“People shouldn’t expect the mass media to do investigative stories. That job belongs to the ‘fringe’ media.”
-Ted Koppel
There are only a handful of journalists who are still looking at this issue. At Truthout, forensic journalists including Andy Worthington, Jeffrey Kaye and Jason Leopold have been prying open the lid of secrecy, inch by inch, to try and shed some light on this ignored and ongoing tragedy.
There isn’t much commercial appetite for this line of investigative reporting. Whether it’s because the US public doesn’t want to deal with the implications and realities of living in a country which violates the Geneva Conventions, or because the Obama administration and the DOJ refuse to fulfill their obligation to prosecute those who committed torture, American media have shied away.
At Truthout we’re able to do this kind of deep forensic journalism because we’re accountable to our readers, not to advertisers or
Nielsen ratings.This investigation may have been halted in boardrooms at big media conglomerates because it’s not profitable – or because it doesn’t segue well into commercials for car insurance – but Truthout will continue going after the facts and details and publishing what we find. The historical record must reflect what really happened at Guantanamo, at Bagram and at secret prisons around the globe.
This is the kind of work that can no longer be funded by passively watching commercials and hoping the next Edward R. Murrow will do the hard work for us. We have to fortify new, independent institutions. Right now at Truthout, we are working to reach our fundraising goal for the month, to keep our digital presses hot and keep our staff paid.
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