Category Archives: Truth In Media Episodes

Truth In Media with Ben Swann

Truth In Media: How Big Pharma Avoids Accountability With ‘Off Label’ Drugs

The Truth In Media Project has released the last segment of of its newest series Truth In Media: Big Pharma, The FDA & Health Propaganda. Part 4, titled How Big Pharma Uses Off-Label Drugs, illustrates how pharmaceutical companies have made massive profits in spite of being ordered to pay enormous settlements related to harmful side effects of certain drugs.

Truth In Media’s Ben Swann first discussed the case of Peggy Ryan, a pharmaceutical sales representative for Endo Pharmaceuticals, who spent a decade undercover gathering information and ultimately blowing the whistle on corruption within the company.

Ryan, described as a rising star at Endo, said that she had been directed to push a product called Lidoderm, which was initially created to treat a specific condition called post-herpetic neuralgia. Since Lidoderm was approved to be prescribed only for this condition, the drug was classified as an “orphan drug,” which qualifies a drug to be subsidized by taxpayer dollars in its approval and production process to offset low profits related to producing a product that is prescribed to a limited number of patients.

Swann pointed out that the FDA does not monitor orphan drugs for side effects after their approval.

Ryan said she was instructed to sell the drug “off-label,” which means to sell the drug to be used for conditions outside of its intended use. Lidoderm ended up being prescribed for a plethora of health issues including back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. Many of these prescriptions were covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

“She had access to a lot of information, and she provided that to the government. But then they asked her to wear a wire and obtain audiotapes of the people that she reported to telling her and other employees to essentially to break the law,” Judy Hoyer, a whistleblower attorney whose firm represented Ryan, told Swann.

Endo was ordered to pay $193 million in penalties in a settlement; $21 million was allocated to settle criminal charges, and $172 million was paid out under the False Claims Act. While $193 million is certainly a large sum of money to be paid, Endo made at least $1 billion selling the drug off-label; the penalty paled in comparison to the profits made.

In a separate case that also involved massive drug sale profits in light of little government oversight, highly-cited researcher, doctor and Emory University Professor Doug Bremner discussed the acne drug Accutane with Swann. Bremner, who has spent a great deal of time researching PTSD and depression and the brain, served as an expert witness in litigation proceedings associating depression and suicide with Accutane.

Bremner was asked by a concerned parent to research Accutane. “I was doing research on depression and the brain so I was working in a similar area. So the question was whether the same kind of changes that we see in the brain in depression would be seen in kids taking this medication. So the idea was if the same brain areas are affected, then that could explain why some teenagers were developing depression and even some of them killed themselves,” Bremner told Swann.

Hundreds of reports of depression while using Accutane were seen between 1982 and 2000, and included 37 suicides. Accutane ended up being recalled in 11 countries and at least 7,000 lawsuits were filed against Roche, the manufacturer of Accutane. Millions of dollars were paid out in settlements, yet the sales of Accutane had reached nearly $800 million and the FDA never pulled the drug or classify it as deadly.

During discussion of FDA oversight on drugs such as Accutane, Bremner told Swann that “in all fairness to the FDA, they have a budget to approve drugs and there’s a lot of political pressure for them to approve as many medications as possible, as quickly as possible,” and there is a limited budget for continued surveillance and oversight regarding medications after they’re approved.

Despite the challenges presented to the FDA regarding the costs and time spent on the drug approval process, Swann pointed out that when the agency “only studies cherry-picked information, has agents who are promised future jobs with big pharmaceutical companies, and doesn’t seal with a drug after it’s been approved— even then that drug is causing birth defects or even death— then, quite candidly, what good is the FDA in the first place?”

 

 

Truth In Media: How Big Pharma Manipulates Physicians and Corrupts ‘Best Practices’

The Truth In Media Project has released Part 3 of its latest series Truth In Media: Big Pharma, The FDA & Health Propaganda. Part 3, titled How Big Pharma Manipulates Physicians and Corrupts “Best Practices,” discusses how companies in the pharmaceutical industry influence doctors’ “best practices” as well as offer funding for research and court physicians and their staff in hopes of gaining loyalty.

Devon Beasley, a registered nurse, has spent years in her field and told Truth In Media that she has seen representatives for pharmaceutical companies “wine and dine” an entire medical office in the midst of promoting various products. “Some of the offices that I would apply for would actually tell me ‘hey, we have catered lunches three times a week.’ That’s directly from pharmaceuticals. You also get materials for your office that make your office look really great,” said Beasley. “They will bring in supplies that make your office look like you have a lot of money.”

Beasley went on to say that medication samples, which are common in the doctors’ office and part of the pharmaceutical companies’ strategy to promote certain products, are highly sought after by patients and can conflict with the pursuit of proper medical care. “No one is asking which is the safest medication, which is the best for me, which is best for the patient. It’s all about ‘do you have samples, do you have coupons? Can you prescribe me something that does have a coupon? Can you prescribe me something that does have a sample?’ And it has nothing to do with which one is best, most effective or safest,” said Beasley.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has voiced concern in the past over this issue. Grassley provided Truth In Media with a statement regarding a bill he had co-authored called the Sunshine Act, which aimed to address this problem:

“The purpose of the Sunshine Act was to disclose drug and medical device company payments to doctors for public discussion. As data is released, investigative reporters and analysts are able to study the information and look for trends that patients, doctors and policy-makers might want to know.”

Truth In Media’s Ben Swann also discussed the pharmaceutical industry’s impact on the medical community’s procedures known as “best practice,” which is the name for a system of policies that have been agreed upon by doctors and regulatory agencies such as the FDA. Swann explained that “the problem with best practices is how it is manipulated by big pharma. Research that best practice is based on is heavily funded by big pharma.”

Swann noted that it’s common for pharmaceutical companies to pay the cost of educational institutions and private institutions conducting research for them.

Part 3 illustrates why the public should be aware that pharmaceutical companies regularly shower medical offices with various perks and benefits in exchange for offering certain drugs; fund a great deal of medical research; and exert influence over best practices agreed upon between doctors and government regulators.

“It’s sad when pharmaceutical industries are involved in the research. They have relationships with the regulatory agencies, and then they also heavily influence the education the physicians are getting,” said Beasley. “And they’re priming the market for the patients, so they are directly involved in every part of the medical industry and are benefiting from it.”

Truth In Media: Understanding Big Pharma’s Propaganda Machine

The Truth In Media Project has released Part 2 of its new 4-part Truth In Media episode Big Pharma, The FDA & Health Propaganda. In Part 2, Understanding Big Pharma’s Propaganda Machine, Ben Swann discusses the how companies within the pharmaceutical industry are able to attract positive media surrounding its drugs, regardless of whether or not their claims are founded.

Laurie Powell, a former medical brand strategist, spent a decade identifying drugs that would have the potential to treat prevalent and widespread medical issues, and persuading physicians to believe that these drugs were valuable, even if their effectiveness or overall safety was not yet proven.

According to Powell, ad agencies work with pharmaceutical companies to create ghostwritten articles that praise certain drugs utilizing cherry-picked data, and these articles are provided to medical journals. These “scientific articles” are not truly scientific, says Powell, but are actually forms of advertisements created to convince physicians to believe in a certain drug’s potential as well as influence their colleagues.

“It would start with New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, those kinds of large publications,” says Powell, as well as communicating with smaller publications more specifically tailored to certain medical conditions. “We’d plan out over the next few years how we’re going to take the messages that come from the data— which we’d slice and dice that up— and disseminate those messages throughout those publications over a course of years.”

Marcia Angell, the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, strongly criticized this practice.

“This is corrupting research and making the public— and doctors— think that prescription drugs are much better and safer than they really are. I saw an enormous change in the relationship pf academic medicine and clinical research to the drug companies. And I saw more and more bias introduced into the research. And one of the worst forms of bias is that the drug companies will not permit researchers to publish negative results. If the drug doesn’t look good, it’s not published. It’s buried.”

It’s common knowledge that corporations have long created advertisements tailored to shining a positive light on their products in order to attract consumers. However, companies pushing to influence consumers to buy a certain brand of soda or shampoo is clearly not in the same realm as a pharmaceutical company controlling the entire message when it comes to the safety and effectiveness of its drugs, particularly when the FDA has been tasked with making sure that drugs are held under a high level of scrutiny.

Truth In Media: Big Pharma’s Influence Over The FDA

The Truth In Media Project has released the first segment of its latest Truth In Media episode: Big Pharma, The FDA & Health Propaganda. The first segment of this episode, Big Pharma’s Influence Over The FDA, examines how the pharmaceutical industry exerts heavy influence over the FDA as well as the media and the medical community.

In this segment, Ben discusses the multi-million dollar lawsuit launched earlier this year by eight plaintiffs against Johnson & Johnson, former FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg and her husband, Peter F. Brown. The plaintiffs claim that Hamburg was the “instrumentality” in covering up the harmful, and sometimes fatal, side effects of the once-popular blockbuster antibiotic Levaquin to maintain a high number of the drug’s sales, as well as to secure and protect private financial interests.

This segment also illustrates the consequences of demanding faster drug approval from the FDA. Doug Bremner, a physician and professor of Psychiatry at Emory University, tells Swann that Congress has reduced funding of the FDA’s budget while also ordering the agency to expedite its approval of drugs. “The number of people working on new drug approval has been increasing at the expense of those who are supposed to be watching drugs after they come out on the market,” says Bremner.

Swann also examines the problems that arise when FDA regulators, who are tasked with maintaining oversight of the pharmaceutical industry, are wooed by these companies. Laurie Powell, a former medical brand strategist, says that a career in the pharmaceutical industry is much more lucrative than a lower-paying government job, and that pharmaceutical companies regularly approach FDA regulators hoping to attract them to serve on the industries’ regulatory committees.

According to Powell, working for the FDA is sometimes merely a “jumping off point” for some employees before moving on to work in the pharmaceutical industry, which leads to the question: should FDA employees be able to work for the very industries they were once in charge of scrutinizing?

New Truth In Media Episodes: Confronting Big Pharma’s Manipulation, Influence

Many Americans have become increasingly aware that U.S. government agencies often fall short in providing transparency to its citizens, leading to failure in fulfilling their mission to adhere to policies for the protection of the American people.

Over the last few years, Truth In Media has discussed multiple instances in which agencies including the IRS, DEA, FBI, NSA, VA and others have been placed under public scrutiny in recent years for numerous cases of questionable conduct.

Many of these agencies, funded by taxpayer dollars, frequently claim to serve as a crucial safeguard, yet far too often they have been found to be serving outside interests at the expense of citizens.

When it comes to providing transparency and following proper procedure in protecting the health of the American people, where does the FDA stand? Has this agency maintained its integrity in maintaining oversight of drug companies? Is this agency doing its job to the best of its ability in assuring that our medicines have been rigorously tested, and is it making sure that drugs found to be dangerous are assigned proper warnings or removed from the market?

Truth In Media will be asking these questions in a brand new series: Truth In Media: Big Pharma, The FDA & Health Propaganda, seeking to provide a more thorough look into the relationships between FDA employees and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the ways in which big pharma holds an enormous amount of influence over not only the FDA, but also physicians, medical journals, politicians, drug research, and ultimately millions of Americans.

This 4-segment series begins with Part 1 premiering in the first week of June. Stay tuned!

Truth in Media

The debate over whether vaccines cause autism has become one of the most controversial disputes in this country. In this episode of Truth In Media, the focus is not on whether vaccines are responsible for autism. The issue at hand here is a study that was performed at the CDC and the question of whether the agency was complicit in a cover-up over a decade ago.

For nearly two years, Truth In Media has explored the allegations of Dr. William Thompson, a CDC scientist who came forward in 2014, hired a whistleblower attorney, and claimed that important data regarding a study on vaccines and autism was eliminated.

Thompson’s claims have led to a divide among Americans, with some believing that Thompson’s allegations are credible and should be investigated further, and others convinced that the documents Thompson handed over mean absolutely nothing. In December 2015, Ben Swann was the first journalist to obtain the documents from Congressman Bill Posey.

In this episode, Swann further examines not only Thompson’s claims, but also the documents related to the study, with the assistance of doctors, journalists, authors and former CDC specialists who joined Swann in discussing every document that was handed over.

Update, January 26, 2016, 2:16 p.m.: Due to a high volume of requests, the CDC documents given to Truth In Media are available below, split into two folders.

Click here to download Folder 1.

Click here to download Folder 2.

