Part of the Series
Moyers and Company
Three months have passed since Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, and this week the community there is nervously awaiting the grand jury’s decision whether to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson. On Monday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and issued an executive order to activate the National Guard to act as a backup to police in case protests get out of control.
How exactly did we get here? We recommend you watch this video animation by artist and activist Molly Crabapple. She beautifully illustrates the story of Mike Brown and the activism his death inspired. Crabapple highlights the history of police brutality and also recounts the details of other black men who have died recently at the hands of authorities, including Eric Gardner in New York and John Crawford in Ohio.
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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