Levellers

On this page, I will link to news sources that can give U.S. Americans perspectives not often found in our “Mainstream Media.” All perspectives are biased in some fashion–there is no “neutral” perspective, although news agencies should attempt to be as unbiased as possible.  If a news source is one I consider very biased, but from a different direction than most Americans are used to hearing/seeing, I will include it, but give a warning note.  On this page, I will also give links to people working for media reform in this nation.

AlterNet  Almost as good as Common Dreams (below) as a collection of articles from around the world.

BBC News  This is the best of the mainstream media in English.  I have heard some Europeans complain about the conservative bias of the BBC–but they do not live in the U.S. The BBC have correspondents stationed all over the world, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations (former British empire), and thus can do in-depth interviews instead of just headlines.  I can listen to the BBC at night on my National Public Radio station and some people can get the BBC on cable. But you can always go to their website.

Common Dreams  English-language webpage collecting “breaking news and views for the progressive community” from across the globe.  The editorial policies for printing original or reprinting other editorials are left of the U.S. center (which would be center or right of center for most of the rest of the world), but the news stories are collected “as is” from all sources.  Also has links to on-line editions of papers around the world, plus to wire services, mainstream electronic media (and alternative ones).  A separate feature allows progressive groups to give press releases to the Common Dreams website.

Democracy Now!  Amy Goodman hosts this radio and TV award-winning report.  Hosted by independent media.

Free Speech TV  Aired over Dish Network.

Ha’aretz  English language site of the largest Israeli daily newspaper. One can see just how right-wing American media is when one sees that the mainstream Israeli press regularly includes editorials and guest op-eds against the Occupation. The American media were horrified that Jimmy Carter dared to use the word apartheid to describe the direction of Israeli society–but several Israeli Jews had already used such terms in Ha’aretz for years. And this is not left-wing fringe, but mainstream journalism in Israel.

Pacifica Radio  Independent radio stations with progressive news.

Palestine News Network  Founded in 2002 as a web-based independent news service in Palestine, the first of its kind. By 2003, it became a project of Holy Land Trust. It has services in Arabic, Hebrew, English, and French and expects to have German and Spanish sites in the near future.  PNN has also now launched over 13 radio stations in the West Bank and Gaza via satellite and WWW–giving the first independent news available to Palestinians who do not have access to the web.  PNN employs its own staff of reporters and editors as well as translating material from wire services.

TomPaine.com  A project of the Institute for America’s Future.

Periodicals:

The Catholic Peace Voice The bi-monthly journal of Pax Christi, USA.

Catholic Worker Digest  Brief summaries of stories in the New York Catholic Worker. 

The Catholic Worker newspaper is not online. Subscription or copy requests must be sent by regular mail to The Catholic Worker, 36 East First Street, New York, NY 10003, United States. Phone: 212-777-9617. The newspaper was started by Dorothy Day herself in New York City in the 1930s’. The price has been and will remain a penny a copy, excluding mailing costs. It is issued seven times per year and a year’s subscription is available for 25 cents (30 cents for foreign subscriptions), though all donations in excess of that amount go to the hospitality houses associated with the paper, Maryhouse and St. Joseph House.

Commonweal Progressive news and views on religion, politics, and culture from a liberal Catholic viewpoint.

Dissent  Independent social thought since 1954.

EthicsDaily.com  Online journal of the Baptist Center for Ethics, giving a progressive faith-based perspective on news and Baptists.

Fellowship  This is the journal of the U.S. Branch of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.  Some of the best writing from religious pacifist viewpoints is here.

Foreign Policy in Focus  “A Think Tank Without Walls” joint project of the International Relations Center and the Institute for Policy Studies.

The Guardian An excellent and hard-hitting British newspaper.

The Independent Another excellent British newspaper.

International Reconciliation The journal of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation with each issue composed by a different national branch of IFOR.

Left Business Observer  The progressive alternative to the Wall Street Journal

Mother Jones  Named after the famous labor leader whose motto was “pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!,” this journal has a consistent left-labor perspective.

The Nation was founded as an abolitionist newspaper in the 19th C., this is the voice of American liberal and left-liberal thinking.  Many of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s articles in the 1960s were first published here.

The New Internationalist  leads the journalistic fight for global justice.

The Nonviolent Activist The journal of the War Resisters League.  This is VERY helpful in keeping track of wars that are “hidden” from the mainstream media. 

Peacework The journal of the American Friends Service Committee.

The Progressive A leading voice for peace and justice since 1909.

Sojourners Faith, culture, politics, from a radical evangelical perspective.

Tikkun  This is the Jewish version of Sojourners. The title comes from the Hebrew phrase “tikkun olam” which means to heal or mend the world. According to traditional rabbinic theology, that is the task of all persons. The editorial stance reflects the “Jewish renewal movement” led by the editor, Rabbi Michael Lerner, who is also the rabbi for synagogue Beyt Tikkun in Berkeley, CA. Tikkun also coordinates the interfaith “Network of Spiritual Progressives” co-chaired by R. Lerner, Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, and Dr. Cornel West of Princeton U.