 

RELATED:

Congressman Bill Posey Calls For Investigation Of CDC Whistleblower’s Claims

CDC Whistleblower Admits Suppressing Information Regarding Vaccines and Autism

Protesters to ‘Rally for Truth’ about Vaccines at CDC Headquarters

Truth In Media to Release Documentary on CDC Documents

Flashback: Ben Swann’s Truth In Media on Syria

In September 2013, Ben Swann released a Truth In Media episode, What The Media Isn’t Telling You About Syria, which focused on what the mainstream media was ignoring regarding the civil war in Syria and explained how U.S. involvement would inevitably lead to the destruction of “millions of people.”

“The U.S. government continues to debate whether or not to arm the rebels in Syria, even as a new poll shows nearly 80% of Americans are saying ‘don’t do it,'” said Swann.

In this episode, Swann explained why U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) visited with General Salim Idris, the leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army.

Swann also revealed what the mainstream media would not (and still will not) discuss, including the truth about the unrest among Syrian civilians under President Bashar Al-Assad, the fact that the Al Nusra Front group is the Syrian wing of al Qaeda designated by the U.S as a terror organization, and that the Free Syrian Army lost thousands of members to Al Nusra Front.

“What you need to know,” said Swann, “is that what is happening in Syria is an enormous problem for the United States.”

[pull_quote_center]Al Qaeda in Iraq has publicly stated that their goal is to create an al Qaeda ‘super state,’ comprised of Iraq and Syria. By funding these so-called rebels, the U.S. government is handing al Qaeda the keys to that super state. By the United States supporting the overthrow of Assad, without question, we will hand Syria over to al Qaeda, make no mistake. And the slaughter of millions of Syrians, including Syrian Christians, Jews, Alawites and Muslims, will be on our hands.[/pull_quote_center]

Fast forward to today: ISIS- a group that once was quite small and struggling to gain power- easily absorbed members of the Free Syrian Army and al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front due to U.S. government involvement, and is now the most formidable terror organization on the planet.

Following the publication of this Truth In Media episode, mainstream media reports began surfacing stating that “weapons were being given to Syrian rebels.” According to CNN, the weapons were not American-made, but they were “funded and organized by the CIA.”

Less than one year after the U.S. gave weapons to Syrian “freedom fighters,” those weapons ended up with ISIS fighters. “Those ISIS fighters came from the group McCain insisted would help the U.S. overthrow Assad: the Free Syrian Army,” said Swann, who also explained that “the army was not only sending the Islamic State weapons, it was also sending them fighters,” in his Origin of Isis Truth In Media episode.

By June 2014, ISIS went from being a “no-name” group to one “heavily armed and trained by U.S. and Coalition Special Forces.”

“Our government trained rebel fighters in Syria who would become the group today known as ISIS,” said Swann. “We have watched them commit every violent atrocity you can imagine to people living in Iraq and Syria, and now we want American taxpayers to fund a 30-year war with them.”

Truth In Media’s What The Media Isn’t Telling You About Syria, published two years ago, serves to this day as necessary and meaningful information regarding conflict in Syria that won’t be seen on mainstream media. This episode provides insight for people around the world who are now searching for answers in the face of recent violence and the rise of the Islamic State.

Truth In Media Project: Major Announcement

Ben Swann’s Truth In Media Project is set to unveil several exciting changes and additions. On May 4th, BenSwann.com will become TruthInMedia.com, offering new interactive features. In addition to the new website, we are excited to announce the arrival of several contributors to the Truth In Media Project.

The Truth In Media Project will be providing columns, commentary and videos from Julie Borowski. Borowski is a political commentator who has gained a large following for adding humor to libertarian viewpoints.

The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity will be offering analysis and insight to the Truth In Media Project through columns and videos.

Writer and podcast host Kurt Wallace will be providing in-depth interviews and discussion of issues regarding politics, business, economics and more. Wallace has been involved in new media since 2007.

Jason Stapleton’s syndicated radio show, The Jason Stapleton Program, will be broadcast on TruthInMedia.com. Stapleton is a former Marine and an entrepreneur, investor, and professional trader, offering unique insights on a plethora of topics including economics, politics and military strategy.

Carlos Morales, author of Legally Kidnapped: The Case against Child Protective Services, will be a contributor to TruthInMedia.com. Morales is a former CPS investigator who exposed corruption that he witnessed within the agency.

TruthInMedia.com will also be providing an interactive community, with member forums and groups, all free of charge. This new community will allow readers and supporters to create their own profiles and interact on message boards and in groups.

The Truth In Media Project will continue to examine issues including medical kidnapping, human trafficking, the drug war, police militarization, and political activism around the world.

Truth In Media Addition

 

As you may know, The Truth In Media Project is not controlled by corporate interests. This project speaks truth to power, and is proudly funded in part by our readers and supporters. The most recent Truth In Media episode, “The Origin of ISIS”, has reached over 1 million views and was 100% crowdfunded. To make a one-time donation, click here. To make a monthly donation, click here.

Thank you all for your support!

Truth in Media: The Origin of ISIS

In the latest episode of Truth in Media, Ben Swann investigates the origins of the militant group referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The name ISIS is one that every American knows,” Swann said “The biggest threat to our national security since Al-Qaeda, right? They are a brutal, savage group known for public beheadings and mass executions. They are the face of the new war on terror.”

Swann pointed out that while the U.S. Military is currently conducting airstrikes in Syria, in a supposed attempt to take out ISIS targets, the White House and U.S. military leaders are discussing possible boots on the ground in Iraq. These talks are arising just three years after President Obama declared that the war in Iraq was over.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told USA Today that in order to defeat ISIS, he believes the United States is looking at “a 30-year-war.”

As the U.S. goes to war in an attempt to defeat yet another terrorist group, the biggest question is: Who exactly is ISIS and where did they come from?

Angela Keaton, the founder of Antiwar.com, said that ISIS is “entirely a creation of the United States’ behavior in Iraq.”

That’s how we got to where we are, because of war, because of occupation, because of torture,” Keaton said. “The United States government completely destabilized and wrecked Iraq. They caused it to fail miserably and that is entirely the fault of the United States government. There is no one else to blame.”

Swann explained that when the U.S. first invaded Iraq, it “blew the country apart.” By destroying the existing government, toppling Saddam Hussein, and destroying the infrastructure, the U.S. “left behind a power vacuum” that would never have existed under Hussein.

Daniel McAdams, the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute, said that the impact caused by the actions of the United States is a “historical fact that media just won’t discuss.”

