Concerned that mainstream media is too left of center, and you can't find anywhere to turn for right-of-center commentary online? J.D. Lasica wrote about the growing popularity of conservative online news websites and communities, evidenced during the presidential campaign, in an 11/21/00 Online Journalism Review article. Generally right-leaning mainstream news entities-- like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, and Weekly Standard-- have a generally established niche in the mainstream news pool. And there are also popular conservative political analyst sites, including those of Ronald Reagan's son Michael Reagan and the Cybercast News Service-- balanced by more gossip-oriented sites, such as those of Matt Drudge and Lucianne Goldberg. Highlighting a few of the major conservative sites to watch-- such as FreeRepublic.com, NewsMax.com, and WorldNetDaily.com--, Lasica argues that, unlike mainstream news sources, conservative sites feel little hesitancy towards active participation in both partisan policy and political activity-- including sponsorship of rallies, fundraising, and public awareness campaigns. Also noteworthy is the notion that online political news communities like FreeRepublic.com count politicians and policymakers, media, and citizens of a certain stripe, encouraging them to directly participate both in support of causes as well as contribution of the news itself. In fact, FreeRepublic.com allows users to even post actual articles from other sources (except those that have sued or threatened legal action for copyright violations). Lasica makes an attempt at trying to identify why the reach of conservative online media might eclipse that of liberal or progressive media online. First is the suspicion by the general public that there is everyday bias on the part of traditional media. Second is the notion that, before the Internet, the financial and logistical barriers to online participation ran pretty high. Now that there is a means for anything and everything to be vented to a wider audience, it is not hard to not take advantage of it. Progressive and Left-Of-Center News Sites J.D. Lasica also took a look at the state of play for progressive news sites in a 7/12/01 OJR article. Overall, Lasica implies an interesting contrast to his earlier article on conservative sites. Whereas conservative news content was oriented towards political dissatisfaction with bias in mainstream media, progressive content is suggested to counter a heightened concern around commercialism (and commodification) of news coverage in general. In other words, progressive news outlets are attempting to change the perception (or reality?) of mainstream media outlets as, first and foremost, commercial entities actively seeking to avoiding their historical role as advocates on issues. There is a questionable starting assumption that, "while the right has long ruled the Net by dominating message boards, polls and [community web] sites... the political left has been comparatively silent." There is also, however, an acknowledgement that there is a concern on the left, as much as the right, that there are news items and perspectives missed by mainstream media. Some of the more prominent progressive news sites mentioned include news service Common Dreams (and its attendant Progressive Newswire), commentary site TomPaine.com, and the activist news and shopping portal Workingforchange.com. These examples, alone, merit comparison for their operational models: Common Dreams is a membership-supported service, TomPaine.com is an non-profit journal-centered portal, and Workingforchange.com is supported by funding from the long-distance/philanthropic firm Working Assets as well as commercial activity on the site. More tellingly, these progressive news entities, much like those on the conservative side-- increasingly take an active role in policy issues-- including sponsorship of ads and public awareness efforts. For some reason, however, Lasica makes a distinction among online-based progressive news entities, publications and advocacy groups that have an online presence, and groups that generate content for the web. The latter includes entities such as The American Prospect [and its spin-off progressive policy/advocacy portal the Electronic Policy Network), Mother Jones (and its Mojo Wire news service), and The Nation. Also absent from the article were progressive activist news source portals such as WebActive, a project of RealNetworks housing news itmes, as well as live and archived streaming content from The Nation, Pacifica Network, and media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. It also features a directory of progressive groups with online presence. Lasica devotes the bulk of his analysis to AlterNet, which since 1998 has focused on "issues that tend to send progressives into a frothy lather." This is a service of the nonprofit Independent Media Institute. IMI works both to support independent alternative news reporting and public access to information sources, through its online news syndication, online media for socially- conscious youth, and media training for advocacy and grassroots groups. Interestingly, the engine powering the AlterNet site utilizes technology from RealNetworks' RealImpact division, which delivers technology assistance to progressive groups. AlterNet utilizes 300 news sources and its reporting staff to deliver content to about 160 websites, as well as a number of e-mail lists. The subscription fees for syndication, along with foundation support, support the service. But Instead of providing news and information a wide range of topics like the conservative sites profiled, AlterNet instead focuses on five broad areas of news (drug issues, media access and ownership, globalization, environmental health, and human rights issues in America). Explaining the popularity of progressive news sites, Lasica suggests that it's due less to politcal tides and more to the simple fact that there are fewer sites that generate news content in general. The ones that do, not only need to be able to attract funding, they need to attract and retain readers. News to Be Used? Conservative and progressive sites can usually accomplish the later, by either providing sole-source coverage on topics ignored or overlooked by mainstream media outlets, and by applying constant coverage, can raise those issues to the level of broader public awareness. Additionally, by providing more vocal perspective in reporting usually relegated to op-ed pages, or topics that are not given prominence in any form of media, alternative sources removed in any direction (or at any extreme) from the middle tend to stand apart from more staid news presentation. Resources Cited Online Journalism Review (11/21/01) J.D. Lasica Michael Reagan Cybercast News Service Matt Drudge Lucianne Goldberg FreeRepublic.com NewsMax.com WorldNetDaily.com Online Journalism Review (7/12/01) J.D. Lasica Common Dreams TomPaine.com Workingforchange.com American Prospect Electronic Policy Network Mother Jones The Nation WebActive RealNetworks AlterNet Independent Media Institute RealImpact