In case you’re unfamilar with the story, I’m going to give you a super quick rundown on what happened between Brandi Thee Millennial Manager and Angela Rye. Angela Rye is a journalist who has contributed some pretty amazing work in her field. Brandi The Millennial Manager is a Detroit based political content creator/citizen journalist who Angela seemed to critique in a classist way. She basically was telling citizen journalists to stay in their lane. The whole exchange was uncomfortable to watch, especially given the timing the day before the 2026 Midterm Election. For several years I’ve spent time thinking about the intersection between journalism, the creator economy and the tension that’s happening between traditionally trained and educated journalists who’ve attended J-School and gone through the trenches. I also think about this because I have a relative who went through hell to get their journalism degree and was basically blocked from ever being in the field.
At this moment I would consider myself a citizen journalist. I’m sharing my thoughts about this conflict because Im a content creator who has been a member of the Colorado Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists for the past 5 years. I was actually recruited by a local news anchor at the time who I now consider a friend. I remember being a little confused at the time when she reached and saying “But, I’m a podcaster” at that time. At the time I was producing a lot of content around financial policy and how I was experiencing that policy in real time. Being a part of CABJ has been one of the best community space decisions that I’ve made in recent years. I’ve always been treated with respect an kindness and I truly appreciate the friendships that I’ve made.
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Media and This Moment
As fascism deepened in America, both citizen journalism and professional journalism became even more important and even more precarious. Newspapers and other types of traditional media(such as local news stations) were consolidated and increasingly owned by wealthy individuals who weren’t interested in “truth” “unbiased research” and the other pillars of ethical reporting. Their broader agenda seemed to drive the narratives that citizens are seeing, hearing and being told about.
It feels like true journalism is taking a backseat to power and a broader agenda that true, ethical journalists would naturally shy away from. In this perfect storm of fascism, hyper capitalism and technology a new type of media experience is emerging and a new type of citizen journalist is becoming the face of hyper local, niche topics of conversations that matter. These reporters are reporting from the trenches in real time. There is the belief that citizen journalists haven’t been trained in sourcing, citations and other parts important to the craft of truth telling and true journalism.
I would argue that it’s both the truth in the sense that they haven’t attended Jschool, but that most people have been taught the beginning stages of building a thoughtful defense of the work that you’re sharing or reporting in the case of these citizen journalist. Yes, they could and should learn more about the craft of reporting but to say that their work isn’t important-especially now, is disenginuous and missing the current moment that we’re in.
The Great Journalist Purge of 2025
In 2025, we started to notice that journalists….especially journalists of color were being let go from traditional journalism jobs. News anchors, writers, podcasters and more were let go unceremoniously. Many networks no longer wanted them to be part of the face of the brand. They were no longer brand safe and as people lost their jobs those professional journalists tried to imagine what would be next.
Traditional journalists such as Joy Reid, Mehdi Hasan and Roland Martin just to name a few, began building brands leveraging the internet. I do want to clarify that I believe Mehdi’s show was cancelled in 2024 and that Roland Martin had been working on his platform for years. They had to learn how to convert their traditional journalism skills to digital media production and it hasn’t been easy.
It’s my belief that in this time both traditional an citizen journalists truly need each other. There are so many outlets acting like the Ministry of Truth that many citizens are turning away from corporate media and looking for journalism that can be trusted-such as the work that Joy, Mehdi and Roland are doing.
What about the citizen journalists? Glad you asked. There are just so many stories that traditional journalists won’t be greenlit to work on, that’s where the citizen journalists come in. Citizen journalists can report on anything that they would like. However, reporting in a way that protects them, truth, and any sources that they may have is an important skill that they have to learn and usually that happens in Jschool. Being a member of an independent journalism community helps these citizen journalists gain access to the tools that they need for success such as:
- Liability insurance
- Courses, workshops and webinars
- Books
- Other thoughtful citizen journalists-Collaborative energy and conversations
Joining local chapters of NABJ, NAHJ, NAJ and AAJA is a great way for citizen journalists to connect with resources and other journalists. Regardless of how you feel about them, all of these journalists traditional or citizen journalists are showing how media is changing in real time.
- Brandi The Millennial Manager-Local and national politics
- Deante Kyle of the Grits and Eggs Podcast doing social commentary and politics from an unapologetically Black power lens. I actually got to see him here in Denver a week ago while he’s on his live podcast tour.
- Aaron Parnas who is primarily a news aggregator (but wildly popular)
- Ryan Clark who was uncermoniously fired during station break at ESPN. Is the host of The Pivot, The Pivot Sports and other related project. He’s in sports journalism.
- Don Lemon streaming 24/7. The network didn’t enjoy how much fun he was having on New Years. But, in all seriousness, he seems happier building his own work.
- Monique Judge-The Journalista at NewsOne
Technology and racism has democratized journalism in a way that’s unprecedented if you have a gift for story, care deeply and literally have a cell phone-you can begin your citizen journalism today. The career part, the ability to earn to sustain the work will come later (hopefully)
In this moment where lies are truth and truth is considered a lie, we have to work together to share unbiased, important, underreported stories that others would not be shared.