This has to do with U.S. action in the region, which destroyed the infrastructure, which destroyed Iraq society, which destroyed the Iraqi government,” McAdams said. He explained that while there were a lot of people who weren’t “as happy as larks” while living under Saddam Hussein, they also weren’t at odds with Hussein in the same way they were with the government established by the U.S.

The militant group ISIS was formed as a small insurgent group in Iraq in 2006. Swann noted that while they tried to create problems for the U.S. military, they had no money and no real ability to recruit.

It wasn’t until 2009 that ISIS shifted its focus from Iraq, where it was largely unsuccessful in developing a foothold, and focused on the civil war in Syria,” Swann said.

While in Syria, ISIS still struggled to gain a foothold. Swann attributed this to the fact that two larger groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad were overpowering them: al-Nusra Front – or al-Qaeda – and the Free Syrian Army.

Then, came a pivotal moment that most Americans aren’t even aware of,” Swann said. “In June 2013, a Northern General for the Free Syrian Army spoke out on Al Jazeera Qatar and stated that if international forces did not send weapons, the rebels attempting to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad would lose their war within a month.”

Swann noted that just months before this occurred he had personally confronted President Obama on the issue of why the U.S. was covertly funding Syrian rebels. Although Obama acted as if he was proceeding with caution, politicians such as Senator John McCain demanded action.

Within a matter of weeks of the Syrian general making his plea for international help, the U.S., the Saudis, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey and Israel began providing weapons, training and money to so-called rebel groups like the Free Syrian Army,” Swann said.

In September 2013, American media outlets began reporting that weapons were being given to Syrian rebels. CNN reported that while the weapons are not “American-made,” they were “funded and organized by the CIA.”

However, Swann said that things began to fall apart when less than one year after the U.S. supplied Syrian “freedom fighters” with weapons, those weapons ended up in the hands of ISIS fighters.

Those ISIS fighters came from the group McCain insisted would help the U.S. overthrow Assad: the Free Syrian Army. Swann explained that the army was not only sending the Islamic State weapons, it was also sending them fighters.

The Free Syrian Army has lost most of the land that it ever claimed and it’s entirely incompetent,” Keaton said. “The only thing that it has been good at is currying favor with western leaders.”

Swann said that it wasn’t until June 2014 that ISIS went from being a “no-name group in Syria” to a group that was “heavily armed and trained by U.S. and Coalition Special Forces.” This revitalized group made a dramatic entrance by crossing back over the Syrian border into Iraq and capturing Mosul and much of the northern part of the country.

One of the most important facts that mainstream media ignores time and time again is that ISIS was able to grow so fast, because of all the U.S. military equipment they were able to seize – equipment that our military left in Iraq,” said Swann. “Truckloads of Humvees, tanks and weaponry that instead of taking or destroying, the U.S. government simply decided to leave behind.

However, even when the U.S. government became aware that ISIS fighters were capturing U.S. equipment, it did nothing. Swann attributed the lack of action to the fact that ISIS fighters were taking the equipment back into Syria to continue fighting Assad, which was what the U.S. government wanted.

How is it that the United States, with all of its intelligence capabilities, didn’t know this threat was coming?” McAdams said. “How many billions did we spend, maybe a hundred billion on total intelligence community budge over the year? How did they have no idea?”

Swann said that the answer is simple: “The U.S. did know who ISIS was, but the so-called Islamic State was doing what the Obama administration wanted.”

The ISIS fighters continued to do what the Obama administration wanted, and in late summer 2014, they were labeled what Swann called, “the new boogeyman in the war on terror.”

Over the past few months, the U.S. government, who acted like they had never even heard of ISIS, suddenly, with the help of media has turned the Islamic State into the new focus of the war on terror,” Swann said. “Now, as ISIS has continued its rise, recruitment is exploding and the group is becoming stunningly wealthy.”

Swann noted that in response to the “ISIS threat,” the U.S. began “conducting airstrikes on Syrian oil fields, instead of going after those buying the oil.”

McAdams pointed out that ISIS makes $2 million a day off of selling oil, and the United States’ response, of “undercutting the competition” by blowing up oil fields makes no sense. He questioned why the U.S., which is known for sanctioning “anything that moves,” when it’s angry, is not placing sanctions on the banks or the oil companies that are involved.

Swann added that in addition to those questions, Americans should also be asking, “Why is the U.S. sending $500 million to the Free Syrian Army to fight ISIS when the FSA is one of the biggest suppliers of fighters and weapons to ISIS?” and “Why are we sending new and more powerful weapons to the FSA like anti-aircraft missiles – weapons that we know will be in the hands of ISIS?

Swann maintained that while the mainstream media will say that ISIS is the “creation of American inaction,” the reality is that they are the “product of direct action.”

This direct action started with “the action of creating a power vacuum in Iraq” and manifested into the “arming violent Jihadists, hoping they would overthrow a leader in a neighboring Middle Eastern country.”

McAdams described the U.S. government as a victim of its own insane policies, due to the fact that it is “very good at blowing things up, but really bad at putting them back together.”

In determining whether or not McAdams’ statement was true, Swann listed three facts:

Fact #1: “Our government armed Osama bin Laden and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and created al-Qaeda.”

Fact #2: “Our government put Saddam Hussein into power – we helped supply and create chemical weapons for him to use against Iran in 1980 – and then we overthrew him in 2003.”

Fact #3: “Our government trained rebel fighters in Syria who would become the group today known as ISIS. We have watched them commit every violent atrocity you can imagine to people living in Iraq and Syria, and now we want American taxpayers to fund a 30-year war with them.”

Swann came to the conclusion that it isn’t the U.S. government being held hostage by crazy policies; rather it is the American people.

It is time that we reject the destruction of people groups around the world for the sake of foreign policy that makes so-called defense contractors rich, and perpetuates violence, death, and the destruction of entire people groups,” Swann said. “This is the central issue of our time – because humanity is greater than politics.”

New Truth in Media Episode: The Origins of ISIS Releases Next Week

Wednesday, February 25, 2015 the Truth in Media Project will release its newest episode, “The Origins of ISIS”. This episode will delve into the truth behind where ISIS came from in the first place and why the Islamic State is not a product of American “inaction” in Iraq and Syria but rather the product of “direct action”.

