Have You Hugged Your Independent Journalist Today?

When I was going to school, journalism was a highly respected field to get into. I didn’t dare enter the arduous journey, and I now wish I did. After reading works from Henry Rollins shortly after high school, it seemed like I had some skills to at least write an editorial or two. Even though he’s not a journalist, I thought to myself “I could do that!”

I had always had an unusual relationship with the news, even as a young kid. I remember moving to the USA in 1986 and seeing the morning news on TV before school. I remember the Challenger space shuttle explosion and the Mexico City earthquake from 1985, the latter being the first major news event I remember. Between Looney Toons, the news, and Seinfeld, I caught on to English.

What I didn’t know as I got older is how important the role of a journalist is, and was. In history class, we were taught about how propaganda was weaponized to influence the masses of any given government to capitulate or rebel. But all of those instances seemed like they happened in what I thought were ancient times. Like the 1940s. Like propaganda would work anymore, right? A concept of ages gone by that I never thought would shape the society I’d live in.

Enter 1996. I signed up for a TV Communications class in high school, and part of the homework had to do with learning about the business side of journalism. I thought I was real slick to go to the fledgling internet and just print off what had been going on in the business of journalism. And somehow, I remember one of the major events that might as well rank up there with the moon landing and the dropping of the atom bombs: the birth of fox news. I raised my hand to talk about it in the class. Little did any of us know.

Quite the moment in propaganda it was. One rupert murdock started what was to be in my opinion the equivalent of crack for susceptible WASPs. Of course - not all fox news viewers are susceptible WASPs, and slowly but surely, their interpretations of news coverage was no longer unbiased. With each repeated exposure came a crockpot of hate simmering on the lowest setting. Propaganda had exponentially caught up with the times, no longer being on leaflets dropped from airplanes.

When 9/11 happened, I remember being 21 years old and being angry with what had happened. And the aforementioned network had a talking head on by the name of bill o’reilly. And he made me realize that though his convictions had been justified, it was a little over the top. Never had I seen anyone behind a news desk so pissed off.

The rest is history. New age propaganda was a significant contributor as to why we’re where we are in the United States.

We’re all humans, right? Last time I checked, we shared (drum roll please) 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees. They like to throw their own shit, commit cannibalism, and embrace violence, you should know that by now if you’re a regular follower of this newsletter. But in a lot of professions, the knowledge we have about our respective professions gives us additional insight that the consumer doesn’t have. It’s why you don’t see any morbidly obese doctors or personal trainers. But how are journalists more insightful than average folks? I actually wish I knew since I am on the outside looking in. I mean - journalists have an immeasurable responsibility of providing factual coverage of events as they happen. Journalists are held to high standards of integrity and a lot of pressure is put on them, sometimes too much pressure. But when the day is done, they go home just like everyone else and live in the world that they report on. Affected by the decisions of how their work is interpreted. They vote on policy they report on, they make purchases per the markets they provide coverage about. Journalists participate in the world they report to all of us when they are off the clock.

The Journalist Employee Discount

Because of the fact that journalists live and breathe among the policies they report on, I would like to see at least one journalist err on the side of being a human being that stands up for their rights and the world they live in. I consider that to be the journalist employee discount. It should be taken like how a teenager working their first job folding clothes at the mall would take it. That teenager should fill their closet with the clothes they buy with their generous discount. And since journalists are allowed in places where the general public isn’t, they have the perfect opportunity to go viral and use some heavy handed language to get the attention of whichever full of shit politician (or wannabe politician) they are holding a microphone in front of. Hold them fucking accountable to the point of viral embarrassment. Because asking milquetoast investigative questions (no matter how “gotcha” they may be) no longer cuts the fucking mustard. Something like “how often do you think about how the vast majority of the world hates you?” or something like that? Like, stand up for yourself, stand up for us, and catch their attention. I mean, it’s not like the subject interviewee has our best interest at hand. Being nice will not get you anywhere anymore. In my opinion, using the journalist employee discount is not enough, it has to be abused to where you give zero fucks about it, akin to that teenager also filling his friends’ closets with heavily discounted employee discount merchandise. Even if the major networks refuse to air a full of shit politician getting his ass verbally handed to them and straight up pwned, the footage will surface somewhere on the internet and go viral whether anyone likes it or not. Imagine what kind of hopium that would give people. A narcan of modern day propaganda, if you’d like. Like this past week in the Oval Office. “How does it feel that 45 could fire you at any moment if you upset him?” That would be a kamikaze journalist that would also become more powerful than we could possibly imagine. A hero that we need nowadays. They try to sow division with all of us, we need to throw it right back. It’s why they get so mad when asked regular “tough” questions, thus getting banned from riding on Air Force One or having a physical presence in government buildings.

But I understand that if they were to make a stand, their titan of their employer will be quick to fire. But doesn’t everybody forget that we live in a world now where it’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission? Said journalist with superhuman bravery could still make a living going independent, doing their work on a platform like this one, or incorporating various methods of media. I mean, nazis have a platform now, so why can’t nazi punchers?

It’s time to stomp a mudhole

Journalists are in the front lines, now more than ever. They give a voice to the voiceless, and they truly embody the adage of the pen being mightier than the sword. It’s time to mount up, get pissed the fuck off, and humiliate the fuck out of those who have no business trying to consolidate power for them and their rich men north of Richmond friends that happen to have more trinkets than the rest of us. Journalists have the power to end wars before they ever start. If those who made their names on fox news were able to get away with it, there is a major responsibility now for journalists to not turn the other cheek, but to whoop that ass.

Instead of saying “there was a large protest in front of the capital today,” it needs to be said like this: “Motherfuckers were about to fuck around and find out for waving nazi flags before they ran away like punk ass bitches.”

The gloves need to come off. Journalists, make me be grateful that you exist. Because believe me, we will ALL be grateful. What needs to happen for the masses to be grateful for journalists?

We need you.