12 Honest News Sites Way Better Than Anything in the Mainstream Media

By Chere Di Boscio

Some chemicals in cosmetics can cause cancer. Fast fashion and overconsumption are seriously contributing to climate change. These are facts we try to present in Eluxe, because you won’t find them anywhere else in the news. No wonder most people  have lost faith in corporate-owned media outlets – there are many good reasons not to trust a word they say.

For example, it was recently reported that the Pentagon paid a PR firm $540 million to make – and fake – ‘terror’ videos in Iraq. Yep, that’s right: the American government, not ISIS, was behind those nauseating scenes – and they made them to scare you into supporting even further military spending in the Middle East.

Moreover, it’s recently been shown that Project Mockingbird, the CIA’s project to embed their agents within news outlets, wasn’t  killed off by George Bush Sr, as was previously reported. In fact,  the Department of Justice in America has recently given the green light to FBI agents conducting undercover investigations to impersonate journalists — effectively legalizing Operation Mockingbird. CNN’s Anderson Cooper is just one of several high profile journalists who have recently been pointed to as having ties to the CIA, responsible for  planting (dis)information from the intelligence agency. No wonder his ABC show was called ‘The Mole’!

In 2009, it was reported that the Pentagon had hired controversial PR firm, The Rendon Group, to monitor the reporting of journalists embedded with the US military, to assess whether they were providing coverage that was “positive”  enough to America’s missions. Hmmm…

Thirdly, the concentration of media ownership means that less diversity of opinion is being heard. According to Business Insider, 90% of the American mainstream media is owned by only 6 corporations, meaning your news is filtered by  highly powerful interests who are often closely connected to large corporations and politicians – and won’t report anything negative about them, even if it’s in the public’s interests.

Finally, and perhaps most shockingly, in the USA, it is actually legal to lie in the news. The  First Amendment to the US Constitution protects freedom of speech, and courts in the US have ruled on many occasions that freedom of speech also includes the freedom to lie. The rationale is that such rulings give space for unpopular statements of fact. For example, in 2012, the US Supreme Court voted 6-3 to affirm a lower court decision to overturn a conviction for lying about one’s credentials.

Washington State Supreme Court even ruled that lying to get votes, distinguishing between fact and opinion, was not something that the state should negotiate. It wrote that people and not the government should be the final arbiter of truth in a political debate.

Some kinds of lying are not covered by the First Amendment. For example, lying while under oath, lying to a government official, or lying to sell a product. But the  Supreme Court has emphatically ruled that media outlets  have a right to lie, as this video below illustrates perfectly.

With major issues like 9-11 and the wars in the Middle East, many of us are learning through social media and other channels that what we hear on the news may not be the truth. At other times, viewers had WTF moments that planted seeds of doubt about the media’s credibility, such as when a BBC journalist reporting live in front of building 7 spoke of its demise  from the impact of the Twin Towers’ destruction – before the building had actually collapsed.

Furthermore, some news anchors, such as Brian Williams, have been  forced to admit making up false stories – in his case, about the Iraq war. But Fox News was also threatened with legal action by the mayors of Birmingham and Paris after the news network falsely stated that Muslims had taken over parts of those cities,  making them ‘no go’ areas ‘even for the police’. And there are plenty more lies and dodgy dealings that mainstream media (MSM) has been caught up in.

Clearly, the MSM is bad enough at simply reporting the facts – so hosting balanced debates is pretty much out of the question. They tend to deliver everything in terms of basic dualities: either you’re pro-Hillary or pro-Trump; you’re pro-cop or anti; you’re pro-life or pro-choice, etc. There’s never any room to ask the bigger questions – it truly is the ‘society of the spectacle‘, where we are ‘allowed’ to watch what we are given, but no more.

Plus, there’s a war on independent investigative journalism. After the US elections, where Donald Trump won the Presidency despite the MSM’s best attempts to discredit him, the establishment media erroneously blamed Russia for that (and of course, they were proven – yet again – to be wrong), and has furiously declared war on what they call ‘fake news sites’ – a.k.a alternative media. Facebook has even vowed to shut them down on their social media platform.

This is not to say there aren’t a plethora of fake news sites out there – of course there are, and many of them have been deliberately created to foster confusion as to what is really going on in the world. As FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds states in this video, in these times of ‘media wars,’ it’s essential to distinguish between authentically independent journalism and ‘fake news’ created by intelligence services to throw us off what’s really happening.

To cut through the outright manipulation and lies and get deeper insight to what’s really going on in the world, more and more people are (quite rightly) turning to independently run websites on the internet. Sure, there’s an awful lot of rubbish out there, but if you know where to look, you can find  some highly credible voices that are presenting well-researched information we should all know.

Here’s a list of 10 honest news sites that will tell you the truth about what’s happening in the world.

1. The Corbett Report

With over 1,000 episodes, the Corbett Report has most definitely earned their reputation as one of the hardest-working and most-trusted news sources in the world. The Corbett Report has uniquely developed their own team of investigative fans who research the most-requested topics. The information is archived and analyzed by James Corbett, who then turns the sources into an easy to understand video  news report. Preferring to describe the service he provides as  —open source intelligence–, the Corbett Report has been a favorite of mine for many years.

