Editing Pacific News Service

{{Short description|American non-profit media organization}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Pacific News Service
| logo = 
| type = [[News agency]]
| foundation = {{Start date and age|1969}}
| founders = [[Franz Schurmann]] and [[Orville Schell]]
| fate = Defunct, {{end date|2017}}
| location_city = [[Berkeley, California]]
| key_people = [[Sandy Close]]
| area_served = (1969–1974) [[Far East]]<br />(1974–2017) [[California]]
| industry = [[News media]]
| products = [[News agency|Wire service]]
| revenue = 
| operating_income = 
| subsid = [[New America Media]] (1996–2017)<br />''Youth Outlook'' magazine
| net_income = 
| members = 
| num_employees = 
| homepage = {{URL|pacificnews.org}}{{dead|date=January 2024}}<ref>
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20021128180853/http://www.pacificnews.org/ pacificnews.org] Organization's official website which is now a dead link
*past pages available via [https://web.archive.org/web/20000815000000*/http://www.pacificnews.org/ Wayback Machine: www.pacificnews.org].
</ref>
}}
'''Pacific News Service''' (PNS) was an American nonprofit [[alternative news]] media organization.  PNS ceased operations in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Pacific-News-Service-closes-but-lessons-continue-12382326.php|title=Pacific News Service closes, but lessons continue|last=Hartlaub|first=Peter|date=2017-11-27|website=[[SF Chronicle]]  |language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-01}}</ref>

The organization was located in [[Berkeley, California]].<ref>[http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=47 "Pacific News Service History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061104222819/http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=47 |date=2006-11-04 }}.  [[Pacific News Service]].</ref> 

== History ==
PNS was founded in 1969 by [[historian]] and [[sociologist]] [[Franz Schurmann]] and [[Orville Schell]], author, journalist and former Dean of the [[University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism|Graduate School of Journalism]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/new-america-media-is-closing-and-thats-bad-news-for-all-american-media/|title=New America Media Is Closing—and That's Bad News for All American Media|last=Walsh|first=Joan|date=2017-11-03|work=[[The Nation]]|access-date=2019-01-01|language=en-US|issn=0027-8378|archive-date=2019-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102050818/https://www.thenation.com/article/new-america-media-is-closing-and-thats-bad-news-for-all-american-media/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The original mission of PNS was to supply [[Mainstream media|mainstream newspapers]] with an independent expert sources and reporting on the United States' role in [[Indochina]] during the [[Vietnam 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>

In 1974 after the Vietnam War ended, PNS changed its objective from covering the [[Far East]] to the [[United States]], especially California, under the guidance of Executive Editor [[Sandy Close]].

PNS operated a news-wire service, produced documentary films and television shows, and published ''Youth Outlook'', a monthly news magazine by and about young people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://comptonherald.org/new-america-media-announces-closure/|title=New America Media announces closure|author1=[[New America Media]]|date=2017-11-10|website=[[Compton Herald]]|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-01|archive-date=2019-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102094521/https://comptonherald.org/new-america-media-announces-closure/|url-status=dead}}</ref> PNS focused on publishing stories written by and about those on the margins of society. 

In 1995, PNS editor Sandy Close received the [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Genius Award]] for her work in giving "voice to the voiceless" through PNS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/507/|title=Sandy Close|website=www.macfound.org - [[MacArthur Foundation]]|access-date=2019-01-01}}</ref>

[[New America Media]] was founded by PNS in 1996, and served as a clearinghouse for news and feature stories from and in America's ethnic media.<ref name=":0" />

On November 1, 2017, the board of directors announced that New America Media and PNS would cease operations by November 30, 2017.<ref name=new>{{cite web|title=Pacific News Service dba New America Media Announces Closure of Organization|url=http://newamericamedia.org/2017/11/pacific-news-service-dba-new-america-media-announces-closure-of-organization.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107015649/http://newamericamedia.org/2017/11/pacific-news-service-dba-new-america-media-announces-closure-of-organization.php|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 7, 2017|website=[[New America Media]]|accessdate=3 November 2017|language=en}}</ref> New America Media executive director Sandy Close said that the reason for the closure was, "we grew too fast, and were reluctant to cut off programs after their funding expired. We reached a point where we were not sustainable, as currently constituted."<ref name=new/>

== Notable contributors ==
Some noted contributors include:
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[T. D. Allman]], foreign correspondent who exposed CIA war in Laos, prize-winning author of ''Unmanifest Destiny, Miami: City of the Future, Rogue State'' and ''Finding Florida.''
* [[Walter Truett Anderson]], political scientist, social psychologist and author
* [[William O. Beeman]], anthropologist, political analyst and author
* [[Jamal Dajani]]
* [[Lyn Duff]]
* [[Lucy Komisar]], investigative journalist who wrote on [[Gladio]] (Italian branch of NATO "[[stay-behind]]" secret paramilitary organizations, which has been involved in terrorist "[[false flag]]" operations, starting with the 1969 [[Piazza Fontana bombing]]) and also on [[Clearstream]] scandal, one of the biggest financial scandals ever
* [[Andrew Lam]]
* [[Renée Montagne]]
* [[Richard Rodriguez]], contributor to ''[[PBS NewsHour]]''
* [[Franz Schurmann]], co-founder of PNS
* [[Yoichi Shimatsu]], former associate editor of PNS<ref>[http://highbrowmagazine.com/dangers-us-3foreign-85intervention Dangers of U.S. Foreign Intervention], current contributor to related [[New America Media]]</ref>

{{div col end}}

==See also==
{{portal|California|Journalism}}
*[[Alternative news agency]]
*[[News agency]]
{{clear}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20021128180853/http://www.pacificnews.org/ pacificnews.org] Organization's official website which is now a dead link
::past pages available via [https://web.archive.org/web/20000815000000*/http://www.pacificnews.org/ Wayback Machine: www.pacificnews.org].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030425080456/http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=47 History] at '''Pacific News Service'''

'''Contributors'''
* Ilka Hartmann, Photographer who contributed to Pacific News Service.
**{{cite web |title=Ilka Hartmann, Photographer |url=https://www.ilkahartmann.com/ |website=www.ilkahartmann.com |access-date=9 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021112144812/http://www.ilkahartmann.com/ |archive-date=2002-11-12}}
**{{cite web |title=Home |url=http://ilkahartmann.squarespace.com/ |website=Ilka Hartmann Photography |publisher=[[squarespace.com]] |access-date=9 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241209193853/http://ilkahartmann.squarespace.com/ |archive-date=9 December 2024}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1969 establishments in California]]
[[Category:2017 disestablishments in California]]
[[Category:Alternative journalism organizations]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Berkeley, California]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1969]]
[[Category:Mass media in Alameda County, California]]
[[Category:Mass media in Berkeley, California]]
[[Category:News agencies based in the United States]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in California]]