In so many of our communities, there is all too often a confluence between our political elites and the strongest economic actors. It is not hard to imagine how our integrity and accountability institutions, the wellbeing of ordinary people and, indeed the very fabric of our societies, can be compromised by this state of affairs. Those integrity institutions – our media, judiciaries, human rights commissions, to name just three – are meant to be rock solid protectors and defenders of the public interest. And when they fail, or if they’re weak, ordinary people – become the biggest losers.

How then do we restore agency to ordinary people whose very livelihoods are dependent on leakages from the same concentration of power?

• We can start by building new integrity institutions – or re-crafting existing ones.
• We can start by re-imagining and then re-engineering the ecology of power. A tougher project to be sure.
• We can remind our leaders – in business, government, and in the very same integrity institutions – that integrity is an all-or-nothing proposition.
• We can insist that all the institutions we care about or belong to – our unions, political parties, schools and places of work and worship – become integrity institutions. That is, institutions with a clear set of core values actively defended by its members.
• And we can continually ask ourselves the question – as individuals and as a community – “who are we and what do we stand for” ?

Think Media is a new institution with one clear, overriding mission – to play a role in building a just world. It will always be a work in progress.

Born in Bermuda of West African parentage, our scope is global and our focus is on vulnerable people and places. Indeed, we hope to create a community of the vulnerable and their allies – whether residents of small islands like Bermuda, or developing nations like Sierra Leone – that transcends oceans and continents, so that common cause can be found and alliances developed which disrupt unhealthy systems of power and control.

Our core activity will be the production of high quality, high integrity journalism about vulnerable communities and the people that live in them.

We will develop digital native journalistic products, cultivate young leaders in entrepreneurial journalism and utilise technology and the arts to empower people with insights and tools which improve their lives and promote the public interest.

With our journalistic projects we will create systems that empower our audiences to make us accountable – such as providing the raw data on which our analyses are based, and being transparent about the process of crafting the stories we tell. And when we get it wrong, we will admit it loudly and strongly and tell you what we’ll do to make sure we don’t repeat the same error.

We will promote and catalyse national conversations that help move communities toward sustainability.

And we will do all this while maintaining a fierce independence from powerful political and economic forces.

In the initial stages, we will experiment with various business models. But we will depend primarily on the people whose interests we commit to serve.

Think Media is an act of faith in ordinary people, because history has proven that ordinary people working together can make a difference.

Politica is our first digital journal.