[1] “Promise Neighborhoods and the Importance of Community: Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at Neval Thomas Elementary School, Washington, DC.” Dec. 21, 2012
[2] “Fuel Your School Program Benefits 56,366 Students in Sacramento County.” Chevron press release. Jan. 16, 2013. Click here for full text.
[3] This comic accompanies a two-year long Truthout supported series illustrating the education reform debate from an alternative perspective, both ideologically and visually. See also The Disaster Capitalism Curriculum: The High Price of Education Reform (Adam Bessie & Dan Archer: Part I: Washington D.C.;Part II: New Orleans; Part III: Finland) and Automated Teaching Machine: A Graphic Introduction to the End of Human Teachers (Adam Bessie & Arthur King).
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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