It is common for the media to greatly impact the outcome of
presidential elections, however; only in recent years has independent media
been able to make a big difference. After reading Jeff Cohen’s “Big ElectionWinner: Indy Media” on commondreams.org, I was able to realize how and why
independent media became so successful. The Internet is key for independent
media. The speed at which independent news outlets
publish information, along with their wide-availability allowed for their groundbreaking news to be viewed by many.
Independent media outlets were publishing news that the
mainstream media usually would not publish. For example, independent filmmakers
from Brave New Films produced a video about the excessive amount of homes
McCain owned. This video became so viral it gained national attention; it
prompted a journalist from Politco to ask him how many houses he owned during
an interview. McCain was unable to respond with an answer, which led to even
more national attention on this issue. Without the Brave New Films video this
issue never would have been brought to the public’s attention. This is only one
instance where an independent news outlet was been able to influence what is
reported in the mainstream media and therefore a top story reported to the
public. I believe this may be the most important function of the independent
media
Some people (myself included) may be surprised to find that
independent media outlets not only focused on exposing McCain’s campaign, but
Obama’s as well. The Huffington Post (independent at the time) reported a
statement made by Obama at a private fundraising event, something less-fortunate
Midwesterners could have found insulting. Although, the journalist reporting on this
was an Obama supporter she still believed it was her job to share this incident
with the public. It is rare for something like this to happen at a mainstream
news outlet, not because all journalists from major news outlets feel compelled
to be loyal to a certain candidate, but because they have more hurdles to get
through in order to publish an incident like this. Independent media do not
have nearly as many ties to politicians (or businesses) as mainstream news
outlets do. Also, independent media outlets commonly use citizen journalists
giving them a closer tie to the public.
Since the 2008 election independent media outlets have
become more abundant and popular. While independent media outlets have full
Internet access, there has been a threat of eliminating net neutrality. Net
neutrality allows all websites equal access to the Internet. Some Internet
service providers are seeking to remove net neutrality. If this were to occur
Internet service providers would be able to slow the loading of certain sites,
thus discouraging people from viewing them. Although, the Internet service providers
have not achieved this so far, there is still a possibility that net neutrality
could be eliminated, which would be very detrimental to many independent news
sites.
