Who Ya Gonna Turn To?

By Stan Karp

Classroom teachers know the drill. A news story breaks and suddenly students come to school filled with striking images, unfamiliar names and places, and questions about little known histories. This past year underscored how often teachers need places they can turn to quickly when news events and media coverage engulf their classrooms.

No single website will have it all, but below are some of the more reliable and readily accessible sources of information about breaking world events. These websites have a decidedly progressive slant, often providing views and information not found in the mainstream media. Whether the topic is Enron or East Timor, these sites are worth adding to the mix of sources that help inform - and shape the minds of - your students and colleagues.

Common Dreams. www.commondreams.org/ This is the closest thing on the web to a progressive news wire service. Attractive and easy to use, Common Dreams highlights alternative accounts of pressing issues, updated daily, plus worldwide links to scores of newspapers, magazines, and columnists. It also has lots of useful, unique links, like a list of websites of members of Congress, useful for registering your views on their votes and performance.

Znet. www.zmag.org/ZNET.htm. The site is a voluminous catalog of issues, analysis, opinion and links. Students may need some assistance navigating the sometimes overwhelming range of issues and options available. But they will be rewarded with sustained, in-depth coverage, including unusual attention devoted to social activism and a thoughtful search for alternative policies and solutions to the world's problems and crises.

Institute for Global Communications (IGC). www.igc.org/ IGC is probably the oldest progressive network on the internet. Beginning with PeaceNet in 1986, IGC has expanded to include organizations and activists working on peace, economic and social justice, human rights, environmental protection, labor issues and conflict resolution. IGC's newest project is AntiRacism Net, a network of organizations, events and activities promoting racial justice. While IGC is not as focused on providing "up-to-the-minute" news information as some of the other sites mentioned here, it remains a valuable point of departure for researching most issues in the headlines.

Alternet. www.alternet.org/ Alternet is a project of the Independent Media Institute and features progressive analyses of topical issues in a readable, accessible format. A special section, Wiretap, is designed for teens. Other thematic sections offer packages of information on topics like the Enron scandal, 9/11, the environment, and globalization.

The Independent Media Center. www.indymedia.org/ A global news network that grew out of last year's Seattle WTO protests, this site includes lots of local links and downloadable audio files. An excellent source for globalization and corporate issues and activism.

There are lots of other good sources out there, many linked to the five sites mentioned above. Together they provide a valuable alternative route through the media maze.

Send suggestions for EdWeb to StanKarp@aol.com

Spring 2002