![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmacNW2uKrfFqUwcvQND85qHv5JJfUBXfMdk1jMNuc63Xy/image.png)

It has been a wild year in the alternative media and the world in general, so I wanted to take a moment to give everyone a glimpse behind the scenes at how we choose and vet our stories and express our core goals here at The Free Thought Project.

As with the many other alternative media outlets that you can find online, we were motivated to expose the false reality that has been created by mainstream media, government schools and popular culture. This mission brings us into realms of research that most people find uncomfortable, it even makes some of our colleagues in alternative media uncomfortable, but we feel that this is a necessary task in finding the truth and we will not hesitate to turn over those stones to investigate the most controversial and taboo problems of our time. What this means is that we will not simply republish press releases from government sources without question, and we will not only rely on our home government for "the official word" on international issues. We will do our best to poke holes in the mainstream narrative with evidence that we find in our investigations, and other times when we come up empty handed, we will ask questions so you, the reader, can begin your own investigation and help with the process.

When someone on the team here at Free Thought sees a story that may be interesting, we share it with in a group chat and often spend hours discussing the different angle of the story. Can we trust the source? Do we have video evidence of the situation? Who on the team is best equipped to cover this story? Are some of the questions that get kicked around in our discussions as we are choosing and verifying our stories.

One question that we never ask ourselves is "How will publishing this story make us look?" Sadly, there has been a trend in the alternative media where outlets become obsessed with their public image or their perceived "credibility" that they stop asking the tough questions and start becoming just like the lapdog mainstream media that they set out to fight against. There is an equally dangerous trend on the total opposite end of the spectrum where people are downright fabricating stories so they could get clicks. This problem has escalated and intensified since the country has become more divided since last year's election, and has caused damaging rifts and divisions in the alternative media world.

We hope to navigate these waters as best as we can while staying true to our mission and putting truth before popularity, and we would like to thank you for hanging along for the ride. Hopefully we have more positive stories to report in 2018, but we will not shy away from the difficult and controversial topics either. False flags do happen, the government lies, and mainstream science is not correct about everything, so we will continue to ask the tough questions and shine light on the truth, even if that journey takes us places where others are afraid to go.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please upvote and resteem if you enjoyed my article and I will return the favor in the comments!
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSqefX6cwnyHGxaLYpzVto1vUiGNvSMXE5AMmgSSdjAcY/image.png)
John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers.  John is currently battling cancer , and will be working to help others through his experience, if you wish to contribute to his treatments consider subscribing to his podcast to support at https://www.patreon.com/johnvibes