Editing Alternative news agency

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
An '''alternative news agency''' (or alternative news service) operates similarly to a commercial [[news agency]], but defines itself as an alternative to commercial or "mainstream" operations. They span the political spectrum, but most frequently are [[progressive politics|progressive]] or [[Far-left politics|radical left]]. Sometimes they combine the services of a [[news agency]] and a [[Print syndication|news syndicate]]. Among the primary clients are [[alternative weekly]] newspapers.

Notable alternative news agencies from the past included the [[Associated Negro Press]], the [[Collegiate Press Service]], [[Liberation News Service]], [[Pacific News Service]], and the [[Mathaba News Agency]]. Active alternative news services include [[AlterNet]], the [[Association of Alternative Newsmedia]], and [[Inter Press Service]].

The ''raison d'etre'' of a 1970s-era service, Community Press Features, nicely summarizes the ethos of the alternative news agency:
{{blockquote|The mass media — the metropolitan daily newspapers, television, and radio — are big businesses and are backed, through financing and advertising, by other big businesses. They naturally tend to reflect and report the concerns of large business interests over those of the rest of the population. And although there are at times significant exceptions (usually moments of crisis, when they can't afford not to) they just as naturally hesitate to report on activities and groups which seriously challenge the legitimacy of those same powerful interests. Rarely will they accurately or adequately present those groups' points of view."<ref>{{cite news|title=Financial|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|location= Boston|page=56|date=August 22, 1971}}</ref> }}

== History ==
One of the first alternative news agencies was [[Associated Negro Press]] (ANP), founded in 1919 in Chicago by [[Claude Albert Barnett]]. Through its regular packets, the ANP supplied [[African American newspapers]] with news stories, opinions, columns, feature essays, book and movie reviews, critical and comprehensive coverage of events, personalities, and institutions relevant to black Americans.

The [[Collegiate Press Service]] (CPS) began in 1962 as the news agency of the [[United States Student Press Association]] (USSPA),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nyti.ms/3HJgUzp|title=RISING UNREST|work=The New York Times|date=April 4, 1965|page=191}}</ref> supplying material to [[Student publication|college and university newspapers]]. (It was later revealed that CPS was at the time was receiving support and covert financing from the right-wing organizations ''[[Reader's Digest]]'' and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]].)<ref>{{cite news|last=Crewdson|first=John M.|date=December 27, 1977|title=C.I.A. established many links to journalists in U.S. and abroad |newspaper=The New York Times|page=1|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/27/archives/cia-established-many-links-to-journalists-in-us-and-abroad-cias.html|accessdate=January 20, 2009}}</ref>

The formation of the international journalist [[cooperative]] [[Inter Press Service]] in 1964 was vital in filling the information gap between Europe and Latin America after the political turbulence following the [[Cuban Revolution]] of 1959.<ref name="history">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ips.org/institutional/get-to-know-us-2/our-history/|title=IPS – Inter Press Service News Agency » Our history|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-19|archive-date=2018-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115200822/http://www.ips.org/institutional/get-to-know-us-2/our-history/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=MAjrDAAAQBAJ|page=13}}|title=The role of the Inter Press Service in the international mediascape: The case of IPS reporting on the 2005 World Social Forum|last=Oeffner|first=Annalena|publisher=diplom.de|isbn=9783832491802|language=en}}</ref>

The 1966 formation of the [[Underground Press Syndicate]] (UPS) was key to the co-development of the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] [[underground press]] and alternative news agencies. By June 1967, a UPS conference in [[Iowa City, Iowa]] drew 80 underground newspaper editors from the U.S. and Canada,{{cn|date=December 2022}} including representatives of [[Liberation News Service]]. LNS, founded by [[Marshall Bloom]] and [[Ray Mungo]] that summer, would play an equally important and complementary role in the growth and evolution of the underground press in the United States.<ref name=Peck>{{cite book|author-link=Abe Peck|last=Peck|first= Abe|title=Uncovering the Sixties: The Life and Times of the Underground Press|location=New York|publisher=Pantheon Books|date=1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=McMillian|first=John|title=Smoking typewriters: the Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-531992-7}}</ref><ref name=Hyperallergic>{{cite news|last=Reed|first=John|url=https://hyperallergic.com/313889/the-underground-press-and-its-extraordinary-moment-in-us-history/|title=The Underground Press and Its Extraordinary Moment in US History|work=[[Hyperallergic]]|date=July 26, 2016}}</ref>

