Media for All People

[:en]gj_blog_Joe_TorresGeneration Justice always strives to develop my knowledge and skills. I am grateful I have met many of these leaders who have shared their wisdom with me. They have given me the confidence to continue my vision of becoming a postive multimedia artist.

Reading News for All People and chatting with co-author Joe Torres was an insightful experience. Joe is the Senior External Affairs Director for Free Press, which fights for our right to connect and communicate. His role involves advocating in Washington D.C, “to ensure that our nation’s media policies serve the public interest.” It is inspiring to meet leaders like Joe, who believe in the same things I do.

I didn’t know much about the history of the United States’ news media before I met Joe and read News For All People. These experiences have opened my eyes to the importance of accurate news media in our society.

I didn’t know that when it was created, it was meant to serve mostly white colonial society. For example, the first chapter covers colonial society with stories of past newspaper headlines that read “Barbarous Indians” and “Rebellious Negroes.” To me, this chapter reveals how news media first began portraying people of color. Educating myself on this has helped me understand why the media still associates fear with communities of color.

I also discovered powerful stories about journalists of color who pushed through these barriers in order to tell their stories. It was empowering to learn about Sunny, a female, Native American journalist  that lead successful actions to start her own newspaper. Discovering her story has made me so proud and motivates me to continue her efforts to recognize Indigenous issues.

During the chat with Joe, I discussed prison phone justice, surveillance, net neutrality and the lifeline program. Although our collective work for prison phone justice was successful, I realized there is still a lot to do to improve and protect our media policies.

I look up to Joe. He has paved the way so I could create true and ethical media here at Generation Justice. I appreciate all the work he has done so that I could learn the truth about our media. I am blessed I have connected with Joe and look forward to the positive impacts we will collectively create for the future of our media.   

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