Inside Climate News

. . . is the nonprofit news outlet that exposed how Exxon learned about the greenhouse effect in the late 1970s and 1980s through the pioneering research of its own scientists, and then hid that research and proceeded to fund denialism for decades. ICN correspondent Neela Banerjee explains how ICN got the story.
Author Bill McKibben got himself arrested to bring publicity to the journalistic exposes about Exxon.

Brave New Films' videos on racial bias

Millions have watched this online "Racism Is Real" short about PRESENT-DAY racism, produced by Brave New Films. Here's "Black Protests vs. White Riots" short that sticks it to the mainstream TV news establishment. 
Here's trailer to Brave New Films' documentary "The War on Whistleblowers."

"Independent Media in a Time of War" featuring Amy Goodman

A group of volunteer citizen-journalists (Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center) produced a short documentary centered around an April 2003 speech by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!  At the time, many in mainstream media were cheering what they believed was a short, successful and nearly-completed invasion of Iraq; President Bush's approval rating was sky high.

Impolite question from indy blogger sparks big controversy

A student in the Spring 2009 indy media class, Chris Lisee, blogged about the impact that a single off-key journalist can have.

Jack Black on the mission of rock 'n' roll (and indy media)

In the movie School of Rock, a substitute teacher (played by Jack Black) explains the mission of rock 'n' roll to his 5th grade students: stickin' it to the man. Do independent media share a similar mission?  (The School of Rock kids in the original cast had a 10-year reunion with Jack Black in 2013.)

Winners of 1st Izzy Award (2009): Amy Goodman & Glenn Greenwald

Soon after accepting their Izzy Awards in Ithaca in March 2009, Greenwald and Goodman spoke about independent media on public TV's Bill Moyers' Journal.

Short viral video impacts 2008 presidential election

This 2008 video short "McCain's Mansions" from Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films (with more than 600,000 views) percolated up through the media food chain into the mainstream, where it exploded.  It impacted the campaign, as shown by this self-promotional video, "The Making of McCain's Mansions."

Four years earlier, Greenwald's "Outfoxed" -- a low-budget documentary -- was reviewed by the New York Times movie critic at a "house party" held at a Brooklyn bar.

Matt Drudge has influence over mainstream media

Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report, conservative with tabloid sensibilities exerts major Internet influence as a newswire, referral service, and spreading rumor and innuendo about Democratic politicians.

John Oliver on journalism's dangerous decline

If playable, here is a 5-min condensation of Oliver's 19-min presentation.

Media controversies in recent days

Football quarterback Colin Kaepernick stands up by staying seated. New York Post goes nuts over sexting. Independent journalist and sex columnist Dan Savage takes issue with the publicity and "news" coverage.

Daily Show segment on NY Times: "End Times"

The Daily Show's July 2009 look at the New York Times' "day-old news." Jason Jones' segment was so cutting, it had me unusually sympathetic toward The Times.

Ebay billionaire-turned-publisher Pierre Omidyar . . .

. . . explained his support for independent journalism at First Look Media/The Intercept, in a video released Jan. 2014. (Since then, there has been some conflict between Omidyar's management team and the top journalists involved. Also, while First Look launched the investigative outlet The Intercept, it has scrapped plans for "multiple digital publications.")

Independent and ethnic media often push stories into mainstream media

Here's an important comment from public TV host TAVIS SMILEY about the case of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American who was followed, shot and killed by an overzealous neighborhood watchman in Florida in 2012, after an altercation. The neighborhood watchman was acquitted of murder charges; Martin had been unarmed.

With these issues of race and violence and what we’ve been experiencing of late, the alternative media is more important and more necessary now than ever before. And by alternative, I certainly mean specifically the black media. I go back to the Trayvon Martin case . . . The reality is that that story would never have made it to the front pages were it not for black media: black radio, and the presence that wasn’t there 15 years ago, but black radio and the black blogosphere blew that story up. The mainstream media — I’m talking about the Washington Post, the New York Times,everybody, Time, Newsweek — the mainstream media was late getting to that story. Had it not been for black radio and the black blogosphere, that story would never have taken hold. And that’s not really surprising. Oftentimes the mainstream media, particularly where people of color are concerned — it’s on the late freight. So the alternative media, black press in particular, are more relevant and more necessary now than ever before. 

INDEPENDENT MEDIA SYLLABUS Fall '16

Here is your course syllabus.

Student blogs

Sandra A . . . Veer B . . . Tiarra B . . . Adam B . . . Christie C . . . Akili D-B . . . Luke H . . . Matt L . . . Maddy M . . . Syd O . . . Lisbeth P . . . Mark P . . . Savannah R . . . Natalie S . . . Christina T . . . Connor W