Name: Cyril Mychalejko
Where do you work and what do you do as a citizen journalist?
I am an editor at UpsideDownWorld.org, an online magazine covering politics and activism in Latin America. In addition to editing and writing for Upside Down World, I write for other progressive online and print publications.
How and why did you get started as a citizen journalist?
I became a citizen journalist because I feel that the traditional mainstream media has ceded its role as critical watchdog to those in power. Traditional journalists are too often deferential towards those in power--politicians and corporate elites--and there is what David Corn has labeled as an institutional "bias towards officialdom."
What’s your background?
I graduated from The Evergreen State College in 2002. Since then my writing and activism has sent me to Florida to run media campaigns in opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas and the Central American Free Trade Agreement, to rural New York to organize local citizens in a campaign to end the war in Iraq, and to Ecuador where I worked as a human rights observer where I worked in solidarity with communities resisting mining.
I received two Project Censored awards this year for my critical coverage of the "Rights to Nature" clauses in Ecuador's constitution and for an article about the Bush Administration withholding lifesaving aid from Haiti. My writing and analysis has appeared in publications such as the BBC, The New York Times Online, The Miami Herald, New Politics, www.CommonDreams.org, NACLA online, and Z Magazine. I am also a board member at the Canary Institute, a transnational collective of individuals engaged in research, writing, teaching, solidarity, and action that address the problem of catastrophic systemic collapse.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a citizen journalist?
The most important thing I've learned is the importance and usefulness of history when trying to interpret contemporary events.
What skills do citizen journalists need?
Critical thinking skills are essential.
Do you have any advice to people who want to get involved in citizen journalism?
Yes, just do it! Start a blog, submit to publications you're interested in, and don't be afraid to ask for help.
