Donations spotlight: Support Democracy Now!, news made by the people, not the powerful

Note from the CREDO Mobile team: This April, Democracy Now! is among three amazing nonprofits that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO Mobile community will be critical to the group as it continues to produce a much-needed independent news program featuring journalists, grassroots leaders and independent analysts, as well as ordinary people directly affected by world events and U.S. policy.

 Read this important blog post from Democracy Now!, then visit CREDO Donations and cast your vote to help send vital grant money to the group to assist its efforts—and the efforts of our other outstanding April grantees.

Going to where the silence is. That’s the responsibility of a journalist: giving a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken and beaten down by the powerful. It’s the best reason I know to carry our pens, cameras and microphones out into the world.

When you hear people speaking for themselves, it challenges the stereotypes that fuel division and hate. You don’t have to agree with what you hear. How often do we agree with our own family members? But when you listen, you start to understand where a person is coming from. And that understanding is the beginning of peace.

Taking the media back from special interests

The media can be the greatest force for peace on Earth. Instead, all too often, it’s wielded as a weapon of war.

That’s why Democracy Now! is fighting to take the media back from government interests and corporations that, in the words of George Gerbner, late dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, “have nothing to tell and everything to sell.”

On February 19, 1996, Democracy Now! aired for the first time on nine community radio stations. It was the only show in public broadcasting that focused daily on the national election. When that 1996 election wrapped up, with Bill Clinton winning the presidency over Bob Dole, we thought Democracy Now! would wrap up as well.

But there was more demand for the show after the election than before. Why? Because people are hungry for real solutions and authentic voices—not just the same handful of pundits on the network shows who know so little about so much, explaining the world to us and getting it so wrong.

Producing journalism powered by the people

This year Democracy Now! is celebrating 29 years of independent reporting. Over the past quarter-century, we’ve become one of the leading independent news outlets in the world, reaching tens of millions of people in English and Spanish through our website, newsletters, social media channels from YouTube to Instagram, apps, and audio and video podcasts.

When we report on the climate emergency, our coverage isn’t brought to you by the oil, gas, coal and nuclear companies. When we cover war, our reporting isn’t sponsored by the weapons manufacturers. Our journalism is powered by the people, which gives us the editorial freedom to report on the issues that matter most: war and peace, the climate crisis, abortion rights, gun control, immigration, racism and police brutality, wealth inequality, LGBTQ rights, healthcare and much more.

In these challenging times, as we face innumerable threats to our democracy, we need a media that covers power, not a media that covers for power. We need a media that is the fourth estate, not for the state. We need a media that covers the movements causing static and making history.

That’s the power of independent media. And that’s the media that will save us.