 A
short time ago, I was talking with a retired US Navy chap about things
that were going on in the world. In our conversation I compared a
recent event with the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. Much to my
amazement, he--a Navy man--had never heard of it!
It wasn't as amazing as it had first seemed. The US government as well
as the media had played down the whole affair. Efforts were actually
made to cover up the fact that 74 sailors had been killed and 171
others wounded in the attack.
As has been reported in "alternative" media, the USS Liberty
was a spy ship, and the Israelis didn't want an American Navy spy ship
anywhere off its coast. Despite their denials that the attack was
intentional, Israel paid compensation to the victims' families; and
even that has been hushed up.
 What
does the reference to "alternative" media mean? It refers to
media like newspapers, magazines, radio or television that cover news
that doesn't get reported or is under-reported in the mainstream
media.
What constitutes the mainstream media? Twenty years ago several
journalists expressed concern that the number of major news sources in
America had diminished to fifty. Today, conglomerates have bought up
most of those news sources; and the number of major news sources has
been reduced to six! These six control all of the news reported in
America and much of what gets reported in the UK and Europe. Some of
the same conglomerates own major news outlets in Europe.
Rupert Murdoch, one of the world's biggest media moguls, for example,
owns outlets in Australia (The Mirror), England (News of the World,
Sun and the Times, BSkyB), Asia (Star TV) and the USA (20th C. Fox and
Fox TV). Murdock's News Corp holdings now include a lion's share of
the newspaper industry in Australia, plus about one-third of British
newspapers; and in the U.S. he has film and TV interests, newspapers,
book publishers, sports teams, and much more. In Asia he owns Star
Television.
What makes this problematic is that thousands of smaller news media
without the resources to get the news rely on the major conglomerates
for their news. Thus the small newspapers in Canton, Ohio or in
Exeter, England or in Bahrain depend upon the major news outlets for
what they report.
Bertelsmann, in Germany, ranks as the third largest media conglomerate
in the world. In the USA, General Electric, Disney, Westinghouse,
Viacom and Time-Warner, all of whom control media outside of the USA,
represent the large media controllers.
What this means is that they choose which news is important, which
news they don't want reported, what kind of slant should be taken and
who--among their owners and corporate advertisers--might be offended
or pleased by what they report. For more information, read about news
black-outs.
The result should be obvious: the news that you get with origins in
the mainstream media has been filtered and slanted and censored by the
interests they represent. For more information on the kind of news
that didn't deserve the coverage it got as well as important stories
that went unreported, visit Project
Censored.
The Associated Press is a not-for-profit
cooperative, which means its 1,550 U.S. daily newspaper members own
it. They elect a board of directors that directs the cooperative. More
than a billion people every day read, hear or see AP news.
In the United States alone, AP serves 1,550 newspapers and 5,000 radio
and television stations. Add to that the more than 8,500 newspaper,
radio and television subscribers in 112 countries, and you'll have
some idea of AP's reach.
For reports from their own journalists, Reuters has a reputation for
being more objective in their choice of news stories and in their
reporting. However, Reuters also frequently relies on other major news
sources for their stories.
Reuters naturally pays closer attention to its financial reporting. As
they report, "although we are best known as the world's largest
international multimedia news agency, more than 90% of our revenue
derives from our financial services business."
View the major emphasis of Reuters
News Services, where much has been devoted to financial
news while a single column includes all of the rest of the news,
including Top News, World News, US News, Politics, Entertainment,
Technology, Health and Sports.
Reuters even misses stories that actually appeared in the American
press. While writing this, I checked for their coverage of three
stories that had been reported in the US press on the previous day,
and Reuters reported, "no results were found." Even more
frequently, they miss the under-reported events that have been
censored by the media moguls.
 Unless you've searched them out, the alternative news sources that
follow will be unfamiliar. If you're interested in under-reported or
unreported news, you'll find many more sites on the Internet than I
could possibly detail here.
A word of advanced warning: some of the news reported on these sites,
while perfectly verifiable, has shocked readers into disbelief simply
because it goes strongly against common beliefs and the propaganda
mills of the major media. Other included sites have published articles
with speculation and conjecture about which doubts still exist. Just
as major media can distort the news and views they present,
alternative news sources can fail to offer complete and satisfactory
evidence to support their positions.
In the final analysis, readers must decide what evidence and analysis
of issues in the news they can accept. If only some of the news has
been reported, we are kept in the dark about important issues that
have been swept under the carpet. If only one side of the news or one
view of an issue is presented, we have nothing to consider, and we are
effectively victims of propaganda.
Most of the following websites have established reputations for
carrying news that's either not reported by the mainstream media or
downplayed by their editors and reporters. Each of these websites has
its own unique approach to the news and comment. Some of them are
small and under-funded; some, like Nation, have been published for a
number of years; a few of them, like Al-Jazeera and the
Independent
Media Center are large independent organizations.
The large majority of these sites include news related to
international issues as well as to missing perspectives on the Middle
East. A few of the sites focus mainly on American politics; and
they're included here because of the effects of US policy elsewhere in
the world.
The choice of websites has been limited by space. Many more than
those detailed here exist and can be found by going to sites that have
links to alternative news sources. The Open
Directory Project has compiled a useful alternative media
list.
Another valuable page of links, featuring sections on Alternative
Media, Middle East Issues, Historical Perspectives, Pacifist and
Activist Websites and Political Comics can be found at Nonviolence
Upfront.
The Online Press Center's Directory at the Alternative
Press Center provides links to 425 alternative online
resources in every imaginable category. The Directory can be browsed
by subject or title.
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John Pilger
|
| In addition to the websites that can be visited for their
alternative news approach, a number of reporters can be relied on to report news and provide commentary that mainstream media reporters avoid. To view articles by any of them, simply type their names into a search
engine.
The leading alternative journalists include Robert Fisk, John
Pilger, Gwynne Dyer, Mark Steele, Noam Chomsky, Ali
Abunimah, Uri Avneri, Arundhate Roy, P.M. Carpenter, Alexander
Cockburn, Bill Moyers, John Le Carré, Ted Rall, Greg
Palast, Charlie Reese, Robert Jensen and Rahul Mahajan. |
|
|
Naom Chomsky
|
As the website Unknown
News reported, "Corporations own every major newspaper, every
TV and radio station, and every major media outlet in America. They
offer 'objective journalism,' but not because feigning impartiality is
somehow 'ethical.' It's simply the strategy that offends the fewest
advertisers, draws the largest audience, and makes the most
profit."
What's true of American news sources also applies to much of the rest
of the world. Except for the alternative sources, the news is
controlled and limited to what the media barons want to report. The
world looks different when the range of vision gets increased.
|
