Ben Swann has taken to various media outlets, making a strong case for why Dash enables journalists to resist censorship.
The host of the Reality Check investigative news segment and owner the the Truth in Media project recently became funded entirely by Dash following a year off-air. This was due to his previous employer, CBS 46 Atlanta, shutting down his segment due to the more controversial nature of the hard-hitting investigations that were the hallmark of his show. Swann then sought independent funding, prompting him to submit a proposal to the Dash treasury for exclusive funding, which passed by a wide margin.
Since rebooting his project, Swann has taken to a variety of media outlets and networks to talk about his return, and, in particular, how Dash has enabled him to defeat censorship, in particular on a recent segment of RT News:
Making a strong case at Anarchapulco for media independence powered by Dash
To highlight his relaunch, Swann attended the Anarchapulco conference in Acapulco, Mexico as a speaker. He used the opportunity to highlight the importance of independent media, as well as the censorship resistance provided by cryptocurrency, Dash in particular. He also talked at length about his new partnership with Dash in a variety of interviews at the event:
Swann also appeared on the Conscious Resistance speaking about independent media.
Cryptocurrency, and the DAO, could revolutionize free speech
Due to their decentralized nature, cryptocurrencies such as Dash can empower a great deal of activities, such as independent journalism, that might otherwise be at risk of censorship. A distributed payment network functions thanks to thousands of different actors around the world running nodes, mining, and developing the code, making it extremely difficult to shut down by a single centralized actor. Censorship-resistant financial technology empowers all manner of projects, individuals, or organizations that are at risk of losing access to funding if they run afoul of current power structures, as was the case with Swann.
Beyond simply being a cryptocurrency, however, Dash also functions as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The main difference in censorship resistance is that a normal cryptocurrency has to rely on organic initiative to build its infrastructure, and has to fund independent projects through crowdfunding or other similar community fundraising mechanism. A DAO such as Dash is not only self-funding (in Dash’s case to the tune of $4 million monthly), it also includes a governance mechanism for making decisions. This enabled thousands of masternode owners to review Swann’s proposal and decide to provide consistent funding, rather than using an inconsistent and unreliable donation method to fund the operation.
