1. Abigail Suzanne Martin was born on September 6,1984 and is an American journalist, TV presenter, and activist.
27 Facts About Abby Martin
1. 2.
Abby Martin helped found the citizen journalism website Media Roots and serves on the board of directors for the Media Freedom Foundation which manages Project Censored.
3.
Abby Martin hosted Breaking the Set on the Russian state-funded network RT America from 2012 to 2015 and gained attention for condemning the Russian annexation of Crimea on-air, and then launched The Empire Files in that same year as an investigative documentary and interview series on Telesur, later released as a web series.
4.
Abby Martin grew up in Pleasanton, California, where she attended Amador Valley High School, graduating in 2002.
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Abby Martin became interested in journalism when her old high school boyfriend enlisted in the military after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
6.
Abby Martin received an undergraduate degree in political science and minored in Spanish.
7.
Abby Martin worked for a time as an investigative journalist for a San Diego-based online news site until moving back to Northern California.
8.
Abby Martin set up her own "truther" group in San Diego, California.
9.
In 2009, Abby Martin founded the organization Media Roots, a citizen journalism platform for reporting news.
10.
Abby Martin's footage was used to argue that the protests were non-violent at the time Olsen was allegedly hit in the head with a police projectile.
11.
From 2012 to 2015, Abby Martin hosted her own show, Breaking the Set, on RT America.
12.
The original opening credits depict Abby Martin applying a sledgehammer to a television tuned to CNN.
13.
Shortly after beginning her show on RT, Abby Martin stated in an interview with Mark Crispin Miller that "the media dismisses things that are too controversial as conspiracy theory".
14.
In 2014, Abby Martin gained attention for her criticism of RT's coverage of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.
15.
Abby Martin closed her show on March 3,2014, with a minute-long statement condemning the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
16.
Critics of Abby Martin argue that she appeared to be reading from a teleprompter, implying that her remarks were made with the consent of the show's producers.
17.
Abby Martin called the charges of foreign control over her and Tulsi Gabbard "neo-McCarthyist hysteria" typical of the New Cold War.
18.
Abby Martin said that the "campaign to malign RT" by "the corporate media" had resulted in a chilling effect over legitimate dissident reporters.
19.
Abby Martin said that she had "complete editorial control" over her RT show, as did other American RT journalists like Chris Hedges and Lee Camp.
20.
In September 2015, Abby Martin launched The Empire Files, an interview and documentary series.
21.
Abby Martin has hosted guests including Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Richard D Wolff, Ralph Nader and Jill Stein.
22.
In May 2021, Abby Martin released the film for free on YouTube.
23.
In February 2020, Abby Martin's booking to speak at a conference at Georgia Southern University on Critical Media Literacy was canceled when she refused to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel as required by law in the State of Georgia.
24.
Abby Martin, represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, filed a free-speech lawsuit against the State of Georgia.
25.
Millennial Magazine said that Abby Martin was an "unfiltered" media representative for the Millennial generation who reports "stories that deserve public recognition".
26.
Abby Martin is married to her Empire Files co-producer, Mike Prysner, an Iraq War veteran.
27.
Abby Martin gave birth to their first child on May 31,2020.