When I first took Intro To Journalism in the Fall of 2022, we learned this quote from Thomas Jefferson: “were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter” In simpler terms, our third president would have rather had a press with no checks than a government with no checks. At its core, that’s what journalism is: checks on the government. As reporters, we are supposed to provide access to information about governmental, social and cultural proceedings in a truthful manner. Our duty is to the public. Independent publications are crucial to our government’s survival for this exact reason. As Melissa Fleming from themedium.com writes, “our information ecosystem is becoming increasingly polluted. Rampant disinformation is causing real harm to our societies.”
We’ve all been hearing this exact phrase for the past few years, but we live in an extremely polarized world where people with different political views are unable and unwilling to even have a simple discussion with each other. News publications have become like this as well. The most commonly known example of this is CNN versus Fox News. CNN is widely known as a liberal news source, while Fox News is known to be conservative. It’s highly dangerous when news outlets start to serve a certain political agenda. To emphasize once again: journalists are supposed to serve the people, NOT the politicians! However, especially as we’ve seen in the past few years, reporting has started to become more biased, hasty and irresponsible. Journalists have started to show allegiance to the corporations they are owned by. In this day and age, anything and everything that is published has the ability to change how we view our government and the world around us and therefore has the ability to change the world around us.
This is why, more than ever, independent journalism is needed right now. We need journalism that isn’t owned by a large company with billions of dollars on its back. We need journalism that is for the people, by the people.
As Professor Allison Frisch, a journalism professor at IC who has a background in independent journalism told me, “Those in power — those making the legislation, running tech companies and those in power within the education, incarceration, aging, housing and health systems — must be held accountable. Independent local journalists can report on these issues at a grassroots level, getting to know the community and earn its trust. Uncomfortable truth is accepted more readily when the community knows and trusts the local reporter.”
This isn’t always easy. There are many obstacles that independent journalists face, one being non-independent corporations themselves. While journalism is a noble job, it’s not always the greatest paying one. The pay doesn’t get any better when you choose to work for an independent publication rather than an already well-established corporate one. Frisch described delivering quality journalism to the people while also maintaining reporting costs as “an uphill battle.” She also said another struggle is “access to meetings and documents that are supposed to be open to the public under the Open Meetings and Freedom of Information laws, which vary from state to state. Local officials are taking the lead from national politicians, marginalizing journalists and even bullying them.”
It’s often hard to find protection and security in your job as a journalist, but there are a lot of resources you can turn to. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), is one example. Frisch said state committees for open governments are also good places for journalists to go if they are struggling. Ithaca College also has an important resource housed right in the Park School of Communications: the Park Center for Independent Media. The Park Center recruits journalism and documentary studies students “to work at independent, nonprofit newsrooms in their hometowns with the help of a summer scholarship.” Being a journalist is tough. I’ve been a journalism student for less than two years, and I can already attest to how frustrating this job is sometimes. But it’s an important one. I wouldn’t give it up for anything. It takes a bit of stamina to keep going – independent journalists need to be intensely passionate and hardworking to achieve their goals. But as Frisch told me, “There is no better way to fight injustice than to tell citizens what is happening so they can exercise their civic rights, speak up, speak out and vote.”
Alefiya is a second-year journalism major who passionately believes in the importance of independent publications and what they provide for us. They can be reached at [email protected] .