More resources
Alternet | What is says, pretty much; there is also a Media Culture page that is interesting. |
First Look Media | experiment of e-bay founder Pierre Omidyar, Gleen Greenwald covers Edward Snowden, surveillance, and media criticism |
Bag news notes | ‘where the left wing can get pretty graphic.’ He analyzes photos in the news. |
Center for Digital Democracy | Using the internet for something besides pushing products or Big Data Mining … |
Changing minds | Odd site with a welter or two of information related to persuasion |
Common Dreams | Common Dreams is aggregates and produces news stories catering to a left-leaning view. Lots of opinion pieces, too. |
Consortium News | Run by investigative journalist Robert Parry (one of the few holdouts still using the term ‘neocon’) |
Democracy Now! | Amy Goodman’s campaign to take back the media from corporate control. Radio, TV and Web |
ExiledOnlineFiveThirtyEight | Lots of irreverence, they take a special interest in uncovering BS (sort of a low-budget Daily Show)Nate Silver has shamed pundits in his ability to call elections with statistics. Went from independent, to NYT, now writes/blogs for ESPN with a staff (and still has a politics page) |
The Hill | A good source for news on Congress–especially stories you won’t see in–guess where?? The mainstream press! |
Indymedia | What is says–again, you’ll see much here that you won’t see elsewhere (this is the DC site) |
Media Bistro | a sort of virtual drop-in center for media-related news |
Mint Press News | self-described independent watchdog journalism organization |
Media Roots | in their words: ‘Reporting outside party lines’ |
National Public Radio | They’re heavy on audio files–I’d recommend listening, low end of your dial, mornings and after 4:30 pm. |
One World | Read what the rest of the world deals with. Be forewarned: you won’t find much on Khloe, Kim, Solange or Kanye here. |
Open democracy | Good source of international news you won’t find on commercial sites |
Pacific News ServicePoynter Institute | News you’ll get few other places. Check out their newswire, too. They are a source of diversity and ethnic news.Covers all things journalistic |
ProPublica | Public interest and investigative journalism, good freelancers–they break stories regularly |
Reader Supported NewsReal News Network | You’ll find few of these stories in mainstream press (from co-founder of Truthout). Leans left.Independent news coverage of stories that go uncovered or get sanitized in the mainstream press |
TomDispatch | An excellent source for investigative journalism and smart reporting from Tom Englehart et al. |
Third World Traveler | if you didn’t think the American mass media was missing something, you will after you see this site (although American mass media misses almost everything but the commercials). They have a hodgepodge of interesting pieces on this site–it’s a web-based box o’ chocolates |
trust.org | Thomson-Reuters–calls itself the world’s humanitarian news site. A wide variety of kinds of news covering all corners of the globe. |
Vox | blog with smart takes on the news |
National Review | Influential old-conservative (as opposed to neo-conservative) |
Washington Spectator | Journalist Lou DuBose uncovers a variety of important stories |
Truthout | sort of like commondreams–left-of-center site with news, opinion |
Tompaine | independent web news site (left-of-center) |
Web logs (blogs–where does that news go that doesn’t pass through network filters, you ask?) | |
All Spin Zone | good BS detectors . . . |
Americablog | Covers politics well, but also has an interesting perspective on issues affecting the LGBT community. |
atrios / eschaton | Atrios is a recovering economist . . . |
Feministe | If you’re looking for a feminist take on issues, with an emphasis on social justice |
The carpetbagger report | ‘Reality-Based Commentary, Analysis, and Tirades on Politics in America’. Infrequent but intelligent. |
Bloomberg View | Smart political commentary from good writers. |
Left-leaning blogs | Recommended by the Crisis Papers web authors–a good list |
Right-leaning blogs | Here’s a list from the QandO blog |
The Moderate Voice | Links to a variety of bloggers, tries not to play partisan |
Daily Kos | good current ‘anti-news’ coverage, leans left |
Danny Schechter’s News dissector | good blog site for analyzing the news; Schechter’s good at war coverage |
Betsy’s page | Right-leaning blog from a history and civics teacher in North Carolina |
Lost Remote | All things TV |
Huffington Post | Left-leaning, some good reporting mixed in with lots of fluff and filler |
juancole.com | Professor at the University of Michigan, blogs about goings-on in the Middle East and elsewhere. |
Mark Crispin Miller | Covers issues that are largely ignored by mainstream press-right now focusing on voting machine fraud. Miller is a media and TV critic, and a professor at New York University. |
Moyers & Company | Bill Moyers has long been a voice of sanity, and pulls it off with grace |
Blue Gal | Irreverent seems inadequate. Caustic wit and takes on current events |
Dhar Jamail | American journalist and author with Iraqi roots |
DeSmogBlog | covers environmental issues, does a fair amount of digging on skeptics and their background. |
Plastic.com | one of many blog, or weblog, sites–they have lots of breaking political stories you won’t see in many outlets |
Science blogs | This is a good resource–if you’re checking out some issue relying on scientific expertise, you’ll probably find it discussed on one of the many weblogs accessible from here. |
Tapped | From the American Prospect–good news analysis, especially on welfare issues |
Media Citizen | Covers news but in the context of the broader battles over corporate influence in mainstream media |
Political Animal | Kevin Drum from Washington Monthly. Good discussion of hot political issues. |
the Gadflyer | good dissection of the news (leans left) |
Rachel Maddow | MSNBC icon |
Diane Ravitch | Historian of education blogging on American education, privatization |
Pandagon | ‘we bring angry things to light’ (well, life, actually. or left.) |
Susan Crawford | law professor who writes on the Internet and telecomm industry |
dana boyd | communications researcher with Microsoft, Harvard, and NYU affiliations |
Talking points memo | Josh Marshall (left-leaning–good spin analysis) |
The Daily Banter | smart ass is putting it mildly |
The Volokh Conspiracy | news analysis from the right . . . |
rogerailes | Not that one |
Michelle Malkin | air-brushed feedback from the right |
Vagabond Scholar | Hey, I like him |
Gawker | Snarky gossip |
Instapundit | more news analysis from the conservative side of the spectrum |
Investigative reports of note | |
Washington Post report on the meteoric rise of the security industry (and the gazillions spent) since 9/11. | |
Washington Post–great reading, if you have the stomach for it (you’ll never think of ‘public service’ the same) | |
Washington Post investigated the man behind the man in the Oval Office for two terms | |
Washington Post’s take, anyway, on what went wrong that precipitated the economic slide | |
And your representatives say national health care is a budget buster?? | |
NY Times reporter David Barstow won the Pulitzer Prize for this series (which disappeared almost immediately after its publication) on how the Pentagon stacked the deck with retired generals to ensure favorable coverage of the Iraq War. | |
Department of Justice scandal | The firing of insufficiently politicized US Attorneys. In progress–lots of broken links to fix on this one |
A Report from the Constitution Project (yes, it was torture)
For investigative reporting Hey, WOFTSL!! (NY Times, ‘watch out for that stop light)–the Times looks at texting and other distractions while driving (a good one to check out on those long-distance road trips) | |
They do investigative journalism, and take on stories no commercial organization would tackle for very long | |
Washington Post | |
And we’re not talking oil . . . but pharmaceuticals (from NY Times) from the Chicago Tribune
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NY Times (collection of articles, analyses) | |
Hasn’t been higher since the Great Depression. NY Times (stats, stories, trends, etc.). Don’t let Wall Street know they occasionally do this kind of reporting. | |
‘grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting’ (including on campuses). NY Times series (another Pulitzer winner) on WalMart’s aggressive business strategies (in this case) in Mexico NY Times series on water pollution, under-regulation, and public risk | |
