There is little disagreement on the indispensable role of the media in influencing political debate and narrative, thus shaping public discourse.

The afternoon sun shines on the narrow strip of Puerto Madero, a trendy Buenos Aires, Argentina neighborhood situated near the banking district’s sky scrapers. Tourists stroll down cobble stone streets, admiring a bank-sponsored art exhibit of decorated cow statues.  Argentines with money to burn sip lattes on shaded patios. At first glance, the prosperity is overwhelming. Yet in Buenos Aires, particularly since Argentina’s financial collapse at the end of 2001, poverty and wealth have become unlikely neighbors.

The British medical journal Lancet recently took greater notice of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) than all western media outlets combined.  A group of physicians reported that about 4 million people have died since the "official" outbreak of the Congolese war in 1998 (1). The BBC reported the war in Congo has claimed more lives than any armed conflict since World War II (2). 

Guillermo Martinez was only 20 years old when he was shot in the back at close range by an agent of the U.S. Border Patrol in the state of California on December 30, 2005. Scores of migrants have been shot by U.S. immigration enforcement officers. Most fail to make the headlines. But Martinez's death comes at the same time as a series of measures to further criminalize migrants—measures that are likely to increase the chances that more young men and women lose their lives on what has become the world's most contradictory border.

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina there was no healthcare infrastructure. The members of the Common Ground Clinic who headed to New Orleans soon after the hurricane struck consisted of a handful of individuals drawn together by a desire to fill this infrastructure gap. Their plan was to provide an ad hoc first aid station and to remain in New Orleans only temporarily until the situation improved and the usual social services were back in place. After organizing this initial first aid station in a mosque in Algiers, they realized they would be in the city much longer than expected.

On March 7th, Bob Kiss, a member of the Vermont Progressive Party, defeated a heavily favored Democrat and a Republican to become Mayor of the city of Burlington. The election was the first test of the city's new instant runoff voting system. Mike Furze and Graham Forward worked on his campaign.

Benjamin Dangl: How did the Vermont Progressive party get started?