Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
Posted in Act Out!, Journalism, Ministry of Hemp, and Video
I appeared on the newest episode of Act Out!
I spoke with host Eleanor about the recent legalization of hemp via the 2018 Farm Bill. We talk about what hemp can do for people and planet, discuss what the FDA plans to do about CBD, and then look at what this means for overall cannabis legalization.
Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism
It’s happened again. Fascist wannabe journalists attacked the most vulnerable, and as a result poor people will probably die.
Laura Loomer, a talking asshole fringed in blonde hair, is the latest to engage in a punch-down “sting operation” that’s targeted to hurt people with the most to lose.
In an investigative report that’s the talk of nazi rallies everywhere, Loomer went undercover in a refugee camp to expose the “shocking” fact that camp workers help refugees apply for aid in a way that minimizes.trauma and maximizes the likelihood that they’ll get help. Previously best known for spreading Islamophobic conspiracies about her Uber drivers, she’s now trying to graduate to the next level of far right pundit.
Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street
“I started as a journalist to show, during the Occupy protests, what wasn’t being shown.”
In the first part of my interview with Jon Ziegler, also known as Rebelutionary Z, we shared some tips for livestreaming. This time, I wanted to go a bit deeper and urge citizen journalists and streamers of all kinds to consider their personal livestreaming ethics.
There’s a misconception that livestreaming is always about simply showing what’s happening in an unedited, raw form. While most streamers aren’t altering their footage as it goes online in any way, they’re still making choices about what to film, who to interview, and how to frame the footage with their commentary.
Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street
Want to be a better livestreamer? I asked indie journalist Jon Ziegler, for his top livestreaming tips when we recently spoke.
Jon, better known to his fans as Rebelutionary Z is one of the most experienced streamers today. He began covering footage of protests and activist events during Occupy Wall Street. Unlike most of the people who started then, he’s continued to report from liberal and radical left events. He credits the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson and St. Louis for bringing him back to the field after Occupy ended. Since then he’s traveled around the continent, including reporting on the Standing Rock protests where he sustained a serious injury from a rubber bullet. He also streamed the nazi attack in Charlottesville that killed Heather Heyer.
I asked Jon for his top livestreaming tips. I’ve divided them into two sections, one for newcomers and people who only stream occasionally. He calls these “Johnny On The Spot reporters,” people who were in the right place at the right time to catch a breaking event. In the second section, I’ve included some further tips for more experienced citizen journalists.
Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism
As a journalist, I want to talk to other white people about recent coverage of “Starbucks Racism” incidents.
People of all races are horrified by the reports filling the news of black people targeted by whites for everyday activities. I’m calling it “Starbucks Racism” in this post not because I particularly hate Starbucks. It’s simply that the incident in which police arrested two black men waiting for a third friend at a Philadelphia Starbucks is now infamous. This story ushered in renewed interest in the media in this kind of “casual” but extremely dangerous racism.
There’s a reaction to these Starbucks Racism stories I’ve mostly noticed among white people. It reflects both a misunderstanding of systemic racism and a misunderstanding of how the media works. I’ll paraphrase something I saw on a friend’s wall: “What’s wrong with people? I’m so disgusted at how people act recently.”
For the first time, you can my journalism in a print magazine!
Last year, I interviewed a number of Western hemp advocates who were concerned about the issue of water rights. The U.S. government controls much of the water in the American West, and they’ve threatened to withhold it from legal hemp farmers. I expanded on that story in an article called “Water Wars” for the latest issue of Hemp Magazine. For this article, I interviewed Kim Phillips, a Montana farmer whose hemp crop languished last year because her government water permit was denied. Phillips is struggling with the government again this year, and it’s unclear if she’ll get her water in time for the 2018 season.
Look for the article online soon — but in the meantime you can probably find it in the magazine at a bookstore or newsstand near you.
