NOBODY'S MEDIA BUT OUR OWN

Some of these sites have outside links and directories of their own, helping to plug readers into networks around the world.

Straight Goods helps Canadians sort out fiction from fact, spin from straight goods. The site features journalism from professional writers and reporters across Canada - writers like Charlie Angus, Colleen Fuller, Gillian Steward, June Callwood, Linda McQuaig, Parker Bars Donham, Penney Kome, Mick Lowe, Carole Pearson - and opinion pieces by the likes of Michael Moore, John Miller, Robert Labossiere, Suzanne Elston, Stephen Leahy, Mel Watkins and Larry Solway. New articles are published weekly and fresh content is added daily to its news summary, consumer info and activist sections. The site is a valuable research tool, archiving most of its articles. If you're tired of the same old news and spin from big commercial news sources, Straight Goods offers a refreshing

change.  Top

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives “offers an alternative to the message that we have no choice about the policies that affect our lives. We undertake and promote research on issues of social and economic jusice. We produce research reports, books, opinion pieces, fact sheets and other publications, including The Monitor, a monthly digest of progressive research and opinion.” Much of this is on the website - in-depth commentary and analysis - starting with the new items listed on the home page and going on from there into a large and growing web library.  Top

Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. “A democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth,” is how it describes itself. Its origins lie in the independent, electronic media centre established at the Battle of Seattle, November 1999, to provide unfiltered and accurate reporting and commentary from the scene of the action. It now has participating organizations in North America, Europe and elsewhere, including, in Canada, Calgary, Hamilton, the Maritimes, Montreal, Ontario, Quebec City, Vancouver and Windsor. To find the links to those Canadian sites, plug into the site and scroll down the left-hand column.  Top

The name says it all. Rabble.ca is cheeky and means it: original stories, feature articles from editorial partners, and columns from some of the few progressive voices in mainstream media. The editorial objective: “to reflect the energy of the exciting democracy movement emerging around the world.” Canadian cultural expression is another priority. The site also carries selected stories from other alternative media in Canada. Features include “Everyone’s a critic” (a space for takes on everything from the latest movie to economic opinion) and “auntie.com” (aka publisher Judy Rebick, an advice column for activists).  Top

Z Magazine is where Americans turn to read Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Barbara Ehrenreich, Norman Solomon and others who depart from American conventional wisdom. ZNET is its networking website, with links to selected features, other alternative media and hot subject areas. For Z Magazine itself, click on the link, second from left in the top bar. You can search by author, subject or back issue (except for the last few months, available to print subscribers only). Also on the Z Magazine site: a link to “The Noam Chomsky Archive.”  Top

An oldie (since 1865) but a goodie. Click on Archive for selected articles from back issues.  Top

“We’ve got all the right enemies,” the irreverent and biting CounterPunch likes to boast. CounterPunch is the bi-weekly muckraking newsletter edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair out of Washington. Twice a month it brings readers stories that the corporate press never prints. “We aren’t sideline journalists here at CounterPunch,” Cockburn and St. Clair explain. “Ours is muckraking with a radical attitude.”  Top

Major media

Guardian Unlimited

The website of The Guardian, the United Kingdom’s major independent liberal newspaper, offering analysis and commentary of a kind that rarely appears in Canadian and American newspapers. While heavy on British affairs, its reporting of British politics and its international copy are illuminating for readers around the world.  Top

Canada’s largest newspaper and one of the few dailies that isn’t hopelessly captive to right-wing proprietors. Coverage is sorted according to Ontario, Canada and the world, so readers from outside Ontario can easily find what’s of interest. The work of columnists like Dalton Camp and Michelle Lansberg, and other opinion pieces, are also on the site. Columns are archived for six months.  Top

The CBC in many ways has fallen in line with dominant right-wing media power, but is still more open and diverse than most other broadcast alternatives. News coverage and news and features from its many programs are on the site, with a few of the programs carrying extensive archives (in video and audio in most cases). To search a program, click on “program websites,” then go to Radio Shows, Television Shows or Shows A-Z (the entire program directory).  Top

The monthly English-language edition of the celebrated French daily Le Monde. Especially good on international affairs. Archives go back to 1997, but only selected articles are accessible free. For the rest, one must subscribe.  Top

The French daily itself, including its superb international affairs and feature coverage. En français, so one has to know the language.  Top

The Mokhiber-Weissman column on corporate power. The enormous influence of the corporation notwithstanding, the mechanisms of corporate control and the details of corporate abuses remain largely hidden from public perception. Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman rectify this informational shortcoming, with critical reports on corporate actions and plans, from particularized abuses to broad trends. Mokhiber is one of the U.S.’s leading authorities on corporate crime. Weismann is the editor of Multinational Monitor, the leading source of critical reporting on corporate power. Start with “Recent columns” and work backwards.  Top