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One of the foundational processes of the creation of the United States was the ability for the common person to be able to make one's opinion without any constraints from government being placed in one's way. Several centuries later, we have somehow forgotten the struggles that our forefathers experienced to make sure that those of us today would never have to go through such complications again.

In the early days of our Crown-controlled society, citizens of the English monarchy in the new world (our world) decided that being told what to do was not as attractive an ideal as being able to speak up for one's own values and ideals. When we think of early journalism, we think of Benjamin Franklin, and quite possibly the Founding Fathers who often communicated ideas to each other through opinionated articles in the newspapers of their day. But their newspapers were not as established as we like to think they have always been. The idea of major newspapers that broadcast the ideas of free thinkers were not what we have today. Today, we have media conglomerates that can control the message you hear based on any factors they desire, such as what company might be sponsoring the news, or what political affiliation the chief editor may have. In the old days, all you needed to be a journalist was the ability to write down what you wanted to say, the opportunity to mass produce that message, and then the process to disseminate that message to those you wanted to inform or influence. History of journalism isn't a process of massive corporations revealing information about government but little unknowns competing with larger knowns who sometimes hand wrote what they had to say and then copied it by hand before passing it out on the streets.

What no one seems to remember is that those early actions of dissemination were the forerunners of bloggers and citizen journalists of today. We have just become so entrenched in watching the news happen around us, reported by people who have felt they are obligated to control the reporting, that we think that is the way it is supposed to be.

When one or a few companies control the massive onslaught of information, who is to know what is really the truth? Journalism is often seen as a defense against oppressive, secretive government, but when that journalism can be influenced in much the same way as government would attempt to be controlled, where do we turn? Well, the simple and historical answer to that is bloggers and citizen journalists.

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