 in the press Spicing Up Your Life: American Web Users Seek Out Alternative and Foreign Perspectives on the News Alternative media outlets, at home and abroad, appeal to American media consumers in search of fresh perspectives
Many American websurfers are indulging in a variety of Internet news sites, particularly after the United States-led war with Iraq. The most popular foreign news fare for Internet-savvy Americans comes from the United Kingdom. According to a recent report from Nielsen NetRatings, the online edition of BBC News drew an audience of 6,969,000 unique American users in March 2003, with the Guardian Unlimited in second place with 3,187,000 hits from websurfers on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Norman Solomon, a nationally syndicated columnist, left-leaning media critic, and co-author of the recently published "Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You," is a regular visitor to sites such as commondreams.org, a non-profit news site that intends to use the Internet as a tool to bring together activist-minded Americans, and the Institute for Public Accuracy, whose news releases aim to promote non-corporate journalistic perspectives in the mass media. For years, he "has made a concerted effort to seek out these and other alternative and foreign news perspectives." When it comes to the pursuit of different perspectives on current events, "the Internet can be a wonderful individual solution but not always a [widespread] social solution," he says. In general, Solomon finds the BBC determined to engage "a multiplicity of voices" to discuss the issues in a "very refreshing, informative" manner. It produces "much better journalism" than its American counterparts, Solomon asserts. Many American media consumers, like Robert McGee, have taken advantage of the Internet to pursue their alternative news cravings. Before the the World Wide Web became a household name, the accounting professor from Miami, Florida was like many American academics: He relied on mainstream American TV and newspapers for his news, particularly during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. It was when McGee worked in Bosnia and Serbia for 15 months that his taste for the news grew more varied. A combination of seeing the war-torn area in Eastern Europe rebuild its infrastructure, interactions with colleagues from all over the world, and his exposure to European news perspectives encouraged him to broaden his news diet. Now, McGee regularly visits British media outlets and alternative sources on the Web, such as lewrockwell.org, antiwar.com and fff.org, all of which express libertarian and anti-war opinions. With such sources, he said, "You can see the things they [the mainstream U.S. media] are saying and what they are not saying; they are definitely filtering the news." The rapid growth of the Internet and online journalism in the 1990's has allowed more people to supplement or even replace the broadcast and print news sources on which they formerly relied. Some sites, such as electroniciraq.net, are openly anti-war and present views that visitors seldom see on mainstream news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. Samantha Rini, a legal secretary from Astoria, Queens, was particularly impressed by a section on electroniciraq.net entitled "Iraqi Diaries" which gives firsthand accounts of Iraqi civilians living in their war-torn environment. After exploring the site, Rini expressed her growing disillusionment with the U.S. media. "I think that if mainstream media were to show this type of coverage, the majority of Americans would be against this war too," she said. Electroniciraq.net was launched on February 8, 2003 as a response to the American government's intentions to go to war with Iraq. Supplementary Middle East news publishers, the Electronic Intifada, and Voices of the Wilderness, a U.S. /U.K. anti-war campaign, created a partnership that launched the site. The news portal consists of stories written by journalists from all over the world. Nigel Parry, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada Project, said that on its first week electroniciraq.net was visited by approximately 35,000 distinct users. He also said that in the last week of March the site racked up a quarter of a million unique visitors. The partnership plans to maintain electroniciraq.net in order to follow post-war developments in Iraq, says Parry. "We are moving to a larger server and hope to offer video from the ground to cover the situation," he said. As for funding, Parry said that the partner organizations "rely on donations to thrive but not to exist," and hope to keep the site running "regardless of (how much) income it generates." AlterNet.org is another online news destination that offers alternative, independent news to media consumers hungry for out-of-the-box stories and independent angles on current events worldwide. Launched in 1998, the Independent Media Institute project "provides a mix of news, opinion, and investigative journalism" on a wide variety of issues. Manhattanite John Lamson, an NYU graduate who will be starting law school in Vermont this year, has mixed feelings about the site. Typically, he says, he visits mainstream news sources, such as the online edition of The New York Times, because they're free and easy to navigate. After immersing himself in the articles posted on AlterNet.org, Lamson said he realized there was "a downside to Internet news." He appreciates the site's liberal views, he said, but was troubled by an article that had a "more than slightly slanted perspective" (the journalist referred to American troops as "killers."). "I like editorials, and I don't think that journalists should be censored," Lamson said, "but [AlterNet] advertises itself as a news site." He went on to say that he would definitely visit the site again, because he likes its overall angle, but will continue "to do some more investigating to find out the whole truth." Joshua Fouts, editor of Online Journalism Review and OnlineJournalism.com, believes that in today's Internet age, there is a danger in trusting Internet news too implicitly. According to Fouts, "people have an inherent trust for news on the Internet," as opposed to TV. He stresses that those who rely mainly on alternative and independent news sites and weblogs should always exercise caution, because "the question of veracity" posed to its content is harder to answer. Asked about American media versus foreign news coverage of the recent Iraq war, Fouts thinks they represent "two sides of the coin" which correspond to countries' own national interests. "There is a lack of balance on both sides," he said. That's the way it should be, in the opinion of Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Daniel D. Hetlage. Although he believes "debate is always healthy", he hopes that "regardless of one's political affiliations, they [the American and British journalists] support their troops." In an e-mail interview, he said, "Journalists are more similar to soldiers than they care to admit. They fight to exercise free speech and the soldier is the one who guarantees that right." Jeff Rutenbeck, the director and founder of the Digital Media Studies program at the University of Denver, is poles apart from the Pentagon spokesman. In Rutenbeck's opinion, there has been a "tremendous compression of story topics and journalistic perspectives" in mainstream American media, which has affected journalism on all levels. Most of his students depend exclusively on American TV news coverage for their information about the war and other issues. "Some of them will mention CNN or MSNBC, but I rarely hear of any students who use wire services, independents, or foreign news agencies," Rutenback said. In his opinion, the majority of news consumers, particularly Americans, still don't take advantage of the immense variety of news sources available on the Internet. "Even though it's easier than ever before, I don't think people are in the habit of shopping for fresh perspectives," he said. ReadMe is a student webzine, produced by students in the Department of Journalism at New York University. |
