August 1, 2000

Alternative Convention Coverage

Tired of the feel-good mainstream coverage of politics-as-usual this convention season? Here’s our guide to alternative and independent sources of news and views of the 2000 GOP and Democratic conventions.

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Alternative News

Alternet
A one-stop shop for unconventional convention news, with links to stories from the best alternative news sources, including The Nation, Corporate Watch, the Philadelphia Weekly, Grist, and the Independent Media Center.

The Nation
Great on-the-spot coverage of the GOP convention and the protests surrounding them.

The Philadelphia Independent Media Center
The bad boys and girls of indy media are on the ground with the protesters, getting the stories behind the glam.

Democracy Now
Amy Goodman et al get right into Dubya’s face as he heads to the convention, and grill him on war crimes in Iraq. The radio show’s “Oiligharchy” coverage of the GOP ticket is top-notch. Good stuff on corporate financiers of the convention and more.

Free Speech TV
Video netcasts from the Philadelphia Independent Media Center.

National Radio Project
“UnConventional” analysis from voices you trust, including Andrei Codrescu, Norm Solomon, and Elizabeth Robinson.

News for Change
Working Assets’ newish alternative news channel offers audio feeds from the convention and assorted columns from the usual lefty suspects.

Tom Paine
Made in Alternet’s image but with more original content, Tom Paine is dedicating its news muscle to the Shadow Conventions.

Activist Groups

The R2K Network
An umbrella group of organizers and activists taking to the streets of Philly for the convention.

Philadelphia Direct Action
With a domain name like “thepartysover.org,” you know you’ve got in-your-face activists who know how to have fun, too. Look to these guys for your “Ministry of Puppetganda” updates and schedules of planned direct actions designed to disrupt the GOP confab.

Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)
Parody site and group calls attention to the problem of campaign finance. The “Candidate Price/Performance Analysis” is priceless.

Shadow Conventions
Arianna Huffington’s brainchild is staging daily alt-convention speakers focussing on three main issues: the failed drug war, the broadening wealth gap, and campaign finance reform.

Ruckus Society
Uber-organizers of the WTO and IMF protests in recent months, Ruckus is focusing on organizing protests for the Democratic Convention later this month.

AnarchoHood Philadelphia
The anarchists are out in force in Philly for the GOP convention.

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That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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