How Social Media Are Bringing Journalism and Activism Together

Traditional journalism has been owned, managed and operated by a very tiny percentage of the population who have been able to carefully control the content and point-of-view of local, national and world events to their own advantage. Today, Internet journalism -- blogging -- is rapidly changing the way people see the world by presenting unfiltered content and multiple points-of-view: from young to old; from Anglo to African; from worker bee to PhD; from Catholic to Islamic; from secular to religious; from American to Indonesian -- as well as from "Left" to "Right."

Now social media are bringing Internet journalism and activism together in a way that traditional media could never do. FreedomFriends.com is the first social network enabling people from all over the world to meet, make friends, and work together around issues of common interest, whether they be religious freedom, freedom of expression, workers rights, right of self defense, privacy rights, or freedom from tyranny of any kind.

In this video presentation Democracy Now! hosts a roundtable discussion on social media from the progressive viewpoint, with Aimee Allison, founder of OaklandSeen; hip-hop journalist and activist, Davey D; and Cheryl Contee, aka Jill Tubman, co-founder of the political blog "Jack and Jill Politics."