken the time to realize what this means for journalism and those who use journalism to remain in power.

As the course continued on, I began to meet journalists and bloggers who defined the type of journalist I wanted to be. Someone who had concrete ethics, a never-ending attempt to be bipartisan when reporting the facts, and a constant drive to make the world a better place by giving voice to those whose cries for help can't be heard. Also, I never forget journalism's purpose as the fourth estate- providing a critical eye on the government we elected to run our nation. If the media that promises to provide this critical lens, secretly reports only stories that they are paid to report, the fourth estate is completely powerless.

During another class, Hip Hop Cultures, I stumbled across a passage in the book, "Hip Hop Wars," by Tricia Rose. The passage was written by scholar Ben Bagdikian:

Media consolidation (source from 2012 but has edits) is one of the major issues with mainstream media corporations. Not only do those previously mentioned loyalties become more and more powerful, but also other issues such as net neutrality are brought to the battlefronts. 

Although this blog is required for my Independent Media course, it also is a record of my journey with independent media.

-Bethany