I stayed up until around 3 a.m. the morning of November 9. My phone buzzed all night with notifications of which candidate won each state's electoral votes. And when I finally got the last notification that said who won the election, I turned off my phone. My boyfriend and I went for a walk in the pouring rain with no umbrella.
With a president-elect that has normalized the harassment of journalists, it's going to be increasingly difficult to report on the government. One of the president-elect's first actions was not inviting the press to cover his meeting with current President Barack Obama. Censoring and banning certain types of journalism begins slowly and quietly; the end sneaks up quickly, and we could very well see our First Amendment Rights being called into question or even revoked regularly.
Who's to blame?
The mainstream media had plenty of control in the election's results. While the president-elect received countless waves of bad press, he still received far more press than any other candidate combined. Bad press is still press, and mainstream media catered to a circus show and not an election.
But what now?
Independent media has a more important role than ever. We're entering an era that will likely trigger protests, violence and corruption across every form of legislation. Since mainstream media cannot be trusted with treating politics like politics and not reality TV, it's up to independent news to take the reins.
Dare to investigate. Dare to back up every minuscule fact. Dare to cause a commotion in activism. Dare to cover stories that will get you in trouble. The lives of every person on this planet will be affected by the 2016 election — we as journalists need to help in every way possible.
It's easy to walk through the pouring rain and feel sad, but times of grieving need to be limited. It's time to stand up and take action.
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