This election season, I had the opportunity to observe first-hand what happens on the campaign trail. As an associate producer for Purple States TV, a citizen journalism news venture that's covering the election, I followed the candidates through Iowa, New Hampshire, California, and other battleground states. What surprised me the most was how the traditional news media chose to cover the campaigns. There are dozens of major news outlets in this country, yet most of those outlets choose to cover the exact same stories in the exact same way.
It's not surprising that an increasing number of Americans are choosing to report the news themselves, instead of relying on the conventional news media. In the latest State of the News Media report from the Pew Center, one expert estimates that there are perhaps as many as 1500 citizen journalism websites, many of which have been created in the past year. Working for Purple States TV, I have developed a deep respect for citizen journalism, and believe that it provides a fresh political perspective that is often lacking in mainstream media.
I started my film and television career as an intern at Downtown Community Television (DCTV) in New York. There I learned that if you give the average person the means, a video camera and a little tutelage, that person can produce a news piece that is just as strong and just as poignant as a professional broadcast. The current trend in media is certainly proving that philosophy to be true. Some of the most exciting news stories this election season have been broken by citizen journalists, including OffTheBus writer Mayhill Fowler. Even traditional media has sensed the growing importance of citizen journalism, incorporating viewer-generated material into their nightly broadcasts. The rising popularity of participatory media indicates that the average American is not just looking to hear alternative perspectives, but wants her alternative perspective to be heard.
I am excited to be an op-ed editor for OffTheBus, yet another project focused on empowering communities through media. In addition to being a film producer, I am also a freelance literary editor. I have worked on every kind of project, from academic papers to poetry, and with writers as young as 16 and as old as 80. I spent a year as the editorial assistant for the author and publisher Sol Stein, working on several of his upcoming projects, including a novel, a memoir, and a how-to book on writing. I quite literally learned to edit on my mother's knee. A freelance editor herself, she used to put me on her lap when I was a child -- not withstanding any protests from me at the time -- and would teach me how to edit my grammar school assignments.
It's from my mother that I learned that when you improve someone's writing, when you teach them to express themselves more clearly in written form, you give them a voice, the power to communicate their ideas to others. To that end, I encourage every OffTheBus writer who's having trouble with their op-ed, especially those writers who have never written an op-ed before, to seek my assistance, so I can help them clearly express their fresh political perspective.