{"id":163286,"date":"2020-06-22T12:02:05","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T11:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=163286"},"modified":"2020-06-22T09:35:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T08:35:24","slug":"online-and-independent-the-future-of-journalism-is-already-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/06\/online-and-independent-the-future-of-journalism-is-already-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Online and Independent: The Future of Journalism Is Already Here"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We’ll do it live!<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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18 Jun 2020 – <\/em>The modern news industry is in crisis. For years, formerly stalwart publications have been bought up, hollowed out, and sold for scrap by predatory (and often utterly incompetent<\/a>) venture capital firms. The recent global outbreak of COVID-19 has further shattered the business as reporters and editors have been furloughed, or outright laid off, en masse. Now, as demonstrations across the country protesting George Floyd\u2019s death at the knees of a Minneapolis cop grow in both scope and intensity, traditional newsrooms are finding their resources to cover these events spread thin. But into that coverage void has stepped a new generation of independent, internet-based journalists bringing the voices of the people in the streets to the eyes and ears of the American public, all without paywalls.<\/p>\n

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These reporters come from a variety of backgrounds and their organizations take a number of forms. For example, Abner Hague, founder and editor-in-chief of Left Coast Right Watch<\/a>, a California-based news site covering right-wing politics and extremism, is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley\u2019s school of journalism. \u201cI learned videography there and did my documentary thesis by embedding with the local far-right and the Berkeley College Republicans right after the Milo Yiannopoulos shutdown in February 2017,\u201d Hauge told Engadget. \u201cThat documentary’s something I sort of created LCRW to publish but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Honestly there’s just so much to cover that I’m having a hard time keeping track.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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THOMAS SAMSON via Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cI’m a one-man crew right now though I’m starting to work with a few serious journalists and people who can be trained as journalists to string for me in areas of the country that are under-reported on,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Unicorn Riot<\/a>, on the other hand, is a 501(c)3 educational media organization founded in 2015 with reporters spread across the country. \u201cWe chose not to be LLC specifically [because] we knew we weren’t in this for the money,\u201d Niko Georgiades, a co-founder of and producer at the outlet, told Engadget.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we were aiming for was allowing people’s voices to be heard by creating media that was a platform for the community,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd so what we knew from that was we could possibly enlighten people, educate people. We could bring something new to the table and [fill] a niche that we knew needed to be filled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because these outlets lack the financial backing found in traditional newsrooms, these organizations often operate on shoestring budgets using whatever equipment they can cobble together. \u201cI have an old Juicedlink ra333 I got off eBay, some good XLR mics (love the Sanken cos-11d for interviews \u2013 audio is fantastic) and a little lighting equipment, mostly just a flapjack,\u201d Hague said. \u201cMy cameras are an old Sony a7s and a7r\u2026 Honestly, though, at this point I’m not really out here to shoot for documentaries anymore so I barely bring more than the a7r, a cheapie Rode mic, an adapter and a few old Canon lenses. And my old iPhone 7 Plus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hauge plans to launch a fundraising campaign \u201cwhere I make LCRW stickers and paint peoples’ portraits for $150 each to buy an [iPhone] 11 Pro soon though. The 7 Plus is starting to wear out and damn if that new wide-angle lens isn’t gonna make for good crowd shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NEW ON LCRW: I wrote up this gonzo-ass account of what happened at the protest I went to last night. It was quite an experience. https:\/\/t.co\/KZxM9Olh4N<\/a><\/p>\n

— LEFT COAST RIGHT WATCH (@LCRWnews) June 14, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n