Supporting Journalists and Journalism, Which Are Under Assault

At a moment when we most need a diverse, robust press, it is endangered by the current administration — and media companies, which are defunding journalism and firing people.

This is not your typical installment of “Adventures in *Journalism*” in which I try to make sense of my circuitous career path. I’ve been working on one of those (a juicy one), but in light of the justified upheaval in response to the murder of George Floyd, this doesn’t feel like the right moment to write about myself.

Instead today I want to draw your attention to the assault on journalism when we need it most — and on journalists, literally, when they are making tremendous sacrifices — and ask you to consider contributing some organizations that support them. (List at the bottom.)

CNN @CNN

CNN reporter Omar Jimenez, who is black and Latino, and his team were arrested by officers early this morning in Minneapolis. Not far away, CNN journalist Josh Campbell, who is white, says he was "treated much differently." cnn.it/36S5HIB

At a time when the president has targeted the press as an enemy of the people; when we are being governed by what is basically a multinational crime syndicate; when police are arresting and assaulting reporters at Black Lives Matter protests — a time when our democracy depends on a diverse, free, well-funded Fourth Estate to report the truth of what is happening — profit-minded media companies are instead defunding news outlets, laying off reporters, editors, and other staff, and in some cases shutting publications down altogether.

Molly Hennessy-Fiske @mollyhf

Minnesota State Patrol just fired tear gas at reporters and photographers at point blank range.

The field is also woefully white, affluent, male, regularly-abled, and cis-hetero, with not nearly enough diversity among reporters, opinion writers, editors, photographers, art directors, fact-checkers, and support staff.

In all this, begging to be written are indictments of unfettered capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy, preferably by financial/political journalists more adept at that than I am.

The New York Times @nytimes

Minneapolis: A photographer was shot in the eye. Washington, D.C.: Protesters struck a journalist with his own microphone. Louisville: A reporter was hit by a pepper ball on live television by an officer who appeared to be aiming at her.

nyti.msA Reporter’s Cry on Live TV: ‘I’m Getting Shot! I’m Getting Shot!’From a television crew assaulted by protesters to a photographer struck in the eye, journalists have found themselves targeted on the streets of America.

In the mean time, I’ll just leave some links here. This is not any kind of comprehensive list, by the way. Please consider contributing to one or more of these organizations if you can. And please subscribe to newspapers, magazines, websites, and other organizations that are still doing good work.

• The National Bail Fund Network has links to bail funds around the United States. Journalists are being arrested along with protesters. Donations support them and civilians being detained.

• The National Association of Black Journalists

• Black Journalists Therapy Relief Fund

• The National Association for Latino Journalists

• The Asian American Journalists Association

• The Native American Journalists Association

• The Association of LBGTQ Journalists

• The International Women’s Media Foundation

• The Fund for Investigative Journalism

• The Independent Journalism Fund

• The American Civil Liberties Union defends journalists who have been detained.

• Free Press

• Unicorn Riot, commercial free, viewer-funded media.

• This Journalist Furlough Fund on GoFundMe raises money for journalists who have been furloughed or laid off during the Coronavirus pandemic.

• Reporters Respond, an emergency fund for journalists managed by Free Press Unlimited.

• The Marshall Project, non-profit journalism about criminal justice.

• ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom in the public interest.

• Slate earned my subscription when it showed more guts than many other publications with this headline on Sunday, May 31: “Police Erupt in Violence Nationwide.”

Ali Velshi @AliVelshi

I’m hit in the leg by a rubber bullet but am fine. State Police supported by National guard fired unprovoked into an entirely peaceful rally

Please join me in seeking a more diverse press, and supporting reporters on the front lines of multiple ongoing crises while under assault by the current administration and capitalism.

(I’ll be back on my B.S. with a post about my work life in the mid-90s when the time feels right.)