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Tag: Journalism

Laid Off, But Still Gonzo: A New Way To Support Kit’s Writing

Posted in Journalism, Life, and MintPress News

A little over a week ago, I learned that MintPress News is “restructuring,” and eliminating most of their original writing, including my position as staff writer. That means the end of the full time job I’ve held since October 2014.

I’ve had a lot of adventures with MintPress, from getting banned from Nieman Marcus while covering the American Legislative Exchange Council to traveling to Philadelphia for the protests at the Democratic National Convention. It’s been a shock to realize that my work there will come to an end in January, and just days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

2016 has been a bizarre year, full of unexpected losses, unbelievable stories and a few hard-won victories. Around the country, hundreds of organizations and thousands of activists and organizers are planning not just for January 20, but the next 4 years. I don’t want to lose my voice just as things are really popping off in America.

With your help, I can still be there on the front lines publishing stories of resistance. Today, I’m launching a Patreon account as a way of supporting my ongoing journalism. I’m asking my readers and fans to donate on a monthly basis as a way of keeping my writing alive.

‘Fuck It, I Quit’: News Anchor-Turned-Cannabis Advocate Faces 54 Years In Prison

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Charlo Greene, the local news anchor from Alaska who became a viral sensation for quitting her job while voicing her support for cannabis legalization during a live broadcast, now faces decades in prison on a growing list of drug-related charges.

“Fuck it, I quit,” Greene famously declared live on KTVA on Sept. 22, 2014 at the end of a report on the Alaska Cannabis Club. In addition to revealing that she was actually the owner of the club, she said she was leaving the station to work on the business and push for cannabis law reform full-time.

In the November 2014 election, Alaska became the third state to legalize recreational cannabis, but Greene stands accused of illegally selling the drug in the time between when the vote to legalize took place and the state fully implemented the law. Alaskan police conducted multiple raids and undercover investigations of the club.

‘Let’s Get Back To The Data’: Relentless Attacks On Assange Distract From Content Of WikiLeaks Releases

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

Attacks on WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, including accusations of collusion with foreign governments, are growing more commonplace in the media as Election Day approaches.

As the political establishment pushes back against WikiLeaks’ revelations of U.S. war crimes and corruption, political pundits have even threatened Assange’s life. Meanwhile, despite a total lack of evidence, the Clinton campaign continues to try to tie Assange to Russia, reviving a Cold War “red scare” narrative that the mainstream media seems all too eager to assist.

Mickey Huff, media literacy expert and director of Project Censored, told MintPress News that the media’s focus on Assange distracts from more important stories, including the actual content of the leaks released by WikiLeaks. A professor of social sciences at Diablo Valley College near San Francisco, Huff co-authors an annual report on censorship and propaganda in the media.

“I think we’re losing sight of the information these people are leaking,” he said. “It’s an ultimate distraction, a bait and switch.”

Indie News Site Newsbud Takes On NBC Over Turkey Coup Propaganda

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

An independent news outlet is demanding accountability from the mainstream media over inaccurate reporting during last month’s attempted coup in Turkey.

At the time this article was being written on Wednesday afternoon, reporters from Newsbud, a crowdfunded outlet focused on media integrity, were en route to New York in hopes of directly confronting officials at NBC News over a report that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been denied asylum in Germany during the failed coup attempt.

Though widely reported in the media, Newsbud’s founder Sibel Edmonds reported that the rumor originated at NBC. Writing on July 21 on Boiling Frogs Post, the temporary home of Newsbud, she wrote:

WikiLeaks’ On Panama Papers: ‘Everything Censored By Default’

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

WikiLeaks took to Twitter to criticize what the organization describes as the continued “censorship” of the Panama Papers archive by the organizations and reporters who control the contents of the leak.

The massive archive of 2.6 terabytes of financial data leaked from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca is controlled by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and hundreds of journalists who have been selected to write about the archive’s contents.

The Panama Papers exposed the efforts the world’s wealthiest people, including more than a dozen world leaders, take to hide their earnings from tax authorities. The release caused upheaval in Iceland’s governmentand protests in the United Kingdom.

A growing number of international authorities are demanding access to the archive, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, including a German finance minister and representatives of the U.S. Justice Department. But ICIJ’s director told DW last week that they would reject these and all similar requests.

WikiLeaks Founder Assange Demands Transparency In Panama Papers Release

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

Speaking to the media from the Ecuadorean Embassy where he lives under political asylum, Julian Assange called for greater transparency in the Panama Papers leak.

In an April 9 interview with Al-Jazeera, the WikiLeaks founder praised the work of Süddeutsche Zeitung, the German newspaper that received the massive leak of financial data revealing the offshore tax havens of the world’s rich and famous.

“We’re very pleased about the work that SZ (Süddeutsche Zeitung) — did in the beginning in developing that source. We think that’s really good work. The work of the source of course is the most impressive and then pulling together that collaboration is also impressive work,” Assange said.

After receiving the leak, which contains 11.5 million documents, Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists organized a coalition of hundreds of journalists who collaborated to analyze the files over the course of over a year before publication began.

The praise hasn’t gone both ways, though. Gerard Ryle, director of ICIJ, seemed to cast aspersions on Assange’s work earlier this month, when he told WIRED magazine, “We’re not WikiLeaks. We’re trying to show that journalism can be done responsibly.”