Authentic Journalism Shakes Up the Powers that Be

To Keep the Fire of Resistance Burning We Need Your Support

By Cheyenne Cary
Class of 2011, School of Authentic Journalism

April 27, 2011

My name is Cheyenne Cary and I want to save journalism. I don’t have to tell you that the mainstream media only reports on what their corporate sponsors and political benefactors allow them to, or that the talking heads on TV are a pack of liars, shills and charlatans, or that print journalism is sinking due to its dependence on advertising dollars and outdated traditions – all that is obvious.

Cheyenne Cary

But what you may not know is that there’s a journalistic underground out there trying to make a difference. In the face of a growing corporate news media, journalists and activists around the world are still dedicated to seeking out the truth and bringing you the accurate and in-depth news you need. They don’t march under any one banner, but they all share certain ideals: it is a journalist’s duty to help give representation to the downtrodden and the invisible, to awaken the public to inequality and injustice, and to shake up the powers that be and remind them that governments belong to the people – not the other way around.

“And as long as this criminal element exists, I am of it,” to paraphrase Eugene Debs.

This year, I decided to apply to the School of Authentic Journalism, an annual 10-day seminar held in Mexico City by a collective of radical journalists and humanitarian workers to educate the next generation of “Authentic Journalists.” By some stroke of luck, I was selected to be one of the more than 40 students for the 2011 session. This May, I will be flying out to el Districto Federal to soak up knowledge and perspectives from a rogue’s gallery of truth-tellers and troublemakers, including Bolivian union leader Oscar Olivera, South African social fighter Janet Cherry, and Egyptian anti-torture activist Noha Atef, amongst many others.

After finding out about the school from the Narco News online newspaper, I was compelled. I knew that this was the educational opportunity that I had been waiting for, and that these were the journalistic philosophies I had been waiting to hear (but never quite did) in my classes and internships. I jumped at the chance, and I was lucky enough to make it.

I study at the University of California at Davis in the heart of the Central Valley. I’m majoring in International Relations with a focus on journalism and Latin American politics. I’m also taking Web Design courses on the side to grow my multimedia skills. Through my four years of study there, I’ve gotten published every way I know how. For a year, I wrote political columns for the student newspaper, the California Aggie, and criticized the corruption and inefficiency endemic in our school’s administration. For a summer, I attended a Public Policy Journalism program and reported on the Sacramento legislature. For four months, I wrote for an online newspaper, the Sacramento Press, and reported on City Hall issues and developed a beat for community organizing and the burgeoning medicinal cannabis scene. For the last seven months, I’ve written for the local daily broadsheet, the Davis Enterprise, and reported on County Board decisions and student protests.

In between, I’ve done some freelance work – and had some of my most exciting experiences. I took part in an experimental video-blog and rolled out on my road bike to document Davis happenings. Certainly my most challenging day was March 4, 2010, when students and people from all walks of life held a general Day of Action against government and administrative malfeasance and marched through campus and into the streets, finally colliding head-on with riot police.

When I’m not at work exposing the establishment, I live at a student cooperative. I and 37 other UC students live together in three renovated ranch houses and practice consensus-based community planning and organic agriculture. The Tri-Cooperatives are a beautiful place, and a key part of Davis history and social consciousness.

This May, I hope to continue my growth as a journalist and as a humanitarian at the School of Authentic Journalism. But as I once discussed with Peter Phillips of Project Censored, a commitment to telling the truth doesn’t always translate to food on the table. To keep the fire of resistance burning, we need your support.

Please make a donation today, online, at this link:

http://www.authenticjournalism.org

Or you can make a check out to:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
PO Box 1446
Easthampton, MA 01027 USA

Consider donating to the Fund for Authentic Journalism, which supports the School as well as Narco News, and is an invaluable resource to maintaining accuracy and equity in journalism. Your donations are tax deductible, and will help guarantee spaces for future Authentic Journalists. The school has graduated over 100 journalists who have gone on to make a difference in the media at large.

Thank you,
Cheyenne Cary

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