Sign up to receive the new episode direct to your inbox http://truthinmedia.com/newsletter

Truth in Media: The Root of Police Militarization

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In the latest episode of Truth in Media, Investigative Journalist Ben Swann looks at the root of America’s current problem with the militarization of police.

“The militarization of America’s police forces has captured the nation’s attention, largely because of Ferguson, Missouri,” said Swann. “But what media has not told you, is how police forces got militarized in the first place, and why militarization is about a lot more than just military equipment.”

Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson during a confrontation in August. His death triggered protests, some of which led to rioting and looting.

Swann points out that what really “stunned the nation” was the way police responded to the protests. Rather than responding like a police force that intended to serve and protect, Ferguson police responded like a military unit, complete with armored vehicles and flash grenades. Swann said that for millions of Americans, “this was a stunning site on American streets.”

Swann said that while Benswann.com has been working to raise awareness about the militarization of police for over a year, “the rest of the media acted like they had no idea.”

The program ignored by the mainstream media is the 1033 program. Also called the Department of Defense Excess Property Program, this platform is used by police departments to obtain military equipment. Swann explains:

“It is a federal program that provides surplus DoD military equipment to state and local civilian law enforcement agencies for use in counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism operations, and to enhance officer safety.”

While the 1033 program does provide armored vehicles and flash grenades, it also provides police departments with other emergency supplies that go beyond weaponry.

Larry Kirk, the Police Chief in Old Monroe, Missouri, which is just a few miles from Ferguson, said that he is against banning the 1033 program altogether, due to the fact that it gives smaller departments certain supplies they would not have been able to afford.

However, while Kirk is in favor of keeping the program, he is also one of the few police chiefs in the country who is opposed to departments receiving military weapons. Kirk explained that he is skeptical about the level is militarized weapons that he has seen come through the program recently.
“Being realistic, there is no reason I would ever need an MRAP,” said Kirk. “Most departments would never need one.”

Swann further described the “MRAP,” which is one of two armored vehicles that police departments are given by grant, through the 1033 program. The vehicles, which were originally made to fight in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, were kept by the Department of Defense after the wars cooled down, and are now being granted to local police departments.

According to a report from the New York Times, “about 500 planes, helicopters, and mine-resistant armored vehicles have been obtained, alongside 94,000 machine guns.”

Swann said that following the protests in Ferguson, Americans began to realize the size and scale of the military equipment that was available to local police, and they “began calling for police departments to do away with military vehicles.”

Swann also pointed out that while the mainstream media has covered the protests, it hasn’t worked to provide Americans with the keys to the root of the problem.

“What media has not helped the public understand is that the real problem with militarization is not military equipment,” said Swann. “It’s the use by police of military tactics.”

Swann gave three examples of incidents in which police used military tactics to serve warrants on drugs:

The first example occurred in Detroit, Michigan, when 7-year-old girl Aiyana Jones was awakened in the middle of the night by a stun grenade developed for wartime raids, called a “flash bang,” which was thrown by a SWAT team, and immediately set fire to her blanket. Following the release of the grenade, the SWAT team stormed into the house, and mistakenly shot Jones through the neck, killing her.

A second incident occurred in Tucson, Arizona, when a SWAT team attempted to serve a search warrant as part of a multi-house drug crackdown. Jose Guerena, an Iraq war veteran who lived in the house, instructed his family to hide while he got his gun, after his wife became alarmed at the sight of a shadowy figure standing in their front yard, holding a gun. Guerena retrieved his gun – leaving the safety on – and stepped into the living room. The SWAT team then entered the house and shot him 60 times.

Swann noted that the police “have still never said whether they found drugs” in Guerena’s home.

A third example occurred in Atlanta, Georgia, when a SWAT team visited a family’s home in search of a small amount of drugs they believed were in the possession of the family’s nephew. The parents, three daughters, and a 19-month-old baby boy were asleep in a converted garage when police opened the door and threw a stun grenade in. The grenade landed in the 19-month-old baby’s crib. It blew a hole in his chest, and resulted in such severe burns that the baby was placed in a medically induced coma.

Swann said that, according to author Radley Balkow, “The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.”

These raids have become increasingly frequent, with as many as 40,000 occurring every year. Swann pointed out that the raids are “needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers.”

“Despite what the media spin-doctors will tell you, militarization has nothing to do with the war on terror, and it has everything to do with perpetuating the war on drugs,” Swann said.

Kirk said that he believed the United States has created so many different wars, from the war on crime to the war on drugs, that it has left police officers in the perpetual state of needing to be a “warrior.”

“If you continue to tell people they are in a war, you are going to create warriors,” said Kirk. “You are going to create soldiers that you are now putting on the street.”

Swann traveled to Washington DC to investigate the root of militarization. He noted that although DC has military gear and uses military tactics, “it does not participate in the 1033 program.”

Swann spoke with Seema Sadanandam, the ACLU Director of the Nation’s Capital. Sadanandam explained that while the picture of tanks in the streets was the “most visceral and extreme example” that came out of Ferguson, there is more to the concept of police militarization.

Sadanandam said that the fact that DC does not utilize the 1033 program would be surprising to members of the black communities who have been “subjected to law enforcement’s militarized war on drugs.”

While DC does not participate in the program, it does use military tactics on a daily basis. One of the tactics used, is referred to as the “jump out car.

Sadanandam explained that a “jump out car” is an unmarked car containing four to six officers, dressed in tactical vests, who jump out of the car to ambush their target. “They literally jump out of the car and surprise people,” said Sadanandam, who went on to say that the main objective is to convince people to submit to a so-called “consent search.”

According to Sadanandam, the tactic of using jump out cars is only acceptable in black, brown, and indigent communities, and is not seen in all-white communities.

“In Dupont circle, for example, which is a largely white community and where we know that there is regular cocaine use and cocaine possession, you would never see jump out cars jumping out on a group of white men in business suits, and police saying they fit the description of regular cocaine users,” said Sadanandam. “That would be considered completely unacceptable.”

Swann attended a meeting in southeastern DC, where black residents gathered to express their frustration with militarized police. He noted that people living in these neighborhoods say militarization for them is “not about the idea that so many of us have been confronted with” in the last few months. Instead, it is something they have been dealing with their entire lives.

Orlando Bego, the Pastor of Centerpoint Baptist Church, said that in the midst of the events in Ferguson, the nation was watching the wrong problem, and that getting rid of the 1033 program will not solve the real problem.

