Required Reading:
Ben Bagdikian's The Media Monopoly:
With a New Preface on the Internet and Telecommunications Cartels(Boston:
Beacon Press).
The sixth edition, published in paperback in May 2000, documents the increasing
corporate control of the media. At the time of the first edition in 1983 there
were fifty corporations that controlled most of our newspapers, magazines, radio,
TV, movies and books. The number now is six. (The parent firms, in order of
their annual media revenues, are: Time Warner, Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch's
News Corp, Bertelsmann, and General Electric. These six have more annual media
revenues than the the next twenty firms combined.) They all spout the corporate
line, so if you want to know what is really going on, you must find alternative
sources.
Some of these links are:
News Insider (Links to news stories from worldwide sources. They will send you "free daily under-reported news emails.")
World Socialist Web Site (Under-reported news and analysis from a socialist perspective.)
Robert Parry's Consortium News (Excellent articles from the former AP reporter who broke the story on the Iran-Contra scandal.)
democrats.com (Here you will find links to some of the most provocative stories of the day plus democrats.com own acerbic/insightful comments. You can subscibe to a free daily email that will give you links to the day's most pertinent stories.)
truthout.org (This web site, like democrats.com, will send you a daily menu of new articles and essays which you won't find in the corporate press.)
The New Yorker (Check out "From the Archive" and their 9-11 file--- Seymour Hersh, Jon Lee Anderson, etc.)
For insights on the US from the UK:
Gregory
Palast in The Observer (UK)
The Independent (Especially articles
by Robert Fisk. You may subscribe to a free daily news update.)
The Guardian (They will send you "The
Wrap" daily.)
The Mirror (Look for articles by John Pilger.)
Mike Ruppert's From the Wilderness (Check
out "The Perfect Storm," Parts I and II. Some articles require a subscription.)
Salon.com (Some articles will require a $30/year subscription or a "free one-day pass.")
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (Excellent articles and research on media bias. Free email alerts.)
Z Magazine (Excellent articles by Noam Chomshy, Howard Zinn, etc. Most will require an $18/year subscription.)
Some English Language Publications from Asia:
Asia Times Online (Especially articles by Pepe Escobar— "Pipelineistan," etc.)
Pakistan's DAWN and Herald Magazine
The Times of India and Hindustan Times
A Blog from Baghdad that is Driving the Pentagon Nuts
Wondering What the "Collateral Damage" is in Iraq? www.iraqbodycount.net