Penned Independent Teaser // Docu-series in production

Director, Concept, Editor: Taylor Deffibaugh

Producer: Nikita Belomestnykh / NO LONGER NETWORK

Cinematographer: David Asambadze

Penned Independent takes place in the highly charged world of news, diving into the rapid rise of independent journalism and the threat to legacy media.

We’re a team of filmmakers setting out to find what’s behind the decentralization movement, what independent journalists are up against and what the implications are of so many Americans getting their news from these renegade channels.

Freed from the oversight of editors and bosses, independent journalists are pushing boundaries, boldly challenging institutions and conventionally accepted narratives. Their outrageous, often heretical, assertions proliferate on social media, engendering backlash and stirring up the culture war that has the nation in its grip.

Our journey takes us to the front lines of the global war on information that’s cracked open a heated debate about how to quell nefarious untruths and how far our First Amendment protections should go. Politicians, social media companies and traditional news corporations are ratcheting up the fight against misinformation which they warn threatens to poison our minds and our democracy. Independent journalists struggle against the tightening grip on information, facing fact-checks, hit pieces, deplatforming and shadow banning. Can they save their channels and their reputations? Do they deserve to?

This series takes a deeper look at the relentless battle for our minds, aiming to unravel what’s driving it and what’s at stake.