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This is a partial selection of more or less independent news sites. Most offer their content freely, without paywalls. It is by no means a "neutral" selection, if such a thing is even possible. I do not vouch for the relevance or accuracy of these sites. Have a look and decide for yourself.
The list begins with American and other English speaking sites of which there are plenty. In addition, a list of French and a few German language sites have been included. Many of them also publish material in English.
Remember the "prop or not" debacle? In November 2016 an unexperienced populist came to power in the USA, and there was an urge in some corners to blame Russian interference for what happened. A website run by ... who knows ... was set up to warn the citizens about a number of independent news sites allegedly peddling Russian disinformation, either willingly or by being "useful idiots".
The listed "propaganda" sites range from left wing to right wing, from satire to serious analysis, from carefully researched reporting to opinion pieces and even whimsical sites devoted to UFOs or health and healing. Apparently they share a common critical perspective on US Empire and are generally anti-war. Another thing they probably have in common is to have experienced a sudden decline in web traffic through google searches a few years ago when algorithms were changed to favour supposedly reliable mainstream media over independent sources.
In any case, the list is still interesting as a source for discoveries. As said, the quality of the sites varies a whole lot. A few sources of particular interest have been included below.
The news aggregator Information Clearing House republishes a number of writers who are typically critical of American empire, and obviously qualify for the above propornot list. They also maintain a broad collection of updated links to news in both mainstream and independent media. Very little original editorial content. Various translations are available.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
Founded in 1995 as "the first investigative news magazine based on the Internet" according to themselves. In recent years they have covered the case against Assange in greater detail than most other outlets.
Launched in 1996, they have become one of the largest American independent news broadcasters. They produce "a daily, global, independent news hour". Leading up to the 2016 election they managed to arrange a debate between Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, otherwise they mostly host progressive Democrats. For an interesting criticism of their coverage of China see this article in the GrayZone by Danny Haiphong:
Democracy Now amplifies State Department propaganda
Another one from a progressive perspective.
In the beginning the GrayZone project was sponsored by AlterNet.org. Since 2018 they are independent.
Closely related, the podcast Moderate Rebels with Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton has covered Latin America in particular, but it appears to be discontinued. They both also have their shows on Rokfin. Benjamin Norton recently launched a new and promising news site:
Good question. Articles and podcast. Reflections and the bigger picture.
In-depth coverage of some important stories. Features pieces by Dan Cohen, Alan Macleod, and others, and a podcast by Lowkey.
Long articles full of historical perspective and insight, often about CIA's operations.
https://covertactionmagazine.com/
Founded by Glenn Greenwald and owned by "EBay founder and philanthropist" Pierre Omidyar. Greenwald of course became a celebrity when Ed Snowden handed him a trove of NSA documents. Over a few years the Intercept released parts of the leaked material, until they suddenly stopped without much of an explanation. They also have an unfortunate history of revealing the identities of a few whistleblowers, possibly by sheer clumsiness. Then, in the 2020 US election, while Greenwald wanted to cover embarrasing stories about the Bidens the Intercept preferred to have it otherwise, resulting in a nasty break up.
https://greenwald.substack.com/
Revealingly, the Intercept's current about page tells a slightly different story than it did a few years ago. Then there were references to Snowden, Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Jeremy Scahill. Now these names can no longer be found under that heading.
About the intercept (at web.archive, Dec, 16, 2017)
Originally included in the propornot list, later removed after "constructive conversations with outlet operators"! Podcast with in-depth analysis and lots of articles.
Covers news otherwise neglected by mainstream media in a radio show and articles. Educates about media literacy. They maintain a long and useful list of links to independent media and publish a yearly review of underreported stories.
https://www.projectcensored.org
Mainly a collection of documentaries (frequently with annoying banal background music as befits the genre), also some articles.
https://www.filmsforaction.org/
After some schism at truthdig.com Robert Scheer and Chris Hedges left. Now they can be found here along with some other writers and cartoonist Mr. Fish. Chris Hedges who had the popular show On Contact on RT for several years recently had the whole archive wiped from youtube, and RT America of course was shut down before that.
Mostly about American dissenters, whistleblowers, and prison conditions with Kevin Gosztola and others.
There is also Unauthorized Disclosure.
https://rokfin.com/unauthorizeddis
With Abby Martin, also joined by Robbie Martin on their joint podcast Media Roots.
Podcast with Eleanor Goldfield & Lee Camp.
https://commoncensored.libsyn.com/
Has been around since 1997.
Anarchist and anti-capitalist site. Cool fast-paced videos, interviews, and sometimes real on the ground reporting. The production team prefers staying anonymous or using pseudonyms as well as a robot news anchor. Activism at least as much as journalism.
Undercover reporting that "investigates and exposes corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct", according to their elaborate and readable About page. What they do not state openly, however, is their conservative outlook. Their reporting style cannot be qualified as balanced, some of their videos are best described as hit pieces, typically directed at Democrat politicians.
https://www.projectveritas.com/
With a penchant for conspiracies (the real or plausible ones), deep state and globalist agendas, based on "open source intelligence". Corbett's strength is history, the humanities, and analysis, although not always drawing the most plausible conclusions.
https://www.corbettreport.com/
Whitney Webb's site. Long articles and recently more focused on podcast and videos. James Corbett has appeared as a guest.
https://rokfin.com/unlimitedhangout
Journalists who would have to weigh their words more carefully at youtube lest they be soft-censored or deplatformed have begun to turn to other platforms, such as Rokfin where there is more headroom.
