When I say 'alternative news', I mean the news rarely (if ever) reported by the mainstream media: Peaceful demonstrations and the arguments behind them, important meetings about globalization, alternative lifestyles, homelessness, trade union activities, the human effects of our foreign policies, corporate environmental wrongdoings, good news, and so on.
Publications which present serious challenges to the political status quo tend to have trouble attracting advertising and corporate investment, making it difficult to compete in a marketplace where almost all of their competitors meet the costs of printing and distribution mainly through the sale of advertising space, and can afford to run at a loss when it suits the needs of their corporate owners.
The internet has provided a massive boon to alternative news sources by sidestepping the whole paper-based 'marketplace of ideas' - by providing a way to disseminate information and commentary at very little cost to anyone. Listed below are a range of news sources on the Web; many are also available in paper editions.
- International:
- Independent Media Center
- New Internationalist
- Alternative Press Center
- The Big Issue
- Guerrilla News Network
- LabourStart
- Asian Labour Update
- New Left Review
- Gemini News Service
- Toward Freedom
- IGC
- Protest.Net
- US-based:
- Z Magazine
- The Nation
- Corporate Watch
- Project Censored
- Consortium News
- Common Dreams NewsCenter
- Albion Monitor
- American Review
- American Newspeak
- In These Times
- Asheville Global Report
- CounterPunch
- AlterNet
- Mother Jones
- The Progressive Magazine
- MediaChannel
- Canadian
- British:
- Australian:
