We must build a trickle-up media that reflects the true character of this country and its people. A… — Amy Goodman

Vibrant debate and dissent exist in this country, but you are not reading or hearing about this in the mainstream press.

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

Social change does not spring forth from the minds of generals or presidents-in fact, change is often blocked by the powerful. Change starts with ordinary people working in their communities. And that's where media should start as well.