What is "independent media," and why is it so important? Free Speech TV interviewed a handful of Nation writers at this past weekend's National Conference for Media Reform about their personal projects and what's missing in political discourse as we know it.

Where does deregulation end and inequality begin? "Comcast, NBC, ATT, Verizon, all of the big names in the telecomm world are big players in policy making and often push through policies that are bad for communities," says The Nation's Leticia Miranda, "especially low-income people and people of color."

For local- and state-based struggles like the uprising in Wisconsin, Nation writer John Nichols says, documentarians and unattached media-makers are integral for capturing what's happening on the ground. Otherwise, "It's almost as if the working people have gotten in the way of power."

There's no ignoring, Nation sports editor Dave Zirin says, the political and financial underpinnings of where the World Cup was placed—and yet, "the overwhelming majority of the sports press wasn't drawing these connections." From the seeds of emptiness, in that and other arenas, Game Over was born.

—James Cersonsky

The media makes history, and history makes politics. Read Dave Zirin's Chileanist take on the death of Margaret Thatcher.