Opinion: The importance of independent media

The mainstream media has gained so much credibility and popularity that they have been able to use this credibility and popularity as leverage over the American people. Remember a time when the news was actually used to inform people, not manipulate them into holding the same beliefs as them.

Yeah, I don’t either.

But at one point there was a time where all news outlets shared extremely similar stories, fast forward to today where people have to resort to social media to see stories about the recent unprovoked, violent attacks over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, launched by Azerbaijan against the Armenian people living in the region or the inhumane treatment of Uighur Muslims in concentration camps in China.

One would assume that these stories are extremely prevalent stories to break to the American people. However, to these news outlets having exclusive access to interviews are one of the biggest priorities instead of informing the American people the news that we all see from social media, anyways.

Now don’t get me wrong social media has its downsides too like encouraging the spread of disinformation, normalizing the trend of activism rather than the reality of activism and normalization of inactivity of these heavily publicized issues.

However, when it comes to receiving the news, social media should not be our most reliable source because it was never intended to be a news outlet — it was however intended as a way to connect people all over the world, something that it has been able to do successfully.

If we can’t rely on legitimate news outlets to give us the news and we shouldn’t be resorting to social media, then where can we get reliable news that’s not compromised and consistent with all sides?

The best alternative is independent media, which has been on the rise most recently, whether it be an independent YouTube channel for news coverage, like the show Rising on The Hill TV or an independent online newspaper, like the one I founded called Davityan Review.

These independent media outlets allow for healthy competition amongst mainstream media and take away the leverage that mainstream media has over the general public.

With this message in mind, I created my independent media outlet — a bi-partisan online newspaper, where anyone can submit their articles regarding current events, foreign affairs, opinion pieces and personal experience pieces.

Davityan Review‘s motto is: made to inform, not persuade. It was created to elevate everyone’s voices, not just a select few and to report on stories relevant to the American people.

The only way to truly take back the power away from major media institutions and back to the people is to create and engage in independent media outlets built off the idea to include and empower everyone’s voices to bring stories that are significant to the American people back to them, instead of attempting to hide the truth from the public.