“Ferguson is not new,” said Bego. “It may be new for the mass of people who watch it on media outlets, but for people who live in inner city, urban neighborhoods, that is a common tactic that is used.”

Bego believes that even if the 1033 program were eliminated, the military mindset instilled in police officers would still be present. He said he dreads the day that his 10-year-old son, who currently wants to grow up to be a police officer because he views officers as heroes who serve and protect, is “pulled over for driving while black,” or “stopped and harassed for making eye contact.”

Ben Swann maintains that while Americans should be outraged at the idea of militarization, it should not be just because police show up in tanks to a protest. It should be because of the tactics that have been used by police for years, such as using battering rams to knock down people’s doors, and throwing stun grenades through windows, all for the sake of serving drug warrants.

“The militarized mindset isn’t about gear, it’s about tactics,” said Swann. “When we talk about things like ‘no hesitation targets,’ where police are taught to shoot a child holding a gun, or shoot a pregnant woman holding a gun, at what point do we as a public tell police, ‘Stop. We want you to hesitate.’”

Swann noted that while there are still many men and women who become police officers to serve and protect their communities, the problem occurs in the militarized way they are being trained. “They’re being taught to kill or be killed, that every suspect they encounter could be their last encounter, and that every person walking the streets of every community, is a threat, when in fact, it’s simply not true,” Swann said.

“Militarization takes good cops and teaches them to act like they’re in a warzone,” said Swann. “But the streets of the United States of America are not a warzone, and it’s up to us, the public, to keep it that way.”

Truth in Media: Feds Say Cannabis Is Not Medicine While Holding The Patent on Cannabis as Medicine

Activate: Click here for 10 Steps You Can Take To Change and Confront the Culture on This Issue

For those who believe in marijuana and cannabis freedom, the future has never been brighter. Right now there is an awakening to the benefits of cannabis for medicinal purposes, specifically something called CBD oil. But is the new CBD craze being manipulated by media and politicians? If it weren’t we wouldn’t need to do a show about it.

The first step toward truth is to be informed.

CBD Oil… you’ve probably heard of it by now. Thanks to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and his special report “Weed” millions are now aware of the cannabinoid rich oil being used to help children in colorado with epilepsy. Especially this one little girl Charlotte Figi after whom the Charlotte’s Web strain of cannabis has been named.

I wanted to learn what CBD oil and the push behind it is all about so I traveled to Denver, Colorado. Home to legalized marijuana and the Stanley brothers, the family behind the charlottes web strain of cannabis oil.

The Stanley’s were the ones to prove in Charlotte Figi’s case that CBD rich cannabis oil can prevent seizures in children.

“We have this strain that we were going to use for cancer patients because studies have shown that CBD helps stop the metastasizing of cancer. We went ahead and tried it and after she (Charlotte Figi) had it a week she went a week seizure free” says Jesse Stanley.

Charlotte Figi’s life was transformed by CBD oil. Now to understand what is unique about CBD oil, you have to understand what a cannabinoid is.

In marijuana there are multiple cannabinoids including THC, CBD, CBN, CBA, THCA, THCB and over 160 other compounds in the plant including terpenes from the plant that create the most effective medicine.

To be clear, in order to get a high from cannabis you need a high level of one cannabinoid, THC. Again, just one particular cannabinoid. In the Stanley’s case they began growing cannabis with lower THC and higher CBD.

“CBD is known to be a neuro-protectant, it is also one of the few things that causes neuro-genesis. So its not just seizures that this helps in epileptics, it is auto-immune disorders whether that’s cancer, crohn’s, lupus, there are so many different types of things” says Stanley.

Today, in the stunningly short time since Charlotte Figi’s story became famous, the Stanley’s have thousands of patients on a waiting list for their CBD oil. In fact there are thousands of families who have already traveled to Colorado for this CBD oil and thousands more on the way. They are called cannabis refugees.

All of that has led to other states wanting to legalize CBD oil. The governor of Utah signed a CBD bill into law legalizing possession of the oil. A bill in Alabama has passed the legislature and is awaiting the governors signature. Lawmakers in Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Wisconsin and other states have or will consider CBD bills this year.

“We’re at 20 states right now, so you already have twenty laws on the books that the people wanted or the people’s representatives wanted” says Mark Slaugh of iComply, a Denver based company which is fighting to keep small growers compliant with state regulation on marijuana. There are eight strict guidelines that must be followed. Mark says states are jumping on board with CBD but not with marijuana.

“I think what most politicians don’t realize when they start trying to play where the puck was and not where the puck is going to be is that regulating just one compound greatly underserves most of the patients who really need this medicine. So along the lines of medical efficacy it isn’t reasonable” says Slaugh.

The reality that Mark addresses is how media and politicians are jumping on the CBD train because it doesn’t get you high, but they are ignoring some very important medical facts about cannabinoids.

I talked with Shona Bonda about this very issue.

“I was diagnosed with crohn’s disease. In my first year I had my first bowl resection and i went downhill after that. My immune system recognized that there was something wrong and it essentially attacked itself.” “You’re in pain constantly and you can’t think straight. It’s hard to go through your day to day life when all you can do is think about pain. It is a terrible disease” says Bonda.

Shona’s condition was so bad that her teeth literally became soft and the roof of her mouth had turned black. She couldn’t stand and says she parented her children from the couch. Described a like having a stomach flu every day for years, despite all the medications and doctors, Shona was rotting from the inside out.

Her break came when she saw the YouTube documentary “Run From The Cure” by Rick Simpson which explained how to extract CBD and THC oil from marijuana. Shona had started smoking marijuana just to be able to function but she wasn’t getting better. Shona’s husband at the time wanted to get her a vaporizer… but that vaporizer became the road to so much more.

“He went and got me a very old fashioned vaporizer from the 1970’s. I was reading a book and I pinched off the tube for way too long and oil started forming on the dome. So he went and got a rubber spatula and I started scraping off the oil three times a day and I started putting whatever I could get into a gel cap. Within three days I didn’t need my cane anymore to walk and I started healing quite rapidly. So rapidly that I started to write in a journal” says Bonda.

That journal would become the book, “Live Free or Die”, Shona’s mantra for her own life and the lives of the people she continues to educate across the country on the benefits of cannabis oil.

But politicians and media are making CBD oil into the good kind of cannabis while arguing that THC is the bad kind of cannabis. While that is not how any of this works, that is the case that is subtly being made.

