Chelsea Manning attempted to commit suicide twice last year.

Independent media can go to where the silence is and break the sound barrier, doing what the corporate networks refuse to do.

The media is absolutely essential to the functioning of a democracy. It's not our job to cozy up to power. We're supposed to be the check and balance on government.

Beyond the borders of wealthy countries like the United States, in developing countries where most people in the world live, the impacts of climate change are much more deadly, from the growing desertification of Africa to the threats of rising sea levels and the submersion of small island nations.

We must build a trickle-up media that reflects the true character of this country and its people. A democratic media serving a democratic society.

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.

The media—stenographers to power.