News Sources

One of the greatest barriers to progress toward peace, justice, and healing is the character of contemporary mainstream media in the West, especially in the English-speaking world. Increasingly, mainstream media reflect the interests of a smaller and smaller corporate elite. Here are a few dozen alternative news sources of interest that go far toward breaching that barrier (and some comments about a few mainstream sources, too).

PPJH Picks the Top Three Alternative News Sites! Check these frequently!
UNDERNEWS: Sam Smith of the Progressive Review culls the press and presents many perspectives the mainstream media miss or neglect, while adding his own pointed and often funny commentary. -- See below for his recommendations of the best conventional sources of war news.
ZNET: This huge website is updated many times daily and designed both to convey information and promote community. A quarter of a million people a week use ZNet.
Antiwar.com: Provides links to mostly mainstream sources, but highlighting stories of interest to the anti-war movement. Antiwar.com says it's already fighting the next information war with an organization dedicated to the proposition that they are not going to be allowed to get away with it. . . .
Spotlight on Military News: PPJH recommends this excellent list of recent articles from mainstream press sources on military matters maintained and frequently updated by the Canadian Forces College. (Canada has decided not to participate in the unnecessary and probably illegal war on Iraq.)
Al-Jazeerah: Calls itself "your gateway to understanding the world system, American foreign policy, and the Arab and Muslim worlds..."
Inlet.org: Founded in 1999 and produced by a co-op of Seattle and Berkeley volunteers publishing and highlighting ad-free media on the web.
Cursor: Cursor is based in Minneapolis, and combines original material with a daily-updated comments upon and links to major news organizations, as well as to other independent voices, contextualizing the day's news in a broader fashion than what is available from the mainstream media. In addition, Cursor contains links to hundreds of magazines, newspapers and stand alone Web sites, with an emphasis on media criticism and media research.
One World News: From the UK, world news reporting that attempts to present a global perspective.
Free Speech TV On the Web !: Based in Boulder, Colorado, Free Speech TV provides video and radio programs of interest that are available on-line through RealPlayer. The site does not appear to be being updated of late (Feb. 17, 2003).
FAIR: FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Media), a national media watch group, has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986, working to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. FAIR advocates structural reform to break up the dominant media conglomerates.
Media Channel: This New York-based site calls itself a media issues "supersite," but it seems moribund at present (Feb. 17, 2003). Promises, but is not currently delivering, criticism, breaking news, and investigative reporting from hundreds of organizations worldwide.
Independent Media Center: A site that grew out of the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999. Indymedia calls itself "a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth. We work out of a love and inspiration for people who continue to work for a better world, despite corporate media's distortions and unwillingness to cover the efforts to free humanity."
Reclaim the Media: A coalition of independent journalists, media activists and community organizers in the Pacific Northwest who promote press freedom and community media access. This is a good entry point to the movement to reclaim our media system for democracy.
BuzzFlash: From Chicago. Provides headlines, news, and commentary "for a geographically-diverse, politically-savvy, pro-democracy, anti-hypocrisy web audience, reaching a million visitors a month and growing."
Counterpunch: Counterpunch is an internet political newsletter maintained by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair.
War News: From The-Broadside.com: political satire & cartoon graphics, as well as links to news articles.
Pacific News Service: "More than One Lens to View the World"
robertscheer.com: A reliable voice for a very long time.
Alternet.org: AlterNet.org is a project of the Independent Media Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting independent and alternative journalism.
Common Dreams News Center: Common Dreams is a national non-profit citizens' organization working to bring progressive Americans together to promote progressive visions for America's future.
Hatewatch.org: One of the Internet's best known civil rights websites.
Mother Jones: Published by the Foundation for National Progress, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization founded in 1975 to educate and empower people through media to work toward progressive change.
Salon: Salon.com is an Internet media company that produces 10 original content sites as well as two online communities -- Table Talk and The WELL.
Seattle Community Network: Information on local Seattle happenings.
The Progressive: The mission of The Progressive is to be a journalistic voice for peace and social justice at home and abroad.
WebActive: Has a daily Real Audio newsfeed from commentators, Pacifica News, and Jim Hightower. Also maintains an enormous list of links to organizations.
Democracy Now!: A national, listener-sponsored public radio and TV show, committed to bringing the voices of the marginalized to the airwaves.
Pacifica Network News: Not the same old Pacifica but still valuable as an alternative resource..
KBCS public affairs programming: KBCS broadcasts a few progressive shows, including Pacifica news weekdays at 6:00 PM. Unfortunately, they've wimped out of webcasting and their signal has degraded lately, but if you live in just the right place you might pick them up. Not too bad on some car radios. 91.3 FM.
Alternative Radio: I think of Alternative Radio as the last progressive voice on mainstream local radio. It's aired Saturdays at 3:00 PM with a repeat Sunday at 11:00 PM. I've heard a number of great lectures on Alternative Radio.
Radio For Peace International: If you're into shortwave, this is a good resource. They archive some shows on their website and also "broadcast on the web" in a particularly unique way: a listener broadcasts the current shortwave signal to the web. Best heard, like all short and medium wave signals, at night.

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Last updated: March 30, 2003

News Sources

PPJH Picks the Top Three Alternative News Sites! Check these frequently!

Military News

Other Sources of Alternative News

Sam Smith Rates Sources of War News