Two alternative news agencies formed in the late 1960s were notable for their coverage of the [[Vietnam War]]. The [[Dispatch News Service]], formed in 1968, was awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting]] in 1970 along with writer [[Seymour Hersh]], for his coverage of the [[My Lai massacre]].<ref>{{cite web|title='I sent them a good boy and they made him a murderer'|publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/article/i-sent-them-good-boy-and-they-made-him-murderer|accessdate=2020-08-23}}</ref> Similarly, the mission of the [[Pacific News Service]], formed in 1969, was to supply [[Mainstream media|mainstream newspapers]] with independent expert sources and reporting on the United States' role in [[Indochina]] during the war.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27schurmann.html|title=Franz Schurmann, Cold War Expert on China, Dies at 84|last=Weber|first=Bruce|date=2010-08-26|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-01-01|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The explosive growth of the underground press began to subside by 1970,<ref name=Hyperallergic /> yet a plethora of alternative news agencies were formed in the period 1971–1973. Only a few of those agencies lasted more than a couple of years, with only two — [[Earth News Service]] (ENS) and [[Zodiac News Service]] — lasting into the 1980s. Both agencies emerged from the defunct ''[[Earth (1970s magazine)|Earth]]'' magazine;<ref name=Berlet285>Berlet, p. 285.</ref> ENS was later renamed '''Newscript Dispatch Service'''. Meanwhile, Jonathan Newhall,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cnpa.com/jonathan-newhall-79/|publisher=[[California News Publishers Association]]|date=Mar 10, 2021|title=Jonathan Newhall, 79}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Jonathan Newhall. My Husband of Forty-Four Years|date=Feb 27, 2021|first=BARBARA FALCONER |last=NEWHALL|website=Barbara Falconer Newhall|url=https://barbarafalconernewhall.com/2021/02/27/jonathan-newhall/}}</ref> another former ''Earth'' staffer, formed Zodiac News Service.<ref name=Insider>{{cite book|title=Insider Histories of the Vietnam Era Underground Press|editor-first=Ken |editor-last=Wachsberger|publisher=MSU Press|date=2011 |isbn=9781609172206|series=Voices from the Underground, Part 1}}</ref>

The [[Capitol Hill News Service]], established in 1973 as part of [[Ralph Nader]]'s think tank [[Public Citizen]], was later sold to the [[States News Service]], run by Leland Schwartz.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sale of Small News Service in Capital to Have a Big Effect|first=Deirdre |last=Carmody|date=May 12, 1978|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/12/archives/sale-of-small-news-service-in-capital-to-have-a-big-effect-reports.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=LOCAL NEWS HEROES|first=Howard |last=Kurtz|author-link=Howard Kurtz|date=October 24, 1993|work=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1993/10/24/local-news-heroes/61f8cf15-9567-4b8a-a07b-215a85539b53/}}</ref>

The left-leaning news agency [[AlterNet]] was launched in 1987<ref name=about>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970222072340/http://www.alternet.org/aboutalter.html|archive-date=Feb 22, 1997|url=http://www.alternet.org/aboutalter.html|title=About AlterNet|agency=AlterNet|quote=Launched in November 1987 by the Institute for Alternative Journalism (IAJ)...}}</ref> with a mission to serve as a clearinghouse for important local stories generated by the members of the [[Association of Alternative Newsweeklies]] (itself formed in 1978). At its start, AlterNet created print and electronic mechanisms to syndicate both the works of AAN papers and freelance contributors, among them [[Michael Moore]] and [[Abbie Hoffman]].

Alternative news agencies of the 2000s have been mostly characterized as Internet-based news sites (and most have only lasted a couple of years).

==Examples==
===Active===
* [[AlterNet]] (from 1987)
* [[Association of Alternative Newsmedia]]/AltWeeklies.com (from 1978)
* [[Inter Press Service]] (from 1965) — North/South issues
* Syndicated News<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://snn.bz/|title=SNN.BZ – SyndicatedNews.NET|access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>

===Defunct===
==== Pre-1960s ====
* [[Associated Negro Press]] (1919–1964)

==== 1960s ====
* [[Collegiate Press Service]] (early 1960s–1990s) — originally a student-run project of the [[United States Student Press Association]] (Washington, DC); transformed into independent collective (Denver, Colorado) and later a private operation
* [[Dispatch News Service]] (1968–1971) — antiwar news agency; the first outlet to purchase [[Seymour Hersh]]'s story about the [[My Lai massacre]] during the Vietnam War; also operated '''Dispatch News Service International''' (DNSI)<ref>{{cite web|quote=DNSI suspended operations March 1973.|title=Dispatch News Service International|publisher=TriCollege Libraries: Archives and Manuscripts|url=https://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/agents/corporate_entities/12463}}</ref>
* [[Liberation News Service]] (1967–1981) — splintered off from [[Collegiate Press Service]]
* [[Pacific News Service]] (1969–2017)
* [[Underground Press Syndicate]]  (1966–1978) — originally a syndicate but then began operating the Underground Press Service news agency; in 1973 was renamed '''Alternative Press Syndicate'''

