MEDIA ROOTS- The root system of a tree is five times more extensive than the tree itself, reaching far underground to form a solid base for growth and nourishment. Just as this root system is integral to the survival of a tree, media is integral to the foundation and survival of a democracy.
However, the corporate consolidation and top down control of America’s
current media system undermines democracy by stifling and diluting the
discourse crucial to maintaining a critical and informed public.
The mainstream media establishment has conceded its journalistic integrity time and time again by catering to corporate and political interests. The people can no longer wait on Congress and the FCC to eke out miniscule reforms to the dysfunctional system in which they are embedded. Instead, the people must create alternative methods to freely communicate and exchange information.
In the bay area, such an organization has been formed. Media Roots is a grassroots, independent citizen journalism project that reports the news from outside of party lines, while providing a collaborative space of open dialogue for conscious citizens, artists and activists.
The website aggregates a variety of critical and fascinating underreported news on various subjects: local and world news; political and corporate corruption; food and health; and science and philosophy.
In conjunction with providing an ever-expanding archival base of crucial information, Media Roots also conducts original reporting on an array of important local, national and global issues. The organization produces a regular radio talk show, original video content and extensive interviews with artists, activists, journalists and inspiring Bay area locals.
The merit of citizen reporting is increasingly recognized as corporate journalism continues to fail in its intended role as the watchdogs against corruption. Many people find that their voice isn’t represented in the political dialogue and are seeking alternative media sources reporting raw, unfiltered and truthful information.
Media Roots is a valuable tool for people to begin revolutionizing the media dialogue. The organization’s aim is to build community through collaboration and participation, and its openness to feature submissions of all kinds encourages others to take an active role in the field of media. Everyone has the ability to be a citizen journalist, and Media Roots, while maintaining strong principles of integrity that require all content to be based in sound research, provides an important outlet for others to explore their ideas and share their skills.
Since the inception of the project, Media Roots has motivated multiple people worldwide to directly engage with their communities, whether by interviewing inspirational figures or by conducting investigatory research on a range of issues. Furthermore, the organization has provided a voice for multiple active duty soldiers to speak out anonymously about their political beliefs.
Many people who get their news from the corporate media have a highly skewed perspective on what issues should be of concern to their health, family and communities. The mainstream political discourse truncates issues into oversimplified talking points that pit one political party against another, causing a deep divide in the American citizenry. Media Roots holds no party bias, and reports from the bigger picture by analyzing issues through a broad historical lens.
As a completely independent organization, Media Roots will never cater toward corporate sponsors or censor credible information. Because it exists outside of the rigid corporate model that capitalistic societies are accustomed to, it has a unique and unrestricted ability to spontaneously grow and flourish. Instead of competing monetarily with other independent media outlets with similar goals, Media Roots simply seeks to co-exist as an organic beacon of information in the emerging renaissance of grassroots journalism happening worldwide.
Like a tree’s widespread root system, grassroots networks of communication in all fields of media must extend far beyond the top down institutional structures created for us. The Media Roots model is not mechanized, and will continue to naturally evolve as more people participate and contribute in the project.
People must create the alternative they wish to see from the bottom up. Media Roots is paving an important path that is driven by a shared passion for media justice and the core belief that unfettered access to information is a human right.
To get involved in the project, please e-mail [email protected].
This piece was written for Project Censored’s 2012 book.
Written by Abby Martin
MR Logo by Shawn Cordeiro
