Transmetropolitain - Inspiring Independent News

I finally got a chance to read the entire Transmetropolitain comic series, which previously I had been reading in dribs and drabs. Easily one of my favorite recent comic books and it gets me itching to write commentary about the abysmal state of the human soul. But I digress...

What I really wanted to talk about is the idea of writing for change. Specifically I want to pose the question: Why aren't there more Independent Newspapers?

There are tons of bloggers, more writers putting their words together than ever before. Yet very few of them will come together and produce a product together, just one voice in a cloud of voices. Credibility is also an issue, but that could be solved with being able to track a strong fan base through Google Analytics.

Every day I hear about 'the talent' being laid off from newspapers around the company. I also hear that journalists, columnists and writers don't want to get into newspapers or the media because they're hamstrung by the corporate powers that be.

So why don't these people start their own newspaper? It seems as American as apple pie, Ben Franklin started a paper in his basement. The Simpsons did an episode on this issue as well where everybody and their brother created their own publication.

It doesn't have to be paper, you don't have to have overhead for a physical product. Although I do enjoy the feel of the printed page. You can do this online, even more effectively than the New York Times because the tools they use are the same you can use. There is hardly any learning curve at all.

I think there are only two major reasons why there arn't more Spider Jerusalems and "The Hole" online feed sites.

1) Fear of lawsuit. Big companies have lots and lots of lawyers, smaller writers don't and so can be sued for a variety of un-american things that I would consider Freedom of Speech and a lawyer would see as slander.

2) Lack of Organization. Too many people are just pissing in the wind, waiting for their big break... somebody will notice me and my blog, eventually. Hey, wake up! Find a couple of other writers and become a destination of note, rather than some footnote on Blogger's category list.

I'm seriously considering giving this a go, taking what I've learned from my day job in the tech industry and my creative talents in the art community and bringing it all together. As Spider would say, the New Scum need a voice and I am one of you.