By Bobby Pugh
A new trend of truth in media has occurred. Mainstream journalists are beginning to take individual responsibility for what comes out of their mouths, as another string of journalists have quit for being unwilling to whitewash the truth, given their network's interests and overall agenda. I hear the echoes of Ben Swann, leaving his local Fox affiliate in Cincinnati, OH to pursue his own goals in journalism, and Amber Lyon who left CNN after she uncovered that CNN received direct funds from the Bahrain Economic Development Board as well as other governments such as Saudi Arabia to paint their countries in a good light. Both have gone on to start their own companies and use their journalistic capabilities to expose truth.
The recent activities within news corporations and governments have led others to reach for their own journalistic integrity by leaving their jobs. Liz Wahl of RT America and investigative journalist for CBS, Sharyl Attkisson.
Liz Wahl at RT America, who caught national media attention by resigning after a show recently saying she "could not be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin." Hinting at the recent events of Russia and other country's intervention in Ukraine's turmoil over whether or not to join the EU. One could argue that successful journalists and news anchors have been encouraged to leave major networks by seeing many others that have done the same before them, for the same reasons.
The most recent has been Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative journalist who has worked for CBS for the past two decades uncovering aspects of the Benghazi scandal and the Fast & Furious operation. She resigned citing a liberal bias, influence of network sponsors and partners, and lack of support for her work as reasons for leaving. Subsequently, she was growing frustrated with the obstacles involved with reporting on and the overall transparency of the Obama administration, that has led to her working on a book titled "Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth in Obama's Washington".
There was another voice that was heard the past weeks, that of Abby Martin, who hosts her own show on RT America, Breaking the Set. Why did Abby Martin not resign, does she have no journalistic integrity??? Hardly, and in fact is far from the truth. Abby was actually the first to speak out on the state military intervention in Ukraine. However, on Breaking The Set, Abby has a little thing called editorial independence.
Editorial independence is the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from the owners of a publication. Editorial independence is tested, for instance, if a newspaper runs articles that may be unpopular with its advertising clientele or this case, speaking out against the actions of a government that "signs your paycheck". Regular news reporters do not usually have this luxury. My suggestion to anyone working within a news corporation of any kind, make sure it's in your contract.
Whether working for a huge corporation, a small independent publication, or for yourself, my thought is that a journalist must always be an advocate of truth. Many have lost that along the way as a consolidation of power by the bottom of the funnel of corporations has grown larger and larger over the past few decades. This has done many hurtful things to the economy, domestic and foreign relations, food and water supply, and environment. It has made it damn near impossible to shine the light on truth if one is working within these corporations, or have a controlled narrative handed down by these corporations and governments.
So, journalist or not, I hope we can all find what we're looking for, which is truth. Through the articles, documents, and videos individuals share with each other daily, we are getting closer and closer to truth without the whitewashing, teat sucking, ball washing corporate news media that hands down government propaganda to us daily. We have found a new way, this which we call "new media" to cover the cares and concerns about what individuals deem important, not what we are told is important. The realization that even in media:
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act". - George Orwell
Source: Journalistic Revolution