The ones who are moving the clock closer to midnight.
Opposes imperialism from a libertarian standpoint.
About energy and natural resources in a press release format.
It's in the name, hopefully.
Pepe Escobar's articles which are highly recommended can be found in Asia Times.
The Palestinian perspective.
https://electronicintifada.net/
Single topic, collects articles from many other sources.
https://coveringclimatenow.org/
Based on FOIA requests, often of local relevance.
If in doubt as to why they count as a news medium (and why Julian Assange is a journalist), there are many insightful discussions that explain it over at Consortium News (see above).
Embraces "all sources of information" and aims "to avoid political, corporate or personal leanings".
https://ddosecrets.com/wiki/Distributed_Denial_of_Secrets
A publication of the Quincy Institute that promotes "a positive vision of U.S. foreign policy based on humility, diplomatic engagement, and military restraint."
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/
Another one that would prefer a restrained role of the USA in the world. As conservative as the name implies, critical of liberals as well as neo-liberals.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/
Podcast by Margaret Flowers with many interesting guests, and articles from various sources.
https://popularresistance.org/
With a focus on the UK's role in the world.
An aggregator where you can find some already mentioned sources such as Mint Press, Counter Punch, the GrayZone, Popular Resistance, as well as a few others.
Founded by Patrick Henningsen, a non-partisan website that tries to "challenge the prevailing narrative and mainstream orthodoxy", which should not be too hard really. The late journalist Andre Vltchek also wrote for them.
Mostly videos, interviews with host Paul Jay.
https://theanalysis.news/
A few gemini mirrors of web resources.
gemini://rawtext.club/~sloum/geminews/
The latter aggregates articles from NPR, Christian Science Monitor, and CNN.
Daily Mavercick (South Africa)
Note that a few of these sites also publish some material in English.
New site that covers (mostly) French politics, climat change, economics, degrowth, and corruption in articles and videos. They even have a mock mainstream kind of news show that promises not to leave you less informed than you were before watching. And they can be seen on peertube! After some investigative reporting on the media celebrity Bernard Henry LĂ©vy (BHL) he sued Blast and lost the case in the first round.
A rather varied source, focusing on what's going on in France, but by no means limited to that:
Qu’est-ce qu’un portail ? Un « agrégateur de contenus », un point d’entrée incontournâââble de la Toile. [...] Pourtant, au départ, le concept de portail avait de quoi séduire : regrouper en une page toutes les informations susceptibles d’intéresser l’internaute, ça n’était pas forcément le concept le plus stupide.
(What is a portal? A "content aggregator", an indispeeeensable entry point to the web. ... To collect all information on one page that may interest the internaut, that's not such a stupid idea.)
Mostly local and small scale news from a large number of sources.
Podcast and articles. Mostly about environmental and other kinds of activism.
https://actualitedesluttes.info/
Offers translations of some important articles, shares videos with long-format interviews and talks, and has some really detailed investigations of their own (dossiers).
Often republishes translated articles originally appearing in Consortium News, The GrayZone, Mint Press, etc. Usually quite lengthy articles. They describe themselves as follows:
Un journal qui ne croit plus aux "médias de masse"... Un journal qui ne court pas après l'actualité immédiate (ça fatigue de courir et pour quel résultat à la fin ?)
(A journal that no longer believes in mass media; a journal that doesn't run after the very latest news (running makes you tired, and then for what result?))
More of a blog with a thriving comments section.
Also available in many other languages at the site. Founded by the influential journalist Thierry Meyssan.
un réseau de presse non-alignée, spécialisé dans l’analyse des relations internationales
(A non-aligned press network specialised in analysis of international relations.)
Available as a print journal in about 30 countries and online, translated to 19 languages.
https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/
Art criticism, interviews with artists, and actionism against the contemporary art establishment.
Analytical articles about geopolitics and even some maps.
Independent, reader supported.
Dissappeared from the surface of the web in March 2022. May perhaps be remembered for "sowing discord" by being the only (or one of very few?) major news media corporation that reported seriously on the Gilets Jaunes protests.
Excellent idea!
Engaged in internet/digital freedom, based in Berlin.
Video interviews and reports in German and English. Many well known guests have appeared on their show.
News Enlightenment Initiative has as its mission to draw attention to news otherwise ignored by German mass-media, somewhat similar to Project Censored.
Taz.de, based in Berlin. Includes a search function.
The first part of this media guide ended with a reference to a study by the Swiss Policy Research of the US/UK media landscape showing the media sites on a political left-right axis as well as their degree of independence on the vertical axis. They also present a chart of German news sites, which instead has the outlets' friendliness towards NATO on one axis and egalitarian / conservative outlook on the other axis.
This reminds us that the political spectrum cannot simply be ordered from left to right. There are other dimensions to take into consideration, such as the axis from authoritarianism to liberalism and anarchism.
Many other sources, from blogs to state media channels, could be added to the list. I have left out a few sources I know about, included some that I am not yet very familiar with, and still there are thousands more out there.
Disclaimer, in case it needs to be said again: I do not necessarily agree with the perspective of all the sites discussed above, nor do I in any way suggest that all of them are always trustworthy news sources.
Next up, in Part 3, we will discuss a few aspects of fake news.
Second part (annotated links)
Part eleven (internet censorship)
Part twelve (conspiratorial thinking)
Part thirteen (psychology of propaganda)
Part fourteen (information warfare)
The Oxymoronist Media Guide is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
First published on August 18, 2021
Revised on April 1, 2022