Democracy Now! and other indy news outlets are the true voice of the people

How can the media better represent the voices of its country's people? This is a question that has become more relevant than ever during last year's presidential election and the whirlwind of horror that followed. The solution seems clear to me yet still murky to much of the country, which has been discouraged by the president's intense rhetoric condemning journalists and the most prominent journalistic outlets. As President Trump cites "the media" as one of his greatest enemies, he discredits the loudest and most rational voices against his presidency in a genius move that encouraged his supporters to form an opinion from rumors, rhetoric, and just plain lies.

So if journalists are "sick people," in the President's own words, how can the people in our country possibly have their voices heard?

It seems strange that the President refers to all journalism with these rhetorical blanket terms without considering the varying methods of different journalistic outlets. It is true that corporate media can be largely influenced by its ownership, silencing voices that need to be heard in order for change to come about. Independent media, however, seems to be the obvious solution for truthful and unbiased news – it is written by people like Amy Goodman who dedicate their lives and sacrifice their safety times to make the voices of the oppressed heard to the rest of the country.

Independent media outlets, by taking no funds from large corporations, give a voice to the people who are not privileged billionaires; one may say the goal of independent media is to "stick it to the man." And yet this does not satisfy the supporters of our president, who believe that news is simply "made up."

In Brian Stelter's Times article Amy Goodman describes the goal of Democracy Now!:

The media, Ms. Goodman said in an interview last week, can be “the greatest force for peace on earth” for “it is how we come to understand each other.” But she asserted that the views of a majority of Americans had been “silenced by the corporate media.”
“Which is why we have to take it back,” she said, echoing the sentiments of many of her fans.

It is interesting how a common goal is present between Trump and Goodman - and that is the downfall of corporate media. But Trump is going about this goal in a completely nonsensical way that provides his supporters with nowhere to turn to see the truth. Goodman provides a clear end goal and has dedicated her life to achieving this goal to the best of her ability. It seems that mere apathy would be the only conceivable reason Trump would not want to hear the voices of the American people.

Why Trump supporters aren't louder proponents of independent media is unclear to me. It seems that media which defies the controls of its corporations is not truthful enough for them – many would rather gain their information from once source, and that is from the mouth of the President himself. One can only hope that the American people can see past Trump's inaccurate rhetoric and find truth where it is made available to them - through the lens of independent news outlets like Democracy Now! which help reveal the true state of our nation.

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