How George Seldes Paved The Way for Independent Media and Media Critics

George Seldes is one of the most celebrated media critics of all time. With his groundbreaking investigations and no bullshit attitude, he paved the way for other independent media outlets and those who dedicate their lives to critiquing the media. When the media of his time weren't calling out the corruption and wrongs of society, when they were influenced by political figures and showed bias, Seldes was the one who spoke up.

He famously tackled a story exposing the tobacco industry and the harmful, often fatal, affects of smoking. Mainstream newspapers, even today, are often afraid to publish stories if they are exposing powerful, corrupt companies. Major media conglomerates usually have ties with companies such as these, and are funded by them, so of course, they are going to keep quiet. Seldes would have published a full front page story bringing to light the corruption or wrongdoing of this company. If he had not been writing for his own, independent newspaper, he would have surely been fired.

Seldes was deemed a communist, a traitor if you will, of the United States because of his journalistic exposés. But, his desire to seek out the truth the mainstream media refused to cover is what contributed to the building of the foundation for independent media to thrive. Seldes, of course, is one of many media critics and "muckraking" journalists who paved the way for indie media. The reason he is the focus of this blog post is that he is a model of which journalists today should live by.

According to the extra reading, Seldes put his life on the line for journalism. He offended politicians, dictators, industrialists, press barons and many more. He called out fascism in Europe and its allies in the United States during a period of time when people chose to ignore it. Looking at how this connects to today's journalism is somewhat alarming, in that journalists are staring fascism in the face of President Donald Trump, but again the mainstream media stays quiet on the subject.

As a young journalist myself, I am calling on others in my position to take this opportunity to change traditional journalism as we have been taught all these years. We need to be brave, we need to call out the wrongs in society and we need to be as passionate and spirited as George Seldes was. As it says at the end of the article: "The best way to repay him is to live up to the standards he set for himself."