As that happens, two forces will likely come into play. One, in order to push the market away from small sellers and harvesters of CBD oil, states and the feds will likely create a regulatory climate that is so difficult to manage, they will, through cronyism force CBD oil into the hands of a few, which in turn limits supply and forces the price to rise considerably.

Two, big pharmaceutical companies will being putting out a “safe”, “legitimate” form of CBD oil. That is already starting to happen.

“GWB pharmaceuticals out of Great Britain has been producing Evaz which is a 50/50 blend of CBD and THC. They have no real research behind whether or not 50/50 is even the right ratio and they certainly don’t include the other terpenes and other chemical compounds from the cannabis plant. So we could see the bone tossed to the pharmaceutical dog, its certainly a possibility but i think that if more people would take a stand for de-scheduling marijuana, regulating it in a manner similar to alcohol is really the best model to move forward with” says Mark Slaugh.

What you need to know, is where the U.S. government actually stands on this issue. Cannabis, marijuana, is today still a Schedule 1 Drug. That means, according to our government it has no medicinal use and has a high potential for abuse. Does our government really believe that? No. In 1999, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services filed for a patent for the use of cannabinoids for medicinal purposes.

Also in 1999, HHS filed for a second patent, specifically for cannabis oil for the treatment of disease. That’s right, our government through the taxpayer funded Department of Health and Human Services holds two patents on cannabinoids and cannabis oil to treat certain diseases like alzheimer’s and auto-immune diseases like crohn’s.

Meanwhile, our government through taxpayer funded agencies like the Department of Justice pursue, arrest and in prison Americans who would attempt to access or use cannabis oil to heal their own bodies. Because in public they claim cannabis oil is not medicine and in private they seek to own the rights to that medicine.

Truth means that Humanity is Greater than Politics.

See Ben Swann LIVE in Chicago and Sacramento

Come see Ben Swann speaking live at 2 events this weekend and next.

Saturday, September 13, 2014 Ben will be the keynote speaker at the Illinois Libertarian Party State Convention in Boling Brook, IL, just outside of Chicago. You can still sign up for the event by clicking here.

Saturday, September 20, 2014 Ben will be speaking at the NorCal Liberty Summit in Sacramento, CA. You can register for this event by clicking on this link.

At both events Ben will discuss how media is failing to cover important issues such as militarization of police, the origins of ISIS and the continued war on drugs. Ben will also share how collectivism is at the heart of both political parties and how together we can continue to see liberty rise in America and around the world.

CDC Whistleblower Admits Suppressing Information Regarding Vaccines and Autism

UPDATE: Click here to watch Truth in Media: CDC, Vaccines and Autism

The story of Dr. William Thompson has been making headlines across the internet over the past few days, even as mainstream media has completely ignored the story. Thompson is a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has been with the CDC since 1998.

A statement released on August 27th by Dr. Thompson in response to media coverage is that he and co-authors from a 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics did in fact omit important information from a study on the link between vaccines and autism. Below is an excerpt from Thompson’s statement.

thompson 1

While Thompson goes on to explain that he believes that vaccines have saved and continue to save lives, he clearly admits that the CDC did in fact intentionally omit data that demonstrated a connection between an increased risk of autism in African American males who were giving the MMR vaccine before 36 months of age.

Thompson goes on to say that his reason for coming forward was because of conversations with Dr. Brian Hooker over the course of 10 months. Those conversations were about whether or not there is a connection between vaccines and neurodevelopmental outcomes including autism spectrum disorders. Thompson clearly states that his hand was forced by Hooker who secretly recorded the conversations.

thompson excerpt 2

According to Thompson, who remains at the CDC, documents have been turned over to the office of Congressman William Posey for review. I contacted Posey’s office directly about whether documents have been turned over to the Congressman for review. A spokesman for the Congressman tells me that the office can neither confirm nor deny whether any documents have been turned over by Dr. Thompson for review. Sources however tell Benswann.com that thousands of pages of documents are now in possession of the Congressman’s staff and will be reviewed over the next few weeks.

Last year our Truth in Media Project took on a similar issue regarding vaccine court and autism. At the time we pointed out that a review of compensated cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain Injury finds that The VICP has compensated approximately 2,500 claims of vaccine injury since the inception of the program in 1986.

Since that time, despite the official ruling that there is no link between vaccines and autism, there have been at least 83 cases of autism among those compensated for vaccine-induced brain damage. You can watch that Truth in Media Episode here:

Dr. Thompson is being represented by the law firm Morgan Verkamp, LLC which is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rick Morgan, Thompson’s attorney has not responded to our requests for an interview. Meanwhile, the Canary Party, an organization dedicated to revealing truth in this matter tells Benswann.com,

“The Canary Party and her sister organizations would like to thank Dr. William Thompson for acting on his conscience and reporting that the CDC has been withholding vital vaccine safety information from the public. It is our understanding that Dr. Thompson has turned over tens of thousands of documents to Congressman Bill Posey, who is currently investigating the disclosures. We call on the members of the public to contact their representatives in Congress and let them know that a senior vaccine safety scientist at CDC has turned whistleblower, that you want their office to contact Congressman Posey’s office to join his investigation, and that you want Congressional hearings into the alleged malfeasance at the CDC to hide from public view the links between vaccines and autism.”

ACTIVATE
As a course of action the Canary Party is requesting that you please contact your members of Congress TODAY (http://whoismyrepresentative.com/), and tell them that:

– A senior scientist at the CDC has turned whistleblower and has turned over documents showing that CDC has been hiding links between vaccines in autism that they have found during their research.

– That Congressman Bill Posey is currently investigating the fraud.

– That you want your Representative join Congressman Posey in holding hearings on the malfeasance that Dr. Thompson has brought to light.

You can also share this story via Twitter and use the hashtag #CDCwhistleblower

You can read Thompson’s full statement below:

ThompsonStatement-1

Lawsuit Responds To Argument That Voters Have No Rights in Primaries, But Must Pay For Them

On Thursday, New Jersey voters responded in court to a motion to dismiss a lawsuit, filed by New Jersey Secretary of State, Kim Guadagno.

Investigative Journalist, Ben Swann, first placed a spotlight on the lawsuit in March, when he discussed “End Partisanship” on an episode of Truth in Media. “New Jersey requires that a voter affiliate with a political party approved by the State as a precondition to participating in the primary process,” explained Swann.

