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The Case for Alternative Media
A perspective from Chris Mayfield
About two weeks ago (on March 24), the young Al-Jazeera/Drop Site journalist Hossam Shabbat was killed in Gaza when his car was targeted by the Israeli military. So far, the New York Times–like many other major news sites–has not mentioned this assassination. Over 170 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the international Committee to Protect Journalists. These deaths, and the dearth of coverage of them in most mainstream news sites, is one indicator to me of the need to look beyond the corporate media for information and insights into the maddening and often overwhelming world we now live in.
It’s not only in coverage of foreign affairs that I feel the need for independent news media. Plenty of pundits have analyzed recently the angst and soul-searching among Democrats about what they should do in order to win in the mid-terms and in 2028. Two examples are an editorial in the Times entitled “The Democrats Are In Denial About 2024,” and a long article in Politico by Holly Otterbein, “If We Don’t Get Our S__T Together , Then We Are Going To Be In a Permanent Minority.” Both make some valid points and both lament what they see as the lack of a fighting spirit amongst the Democrats. Incredibly, neither piece mentions even briefly the series of massive “anti-oligarchy” rallies that Bernie Sanders (joined on some by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) recently conducted, mostly in majority red Congressional districts across the Midwest and the West. These rallies attracted thousands of angry voters–35,000 in Denver alone. Whether or not you wish ( as I do) that Bernie would channel this impressive energy into supporting or starting a third party, this series of rallies was clearly newsworthy, yet was scarcely mentioned by most major corporate media until after the series had ended, and was not referred to at all in either of these two major pieces.
As a senior citizen, I depend on Medicare and Social Security. Yet I have to look beyond alternative media for in-depth information on threats to these programs. The same is true when I try to understand the influence on my Senators and Representative of huge lobbying groups like AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the lobbies that represent Medicare Advantage, the pharmaceutical industry, etc. The same is true if I want to understand the origins of the Ukraine war , or the history of US-China relations.
Fortunately, reliable well-established alternative media sites do exist. While I still keep up with The New York Times and the News and Observer –in part because they influence the news as well as make it–I depend far more on smaller, independent news sites. Democracy Now is a highly respected, hour-long weekday news program headed by veteran journalist Amy Goodman that has been broadcasting since 1996. You can view it live at 8:00 AM, or at any time on its website, where they also provide transcripts. The format is a series of short headline items, followed by interviews with an impressive range of people, ranging from policy experts such as economist Jeffery Sachs to artists such as musician Macklemore and writer Ta Nihisi Coates.
I also read the news site Commondreams, founded in 1997, which publishes short news stories throughout the week day, well-written and pulling from a variety of sources. For news on the Middle East, I go to Al-Jazeera (founded in 1996), where the “live updates” are especially useful, and to Drop Site News, founded recently by veteran journalists Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim. And in our own Chapelboro (founded in 1953), I recently learned, for example, about the black craftsmen who built much of UNC and Chapel Hill, and also about the possible local effects of proposed cuts to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
One last, crucial point: all of the news sites listed above are free to the public. Our country and the world are changing with bewildering speed. As a concerned citizen, I feel I owe it to myself to look beyond the limits of the iconic corporate media to well-established, reputable alternative news sites.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
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