On April 24th, Helen Thomas wrote in her weekly column, “if history repeats itself, the loser of this year’s presidential election will blame the news media.” [SEE FULL ARTICLE, "The Loser Always Blame the Media"]

With the recent case of Hillary versus Barack, Helen’s assessment was spot on.

Last Saturday I had a unexpected, and even scary, confrontation. I was interviewing demonstrators at the DNC Rules meeting and had spoken to about seven people on camera. All of them supported Senator Clinton and wanted the votes in Michigan and Florida to count.

After the interviews, I was getting b-roll when I saw a guy wearing an Obama sign. I hadn’t talked to any Obama supporters so I thought this would help round my story out. He said he would talk to me, so with that, we moved away from the crowd to a quiet area. And I started to roll the camera.

I didn’t know it, but this exchange, between me, “the media” and him “the Obama fan” would come to sum up the hostility Clinton fans have felt towards the media in this primary season.

Within a minute, Clinton fans spotted me talking to the lone Obama guy and lids started to flip. I was trying to focus on the interview but I couldn’t. Loud, confrontational slurs were being directed at me. I looked over and saw two aggressive Hillary fans only an arm length away from my camera. They started yelling into the lens “This is all your fault! You’re to blame! You and the media!”

To my silent and even confused look, they went on.

“Why are you interviewing this fool?…It’s always like the media to support Obama!”

I could hardly believe it. I mean, me? This is my fault? A million thoughts ran through my head. My heart raced. This was the second time during my MTV tenure as a one-man-band that my safety felt in jeopardy. Never during, but always after, I kind of love it. It really puts me in touch with how people feel.

Within a few seconds, two cordial Clinton supporters came over and walked them away. I turned back around and went on with the interview.

The story came back to me as the North Carolina Street Teamer, Carla Babb, wrote an article about whether or not the media had favored Obama over Clinton.

With that experience fresh in my mind, here’s what I think.

To Helen’s point, the loser (and the campaign supporters) might always blame the media. But as I experienced, the assertion that my work somehow reduced (or on the flip, improved) a candidate’s political standing, while quite complimentary, is not at all true. At least I don’t think it is.

But to the Democrats as a whole — hostility, especially directed at each other, is retro active in securing the November election. It would behoove Senator Clinton to make that known to her supporters. The finger-pointing, not always aimed in the right direction, digresses party unity.

And oh yeah, one more thing. I’m not the mainstream media. I’m a citizen journalist. SNAP.

I’m a magnet to events with young demonstrators huddled by doors of buildings they aren’t allowed in. And over the last five months, some of the most fun I’ve had is when I couldn’t get in. Instead, I’ve needed to immerse myself in the crowd, buck up and start asking some questions.

Afforded no press badge, it’s all I can do - and perhaps, exactly what MTV’s wanted us to do. Reducing us amateur journalists to nothing more than one of the crowd, tests us to meet people we otherwise might not, and spotlight different takes on the issues and election. After all, each voice matters.

This Saturday, about 300 people gathered outside of a DC hotel to protest equal voting rights - most in regard to the MI and FL primaries.  But after interviewing about eight people - I began to think about the bigger picture. What were they all saying? What did they have in common? And here’s what I came up with.

Each person, in some way shape or form, had an experience that left them, a relative or friend, feeling disenfranchised by our voting process. Whether they were turned away for not having the right ID or frustrated by the hanging Chad issue of 2000 - these people were pissed. Well, pissed - but also passionate. From a bright 17-year-old to a 35-year-old D.C. resident without a vote in Congress, each sent me the same message: this voting system is broken and we need to fix it.

Here is my video from the event that day. I hope I fairly represented the many voices I heard and in some way, inspire you to think that hey, this really does matter.