This requirement has created major problems for the 47.6% of voters in New Jersey who don’t fall into the State’s approved category of either Democrat or Republican, yet are still required to fund the primary elections through tax dollars. Those who weren’t being properly represented in New Jersey chose to fight back with a lawsuit, using the organization End Partisanship.

End Partisanship is a coalition formed by leaders from different political organizations who seek to to break the two-party system’s hold on primary elections by making their candidates stronger, and by giving a voice to those who either have a third party affiliation, or none at all. A legal advisor from the Independent Voter Project, Chad Peace, described End Partisanship as having developed a “state by state legal strategy defending the rights of individual independent voters in the courtroom.”

The lawsuit End Partisanship filed in New Jersey was a first from the organization, and its leaders plan to use it as a blueprint they can eventually apply to all states. Ben Swann explained that the suit “seeks to protect the fundamental right to vote under the New Jersey and United States Constitutions, which have no requirement that a voter forfeit their First Amendment right not to associate with a political party.”

In May, General John J. Hoffman, an Attorney for the secretary of state’s office, filed a motion to dismiss the challenge on the constitutionality of New Jersey’s primary election system. New Jersey Secretary of State, Kim Guadagno, responded to the constituents by arguing that while American citizens in New Jersey do not have a right to vote in primary elections, political parties do have a right to use taxpayer dollars to fund them.

The supporters of End Partisanship took to court on July 3, to respond to the motion to dismiss the lawsuit. They stated that they had simply asked the State to ensure that the publicly funded primary election system not function as a private enterprise that deprives them of their ability to cast a meaningful vote. They pointed out that by keeping their votes from having equal representation, the state “confers on those private political parties a gratuitous advantage.”

The lawsuit acknowledged the fact that giving the State, “the veil of state sovereignty would de facto immunize private interests from constitutional scrutiny whenever the State, or an actor of the State, is so influenced by those private interests that they become one and the same.”

The lawsuit went on to say that while the State looks to extend its holding by arguing that voters have no fundamental right to participate in the primary stage of an electoral process, the Plaintiff contends that “the State’s primary election system, taken as a whole, confers a special benefit to the dominant private political parties and their members to the complete exclusion of nearly half of all registered voters.”

Plaintiffs assert the necessity of an electoral system that provides all voters an equally meaningful opportunity to participate at all integral stages of the election process, including the primary,” stated the lawsuit.

At a time when unaffiliated voters make up 47 percent of the State’s electorate, the need for judicial intervention is compelling.”

Breaking: Three New Truth In Media Episodes Going To Production

Friends,

As you know we are currently raising funds for the Second Season of the Truth in Media Project.  Already, we have raised just under $30,000!  If you have contributed, thank you so much for your support.  If not, you can make a contribution right now by clicking here.

We can now project that we will have 3 Episodes fully funded for Season 2.

Those episodes include:
  • The Truth About Cannibas and Freedom of Choice
  • The Truth About The Prison Industrial Complex
  • The Truth About Palestinian Foreign Aid

Please stand with us to get our next three episodes funded as well.

These episodes will include:
  • The Truth About Fukushima Radiation
  • The Truth About Mandatory Prison Sentencing
  • The Truth About Police Militarization
More episodes to be announced. Together, we can do this.You can contribute via Indiegogo here:

Or via Bitcoin here:
1BiApUQSP5PxSqjp5T8tkVQioGJLA5gBxu

Consider contributing $1,000, $500, $100 or even $10 to help us reach our goal!  Please stand with us as we stand for Truth in Media!

Ben

Truth in Media Project Season 2 Fundraiser Launches Today!

season-two-youtube-promo

1 year ago we set out to restore Truth in Media and we’ve come a long way!

When I decided to leave my anchor position at Fox 19 in Cincinnati, I did so because I believed in something….finding truth. With the help of Richter Studios and funding from thousands of passionate liberty loving people from here in America and around the world we launched the Truth in Media Project.

Today, we are launching the Truth in Media Project, Season 2 and with your help we are going to take truth in media to a whole new level!

This season, we are leaving the studio and pursuing stories across the nation. From the militarization of police, to families using the Charlotte’s Web strain of cannabis to treat epilepsy, to Fukishima radiation hitting the West Coast and even Human Trafficking… we are chasing the truth and reporting on issues the mainstream media won’t touch.

We are seeking to put people first because Humanity > Politics.

Please consider contributing to our Indiegogo crowd sourcing campaign. Together, we can continue the work we have done so far and can bring truth to media!

B

Announcement: Season Two Truth In Media Project

Friends,

We are only weeks away from launching an effort to create Season 2 of the Truth in Media Project and we need your help!

Season 1 was a huge success with our videos viewed over 1,000,000 times on Youtube, Roku and BenSwann.com. We are only weeks away from those episodes being placed on Hulu and Amazon Prime!

Now, we are gearing up for season 2. This season, we are leaving the studio and pursuing stories across the nation. From the militarization of police, to families using the Charlotte’s Web strain of cannabis to treat epilepsy, to Fukushima radiation hitting the West Coast and even Human Trafficking… we are chasing the truth and reporting on issues the mainstream media won’t touch.

Help us to smash our Indiegogo goal of $100,000. The day of our launch is March 3, 2014! Together we can continue to bring Truth to Media.

Please take a moment to join our Facebook event and then invite your friends: https://www.facebook.com/events/1449305171967881/

Liberty Is Rising,
B

Help Us Shape Season Two of the Truth In Media Project

In the Spring of 2013, I launched the Truth in Media Project. The goal was to create video news segments that would be fearless and talk about issues that Mainstream Media just won’t touch. We did exactly that! From covering the Rethink 9-11 campaign which garnered over 300,000 video views online to “What the Media Isn’t Telling You About The Syria Civil War” episode which also exceeded over 250,000 views, we were able to communicate important stories.

In the 12 episodes that made up season 1, we were willing to confront important issues like vaccine court, the NSA and the Federal Reserve Bank system. But we were only able to do so because of the generous backing of grassroots viewers. Thank You!

In 2014, I am ready to take the Truth in Media project to a new level. This season, we are changing our format a little bit and want to be more investigative, finding humanity in our stories. I have big plans for what we will take on this time around… and once again I need you to partner with me to make it happen.

Please, take this survey and help to shape Season 2 of the Truth in Media Project!