Youtube – Twitter

2. Moon of Alabama

This Swiss based site’s purpose is to intelligently discuss, dissect and analyse current political and economic narratives as found in the mainstream news – often proving that narrative 100% wrong.  Run by Bernhart Billmon, the site is often used as a source in other news sites.

Facebook – Twitter

3. The Anti-Media

A Facebook favourite due its ability to put together very shareable  newsclip videos together, the Anti Media has recently soared into the 25,000 most visited websites in the world – with Facebook shares surely paying a large part in its popularity. This independent news site was particularly active in publishing breaking news on the anti-police protests across America, and their posts quickly  went viral on social media with hundreds of thousands of shares. It’s the best place to go for mainly American news no one else seems to cover.

Facebook – Twitter

4. Global Research

In an era of so much media disinformation, Global Research aims to give clarity to issues such as the war on terror, climate change, the ‘Arab Spring’ and other major political events.

In  addition to the Global Research websites, the organisation is behind The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) is an independent research and media organization based in  Montreal that’s involved in book publishing,  supporting humanitarian projects and educational outreach activities  including the  organization of public conferences and lectures. The Centre also acts as a non-partisan think tank on crucial   economic and geopolitical issues.

Twitter – Facebook

5. We Are Change

“News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.” That’s the quote that We Are Change chooses to define itself by, and f course their goal is to uncover what is being suppressed and to call the ‘advertising’ out for just what it is. Basically, this is a site that covers everything from economics and GMOs to politics. It’s a site that proposes we don’t just listen passively to REAL news, but that we take action against the powers that be, too.

Website – Facebook

6. The Rubin Report

More an investigative chat show than a news show, Dave Rubin entertains an interesting mix of guests on his show, of all political and social leanings – from Muslim Imams to pro-Zionist Ben Shapiro and everything in the middle.

Always interesting and balanced, the Rubin Report delves into issues and perspectives the MSM rarely dares to venture.

Twitter 

7. Consortium News

Consortium News could well have been the first investigative news magazine on the Internet. It was founded by former AP journalist Robert Parry, who was one of the key reporters that exposed the Iran-Contra scandal in the mid-80s. Parry believes the distortion of information by the news media is a serious issue that is brainwashing millions of Americans through floods of disinformation. The news site has been especially articulate in revealing the truth about the crisis in Ukraine, completely  avoiding  the pro-coup, U.S. media  rhetoric that has completely twisted the situation in the minds of consumers of mainstream media.

Facebook – Twitter

8. StormCloudsGathering

From serious doubts about the origins of the terrorist attacks in Paris to questions about who is in fact behind ISIS, Storm Clouds Gathering presents all the information the  corporate media is hiding from us. Presented in clear, simple video format, those behind this independent news site are merely a young  couple who no longer live in NATO states, as they believe the leaders of those countries ‘have lost their marbles’. Spend 10 minutes watching SG’s videos, and you’ll tend to agree.

Youtube – Facebook – Twitter

9. Truth In Media

A former local Fox anchor in Cincinnati, Ohio with 2 Emmy Awards under his name, Truth in Media founder Ben Swann had 14 years of experience working as a journalist in broadcast news before he had enough and started his own website, BenSwann.com. In 2012, he was the first journalist in the world to directly interview President Barack Obama about the Constitutionality of his drone “kill list”. Since then, he expanded  BenSwann.com to create TruthInMedia.com — boldly proclaiming the project’s commitment to journalism in its purest form  right in the  official title.

Facebook – Twitter

10. Media Roots

Last, but most definitely not least is Media Roots. Founded by the former host of RT’s Breaking the Set, Abby Martin, Media Roots is a citizen journalism project that reports the news from outside party lines. Abby believes that just as the root system of a tree is more important that the tree itself, independent media is integral to the foundation and survival of a democracy. Graduating from San Diego State with a Bachelor’s degree in political science, Abby’s Media Roots regularly features exclusive podcasts discussing the latest world events with her brother Robbie.

Facebook – Twitter

11. The Off Guardian

Created by former Guardian journalists who became disillusioned with the paper’s “increasingly distorted and tendentious news reporting on Libya, the proxy-war in Syria, and the Ukraine Crisis,” it could be said the Off-Guardian acts as something of a watchdog for the formerly left-of-centre British newspaper.

With writers  from North America, Britain, and Southern and Eastern Europe, the Off Guardian is not supported by any governments, institutions or pressure groups, and believes  in the sanctity of facts and the concept of truth itself — not merely in that of competing narratives.

Twitter – Facebook

12. 21st Century Wire

Strong advocates of free speech and truth in media, 21st Century Wire calls itself News for the Waking Generation.  Founded in 2009, it’s a North American and Europe-based, grassroots, independent news site that works with a core team of writers, researchers, and an array of volunteer contributors who write and help to analyze news and provide a diverse perspective and opinions from around the world. 21st Century Wire writers have appeared internationally on TV, radio and in print, as well as keynote speakers at leading alternative conferences and events. They  aim to deliver a consistent stream of independent research on subjects and views that are rarely covered in the corporate-owned and foundation-funded media spheres.

Facebook  Twitter

*Note: Number 2 was previously Newsbud, but we removed them after watching this video.

This site uses affiliate links with brands we trust, and if you make a purchase using a link, we may receive a commission.