More on progressive online media

Kyle Kulinski on his Secular Talk channel features a recent report by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on the scandal of the US support for Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza. (1)

This seems like a good opportunity to mention some additional worthwhile websites for news, analysis, and commentary that could be considered part of the left-alternative media. With the current turmoil in corporate media including the billionaire-controlled online sites that were not so long ago commonly called “social media,” even the terminology of which brands of media are which is likely to change over the next couple of years.

And critical reading is always necessary.

Here are ten more valuable “alternative” sources:

Thomas Zimmer: https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-modern-conservative-tradition">

Press Watch: Not a daily news site, but one that regularly publishes critical analysis of mainstream press coverage. https://presswatchers.org/

The Mark Thompson Show: https://www.youtube.com/@themarkthompsonshow

DC Report: Founded by David Cay Johnston, does good investigative journalism. Also appears often on the Mark Thompson Show. https://www.dcreport.org/

Democracy Now! Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! for many people is probably the image of an “NPR liberal,” a term usually applied to earnest but timid mainstream Democrats. But the reporting is generally solid. https://www.democracynow.org/ https://www.youtube.com/@DemocracyNow

DW News (Deutsche Welle English): Deutsche Welle is a German public broadcasting and news organization that provides a lot of English-language content. It’s kind of a German version of the BBC. https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097 https://www.youtube.com/@dwnews

France 24 English: A French public news service similar to Deutsche Welle. https://www.france24.com/en/ https://www.youtube.com/@France24_en

Le Monde diplomatique:This French news service has a monthly English-language version, though much of it is behind subscription. The articles tend to be longer analytical pieces and are good sources for understanding major international news. https://mondediplo.com/

Juan Cole’s Informed Comment: Juan Cole is an academic expert on Shi’a Islam and has been writing regularly at his Informed Comment site about Middle East politics since the Iraq War. A recent article of his is a good example of how he parses the news in a very helpful way: “Trump: Turkey’s Erdogan staged “Hostile Takeover” of Syria using HTS Proxies, and is the ‘Victor’” 12/17/2024. <https://www.juancole.com/2024/12/turkeys-erdogan-takeover.html> in that piece, he tries to translate a set of garbled claims by Trump about the situation in Syria into intelligible English.

This is exactly the kind of patient parsing of Trump’s often scatterbrained statements that we need to get from qualified experts and reporters for the next four years.

TomDispatch: A long-running blog by Tom Englehardt that offers a variety of “restrainer” type analyses of US foreign policy from sources including Michael Klare, John Feffer, Karen Greenberg, William Hartung, and Alfred McCoy. Juan Cole is also a contributor. https://tomdispatch.com/archive/

Notes:

(1) ‘DISGRACEFUL!’: Fed Up MSNBC Host TURNS On Biden-The Kyle Kulinski Show. Secular Talk YouTube channel 01/13/2025. <https://youtu.be/25rA7nmeVA4?si=tXaGPRnOZVBl-ppk> (Accessed: 2025-13-01).