Many people do not realize that just how much bias and disinformation are found in the mainstream Western media. I used to love hearing news from the BBC World Service and took it for granted that this was the most objective news source available on earth. It took me many years to discover and finally realize this was wrong, and ever since then I have become wary of mainstream Western news reports.
All news reports and analyses have built-in biases, but the western media used their overwhelming presence as a powerful tool to achieve geopolitical dominance in the world. Media independence or freedom is just a propaganda slogan, as in reality the Western media controlled by corporates interest groups and intelligence agencies, albeit in more subtle ways than those in China and other developing countries etc. Thus the world views that many people hold today are largely controlled by the narratives from main-stream western media, The global news agencies are dominated by Reuters, AFP, AP, while TV news media are dominated by the likes CNN, BBC and Bloomberg news.
Then there is the Al Jazeera TV from Qatar, but it propagates the one-sided western narratives when it reports on China. This is not surprising when its journalists are sourced from UK. I also don’t really like Singapore CNA’s reporting either, because it’s stuck with the same Western-centric narrative, though with milder and less ideological tone.
How does one get to know the real truths out there? Honestly, I cannot say with certainty what is the truth out there, as every news source has its own bias. But the issues are usually more complicated than what has been reported in the mainstream media which has a tendency to oversimply matters and overtly biased against one side. The quality of Western media has also deteriorated over the years, as fake or manufactured news is being used more frequently to demonize China, Russian, Syria etc as some of the elites in the West have become insecure and desperate with the rise of China and Russia today. By reading from a variety of sources, I think I have developed a better understanding of issues involves, and dare say I closer to the truth than those whose source of news is from main-stream media.
Following is my current list of alternative Western media news site:
- RT or Russia Today is an invaluable news web site.
- http://www.globalresearch.ca/ (site with a wide range of news articles, in-depth reports and analysis on issues which are barely covered by the mainstream media. It claims to focus on the “unspoken truth.)
- http://antiwar.com/ (excellent site for antiwar news and viewpoints)
- http://www.fpif.org/ (Foreign Policy In Focus claim to offer the most provocative and trenchant commentary and analysis on foreign affairs by tackling critical issues getting short shrift by policymakers and in the mainstream media: military outsourcing, drone attacks, immigration, Islamophobia, terrorism, military bases, and so much more.)
- http://www.counterpunch.org/ (arguably most famous anti-establishment political web site that contains articles from famous Western ‘leftist dissidents’ like Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Ralph Nader, Robert Fisk etc)
- http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ (news you won’t find on CNN or Foxnews or SMH )(
- http://www.countercurrents.org/index.htm (alternative news media based in Kerala, India)
- https://blog.hiddenharmonies.org/ (Discussion blog. Rather inactive lately)
For Chinese news sources, I recommend the followings:
- http://www.china.org.cn/index.htm (China news in English. Provides basic no-nonsense format)
- People’s Daily (English version) (interesting comments and rather authoritative news )
- Global Times (English version) (Editorials and commentaries give good insights on Chinese views)
- Guancha (in Chinese, you’ll need this if you want to know what’s happening in China currently)
- China Global Television Network channel in Youtube Provide English language videos.
- New China TV channel in Youtube . Provide English language videos.
- Guan Video Channel in Youtube ( offers refreshing perspectives in politics, education, economy, and finance. It is a great source of learning too.)
- 無色覺醒 (Colourless awakening) Channel in Youtube (Professor Lai’s provides incisive and accurate analysis of current world affair events in Mandarin. The people behind this site are from Taiwan)
Kchew's Blog 