Fighting for Social Change

One way independent journalism can make a huge impact on their society is to use their power to encourage social change.  This was huge in the 1960s when supporting the counterculture was revolutionary. In chapter 11 of Roger Streitmatter's "Voices of Revolution", he tells the story of revolution for social justice, with the common themes of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. These themes have never been seen before in the United States. What helped spread the idea of social revolution were the independent journalists that rose across the country.

The Berkley Barb started in California in 1965, founded by a guy named Max Scherr. Scherr sold his Steppenwolf Bar for $10,000 to start the weekly paper, and soon became a leading voice for the counterculture. In 1969, the newspaper gained much popularity for the coverage on the Cal-Berkley campus when students planted trees and flowers in a university-owned lot that was meant for a soccer field and dormitories. Scherr was able to make it national news through his paper, and grabbed the attention of the nation. He spoke for the counterculture, saying, "The creators of our Park wanted nothing more than to extend their spirits into a gracious green meandering plaything. They wanted to make beauty more than an empty word in a Spray Net commercial."

Other Berkley papers such as the Berkley Gazette focused on the interests on the counterculture, magnifying the social status quo they were resisting, such as smoking pot. Police and the National Guard were called to Berkley to clear the "riff-raff", which brought 20,000 students to peacefully protest the whole thing. The police then killed one of the demonstrators, along with injuring many others. Public opinion soon sided with The Barb and after 13 days, Reagan pulled the troops, and the university allowed the lot to be a park. The Barb now resembled a protector of the people.

The Paper was started by Michael Kindman in 1965 as well, although The Paper started in East Lansing, Michigan. Kindman was a journalism major at Michigan State University (MSU). He too supported the counterculture after he didn't like working for the school paper. The Paper focused on campus affairs, helping the students have a say in how their institution functions. Alongside such stories, Kindman wrote about drugs and his own experiences with them and expressing how it has been a positive in his life. In 1966, The Paper wrote on anti-Vietnam war and anti-university positions, and in the meanwhile exposing an alliance between MSU and South Vietnamese dictator Ngo Dinh Diem. The Paper questioned any military involvement by a school. The Paper was no longer supported by MSU, but the staff worked for free and printing was paid by the revenue, so they stayed in existence.

In the most conservative part of the country, The Kudzu was founded by David Doggett, a student at Millsaps University in Jackson, Mississippi. Doggett wanted to support the Civil Rights and Counterculture Movements in a place where not one publication publicly supported radicalism. Named after a vine that grows rapidly in the South, Doggett hoped for The Kudzu to spread in a similar manner. Young adults were ready to hop on the counterculture train, but the biggest obstacle for The Kudzu was the police and their attempt to shut the newspaper down. They would arrest people attempting to sell copies, including Doggett, and they would be brought back to the station for questioning and would be kicked and beat by police. Further more, police would charge them with obscenity, and would confiscate their journalist equipment like cameras and notepads. After beating them, charges would be dropped.

This is the sort of fight it takes to challenge and change the status quo. Humans appear to have a trait to fear change. In this instance, the young people are trying to start something new, something people have never seen before. People in power start freaking out because there is a sense of lost control. The fear of breaking social tradition brings about a war between tradition and change. What is hard to accept for all of us is that change is inevitable, no matter how much power someone or something has. The more that people in power try to control the revolutionaries, the revolution grows stronger, as seen in these recent examples. Independent media plays a huge part of feeding moral to those not in power, and gives reasonable hope to the hopeless. Thus, another example of who has the true power, the people. Independent media served as the voice of these people during the Counterculture movement and proved to be a valuable tool for starting a revolution.