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During the last year’s Trump rallies and Black Lives Matter protests across a polarized America, writers and videographers not aligned with traditional news organizations have emerged as valuable if partisan news sources. Their Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and livestreams on websites such as Twitch and DLive have attracted hundreds of thousands of followers looking for on-the-ground, up-to-the-minute reporting. Many have used their streams to raise money for the causes they cover.
As the lines have blurred between advocacy journalism and activism, this breed of reporter, which has a deep distrust of the mainstream media, has increasingly faced arrest and censorship, culminating in a crackdown after the Capitol siege that left some arrested, others without online platforms. The attack on the Capitol also raised questions about who is considered a journalist and whether the 1st Amendment applies when the law is broken.