PUBLISHER
Benjamin Kantarovich
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Carl Luft
MANAGING EDITOR
Lee Matz
SENIOR COLUMNIST
Reggie Jackson
COLUMNISTS
Kenneth Cole
Pardeep Kaleka
Luke Waldo
Hannah Dugan
SYNDICATED
NEWS ANALYSTS
John Pavlovitz
Heather Richardson
Thom Hartmann
Robert Reich
COLUMNISTS-AT-LARGE
Dominic Inouye
Kristen Leer
JOURNALISTS
Oleh Pinta
Amanda Ali
Anna Miller
Riley Reed
SENIOR PHOTOJOURNALIST
Lee Matz
PHOTOJOURNALISTS
Joe Brusky
Claudio Martinez
Rich Zimmermann
Tim Holte
Edwin Gonzalez
Pat A. Robinson
Nicholas Alan Hansen
Karl Herschede
Jessi Paetzke
LaTasha Sangster Lux
ILLUSTRATOR
Sherrill Weller Knezel
CONTRIBUTORS
Jocelyn Slocum
Edward Morgan
Carl Swanson
Paul Haubrich
Mike Mangione
Richie Burke
Virginia Small
Brianna Joy Seipel
Erin Bloodgood
DIGITAL PRODUCER
Yaroslav Zdyrko
“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
– Marianne Williamson
A Vision for Transformational Journalism that inspires social engagement
The Milwaukee Independent is an award-winning and advertising-free daily news magazine that advocates for inclusive social understanding in Milwaukee by publishing positive news content that covers a wide range of topics as a catalyst for community development. With a heavy emphasis on photojournalism and analytical reporting to fulfill this mission, our editorial staff is focused to being translators and storytellers more than traditional news correspondents.
News about people building an empowered Milwaukee community
Transformative Journalism is an activating, engaging, solution-focused approach to covering news in Milwaukee that works at the intersection of differences. It goes beyond the essential goal of keeping people informed. We insist on playing an active role in enabling social engagement, and helping our community focus its energy into tangible progress about issues that bring positive change.
“If nobody puts it down on the record anywhere, then the monsters win totally. It must be someplace on the record, because otherwise they could get by with anything. Does it stop anything? I don’t feel that everything I’ve done has been of use. But at least, it is better than silence. Because if you are silent, then they can rewrite it anyway they want. They can make it look great afterward. So there is a point on the record.” – Martha Gellhorn, War Correspondent
“Frederick Douglass inherently understood it would take more than words and war to grant African-Americans public register of their humanity. He despised drawings portraying his people with exaggerated features, slack-jawed expressions, or as giddy slaves. Such images, Douglass knew, reinforced White Supremacy by presenting black people as simple-minded and subjugated. Douglass soon embraced a technological weapon to challenge his nation’s racism: photography. In posing for dozens of portraits, he showed what Black freedom and dignity looked like.” – Renee Graham
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We are proud to be an ADVERTISING-FREE publication. As such, we do not produce click-bait as editorial content.
Our sponsorship-based nonprofit business model means we depend on charitable contributions for our operational funding. This allows us to focus on the news stories we feel are important and need to be reported, without concern for ratings or how it affects our sales. That is because we have no sales, and no advertising department. We are free follow our vision to be good stewards of information and distribute news that enriches the public.
A fiscal sponsor provides its 501(c)3 status as an umbrella to the Milwaukee Independent until our 501(c)3 status is approved.
