Rebel of the Week: Ben Swann of Reality Check with Ben Swann
August 1st, 2012
Exemplary of the Internet’s power to widely disseminate information that would have remained isolated in a few pockets not many years ago is the Ben Swann phenomenon. Ben Swann is a local primetime news anchor at WXIX Fox 19 in Cincinnati as well as the writer, host, and producer of Reality Check with Ben Swann. His show’s describes the news feature thusly:
“Reality Check with Ben Swann is an attempt to cut through the spin of politicians or lawmakers who are simply not honest when discussing their records or how laws will impact the individual liberty of the people they are supposed to represent. National media has become so busy pushing an agenda they seem to forget the primary role of media is to hold those in power in check. My hope is that is what ‘Reality Check’ will not only accomplish but will inspire in other journalists.”
Reality Check already has accomplished this mission and inspired many other journalists and activists with Ben Swann’s straight-forward, fact-based reporting and his willingness to ask important and glaringly relevant questions that Americans want to know the answer to, but which the mainstream media is systemically hardwired to suppress, ignore, sweep under the rug, and hide away in a 24-hour-a-day stream of irrelevant “news” distractions…
It should be amazing that so simple an act, that of asking the important questions and reporting the facts necessary to answer them, is a revolutionary one in the United States of America, an act of rebellion against a sycophantic media establishment awed by power and willing to act as a guardian of and apologist for power and those who wield it, rather than a guardian of the truth. It should be amazing, but it isn’t. Most intelligent Americans have ceased to be amazed at the level of dysfunction in our nation’s institutions, including its journalistic ones.
Ben Swann’s approach shouldn’t be remarkable. It should be a standard of true journalism. But it is remarkable and Ben Swann is a rebel. That’s what’s made him a mini-celebrity among critical and engaged consumers of news media in the age of YouTube, social media, and the Internet’s many other remarkable tools for sharing information. Before the Internet, Swann would have had an uphill battle through the echelons of the media machine, fighting hard for the permission of the gatekeepers to disseminate his journalistic work to a wider audience. Now, you don’t have to live in Cincinnati to know and appreciate Swann.
Real competition has blasted the playing field wide open. Ben Swann’s Reality Check videos are on YouTube. Anyone with an Internet connection and a web browser can find information and share it if they think it’s worth sharing. Clearly a lot of people think Ben Swann’s show is worth sharing.
Here at Silver Underground, in addition to honoring him with this week’s Rebel accolade, we want to share Ben Swann with you too.
Here’s what he recently had to report about Federal Reserve transparency:
Reality Check: Do We Really Need To Audit The Federal Reserve?
And don’t forget to visit our official website to learn more about the Silver Circle Movie: http://SilverCircleMovie.com