==== 1970s ====
* Alternative Features Service (AFS) (June 1971–1973) — based in Berkeley; aspired to be the "[[King Features Syndicate]] of the Underground press."<ref name=Berlet285 />
* Appalachian News Service (January 1974–1976)<ref name=Insider /> — founded by Curtis Seltzer; based in [[Charleston, West Virginia]]
* [[Capitol Hill News Service]] (1973–1978)
* Community Press Features (1971–mid-1970s)<ref name=Insider /> — media group division of the UPA, an urban planning nonprofit established in Boston in 1968<ref>{{cite news|page=29|first=Grant|last=Kester|title=Riots and Rent Strikes: Documentary During the Great Society Era | url=https://www.spenational.org/files/store/products/SPE_Exposure_1989_fall_27_2.pdf|work=Exposure|volume=27|number=2|date=Fall 1989}}</ref>
* [[Earth News Service]]/Newscript Dispatch Service (April 1972–1980s) — spun off from the defunct ''Earth'' magazine; other former ''Earth'' staffers started Zodiac News Service and Zoo World Newservice<ref name=Insider />
* FPS ({{circa}} 1970–1979) — high school student news service with a sanitized name: "Free Public Schools"; later became the ''Magazine of Young People's Liberation''
* Her Say (1977–{{circa}} 1982) — feminist news service founded by Marlene Edmunds and Anne Millner (formerly of Zodiac News Service),<ref name=Goldmine>{{cite magazine|work=Womansight: News for North Texas Women|volume=2|number=8|date=February 1982|first=Annie Laurie |last=Gaylor|title=Her Say: A Goldmine of News About Women|page=1|url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1483959/m1/1/}}</ref> as well as Shelley Buck<ref>{{cite news|title=Her Say, Nationally Syndicated News|work=Whirlwind|volume=4|issue=1|date=Oct 8, 1981|page=3|url=https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/10a10249-57a0-4e6c-917d-18660085ea1b/content}}</ref>
* [[New York News Service]] (c. 1973–1974)<ref name=Insider /> — founded by Rex Weiner and Deanne Stillman<ref>{{cite book|title=Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975|first=Patrick|last= Rosenkranz |location=Seattle|publisher=Fantagraphics Books|date=2008|page=164}}</ref> (Weiner wrote for the ''[[East Village Other]]'' and founded the ''[[New York Ace]]'')<ref name=Insider />
* People's Translation Service (1972–{{circa}} 1975)<ref name=Berlet286>Berlet, p. 286.</ref>
* Tricontinental News Service (1973–{{circa}} 1974)<ref name=Berlet286 />
* [[Zodiac News Service]] (1972–1980s)
* Zoo World Newservice (April 1972–May 12, 1973)<ref>{{cite news|title=The Coast|first=Craig|last=Fisher|work=[[Record World]]|date=May 5, 1973|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/73/RW-1973-05-05.pdf}}</ref> — founded by Tom Newton, formerly of ''Earth'' magazine<ref name=Insider />

==== 1980s–1990s ====
* [[Mathaba News Agency]] (1999–{{circa}} 2011) — Libyan independent pro-[[Gaddafi]] news site
* New Liberation News Service (1990–1993) — "LNS was restarted as New Liberation News Service with [[Ray Mungo]]'s blessing by a group of younger radical journalists led by [[Jason Pramas]].... They ... publish<nowiki>[</nowiki>ed<nowiki>]</nowiki> NLNS from their offices in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]...."<ref>{{cite web|title=Liberation News Service|work=Connexipedia|url=https://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CxP-Liberation_News_Service.htm|access-date=Jan 28, 2024}}</ref>

==== 2000s ====
* [[All Headline News]] (2000–2010)
* [[Atlantic Free Press]] (2006–2011)
* Choike.org ({{circa}} 2010–{{circa}} 2012) — North/South issues; a project of the [[Third World Institute]] supported by [[Hivos]] and the [[Mott Foundation]]
* Compass Direct News (2004–2012) — news agency of ''[[The Christian Post]]''
* The International Human Press (2010–{{circa}} 2020) — founded as a [[user-generated]] news site by college students from [[Arizona State University]], [[University of Washington]], and [[Tulane University]]
* OpenReporter (2013–{{circa}} 2018)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.openreporter.org/|title=Open Reporter|access-date=5 November 2015|archive-date=25 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025091153/http://www.openreporter.org/|url-status=dead|quote=A mobile app that allows citizens and community activists to directly report newsworthy events to journalists.}}</ref>
* Pacific Free Press (2007–{{circa}} 2020) — spun off from [[Atlantic Free Press]]
* Reggae News Agency ({{circa}} 2009)
* Scoop Analytics (2015–{{circa}} 2017)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scoopanalytics.com/|title=Website of Scoop Analytics|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220112520/https://www.scoopanalytics.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref> — financial news based on social media trends

==See also==
* [[Alternative media]]
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==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite book|chapter=Muckraking Gadflies Buzz Reality|title=Insider Histories of the Vietnam Era Underground Press, Part 1|editor-first=Ken|editor-last=Wachsberger|date=2011|series=Voices from the Underground|publisher= [[Michigan State University Press]]|first=Chip|last=Berlet|isbn=978-0870139833}}
*{{cite book|url=http://www.azenphonypress.com/books/voices2.html|title=Voices from the Underground: A Directory of Resources and Sources on the Vietnam Era Underground Press|volume= 2|publisher=Azenphony Press|date=Jan 1, 1993|editor-first=Ken |editor-last=Wachsberger|isbn=978-1879461024}} — Contains an article about the Underground Press Syndicate and other period alternative news services.
{{News agencies}}
[[Category:Alternative press]]
[[Category:News agencies]]