This guide lists selected sources of alternative perspective on topics and events. For the purposes of this guide "alternative" means not mainstream or corporate-owned.  However, some alternative media sources are widely read and could be considered mainstream. A more thorough definition can be found here.

Selected alternative news publications

British Columbia

The Georgia Straight | website
Weekly news, lifestyle, and entertainment about Vancouver, BC.

The Tyee
An independent, online news magazine that informs and enlivens democratic conversation.

Vancouver Observer
A community publishing platform for local bloggers, arts and culture critics, real estate watchers, the city's fun lovers and people who have a strong opinion on just about anything reasonable.

Canada

Briarpatch | website | BriarBlogs 
Politics and culture magazine that offers reporting, insight, and analysis from a grassroots perspective.

Canadian Dimension | website
The longest-standing voice of the left in Canada.

The Dominion
A coast-to-coast network of local media co-operatives dedicated to providing grassroots, democratic coverage of their communities and of Canada.

Adbusters |  website 
Independent non-profit magazine with a network of artist and activist contributors.

United States 

The American Prospect | website 
Independent journalistic source for liberal thought based in Washington, D.C.

Christian Science Monitor | website 
Independent international news organization. 

Counterpunch 
Independent poltical magazine based in Petrolia, California. 

Insight Magazine 
A magazine dedicated to enhancing the value of the CPA profession through the strategic initiatives of advocacy, information, education, and connections. 

The Intercept 
News organization dedicated to adversarial journalism launched by EBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar.

In These Times | website 
Progressive, political magazine covering current controversial issues.

Mother Jones | website 
A reader-supported, investigative news organization published by the nonprofit Foundation for National Progress.

Middle East Report | website 
Critical, alternative reporting and analysis, focusing on state power, political economy and social hierarchies as well as popular struggles and the role of US policy in the region.

The Nation | website 
Investigative, independent journal focusing on politics and culture.

The Patriot Post 
Judeo-Christian online grassroots journal.

ProPublica: Journalism in the Public Interest.
Investigative, independent journal that covers a range of topics including government and politics, business, criminal justice, the environment, education, health care, immigration, and technology.

Utne Reader 
A digital digest of the new ideas and fresh perspectives percolating in arts, culture, politics, and spirituality. 

Z magazine | website (archive) 
An independent monthly magazine dedicated to activism.

Europe

The Guardian | website 
A British daily newspaper.

Le Monde Diplomatique (English edition) | website 
Independent, international paper covering global news, based in France and the UK.

New Left Review | website 
A 160-page journal published every two months from London that analyses world politics, the global economy, state powers and protest movements; contemporary social theory, history and philosophy; cinema, literature, heterodox art and aesthetics.

Journal article indexes and databases

Consider searching for alternative views of a topic by using a database from different academic disciplines. For example, if you were searching for articles on forestry, you would get varying viewpoints on this topic from databases for biology, agriculture, environmental studies, sociology/anthropology, economics, and geography. Another method is to search for a topic using a geopolitical perspective.

Try the Alternative Press Index to find articles in a variety of alternative, radical, and leftist publications. 

Alternative news portals

News articles

AltWeeklies.com 
News and arts reporting from more than 100 US and Canadian alternative newsweeklies. 

CNSNews.com 
Conservative news portal. 

Common Dreams News Center 
US based "Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community" member funded.

Independent Media Center (archive)
"Network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth"; includes links to IndyMedia centers around the world. 
[Note: this link is an archive; the main website is currently being rebuilt]

Interpress Service News Agency 
International, non-profit organization formed of "a network of journalists in more than 100 countries....focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations" no national or political base and pursues the objectives of balanced geographical, ethnic and gender representation.

MediaChannel 
"Media issues supersite, featuring criticism, breaking news, and investigative reporting from hundreds of organizations worldwide"; collections of television news clips on various topics.

Oneworld.net 
International network of values-based co-operative centres with news from global sources.

SourceWatch 
A wiki-based investigative journalism resource from the Center for Media and Democracy.

WikiNews 
News source that anyone can contribute to; searchable by region, country or topic.

Magazines and blogs

BriarBlogs 
Blogs from the Briarpatch magazine website.

Dooney's Cafe: an alternate news source 
Canadian based opinion, analysis and writing; contributors include Stan Persky, Myrna Kostash, and George Bowering.

Ethical Martini 
A look at media ethics, intended for students, journalists, media consumers, and other newsworkers.

MediaChannel Blog
"Media issues supersite, featuring criticism, breaking news, and investigative reporting from hundreds of organizations worldwide"; collections of television news clips on various topics.

MoJo Blog 
Hosted by Mother Jones Magazine; news and analysis of current events.

Directories of alternative publications and organizations

Use these directories to find alternative news sites and publications by name ( e.g. The Tyee), by type (e.g blog or news weekly), by topic (e.g. health policy or GLBT), or by location published (e.g. Canadian or US publications):

To find other print directories in the SFU library, select Browse search in the Catalogue, then search for subject headings such as: Alternative mass media, Underground press - Directories, Small presses - Directories.

Alternative Press Centre's Alternative Press on the Web also organized by site name or category.

AltWeeklies.com 
News and arts reporting from more than 100 US and Canadian alternative newsweeklies. 

Association of Alternative Newsmedia 
Canadian and American newsweeklies searchable by publishing group, circulation and state/province; under Directories, click on Publications.

BlogsCanada Directory of Blogs 
Canadian blogs categorised into topics such as Politics, News and Information, Beliefs, Business & Finance, Society, etcetera.

independentmedia.ca 
"A directory of non-corporate journalism" lists Canadian print, online, radio, and TV news, "independent" weeklies, student press, a list of of Canadian directories, and opinion websites.

Newpages.com 
Categorised list of independent bookstores, independent publishers, literary periodicals, alternative periodicals, independent record labels, alternative newsweeklies and more.

"Project Censored: guide to independent media and activism" [print]  
Lists websites, organizations, national and regional publications.

SourceWatch 
A wiki-based investigative journalism resource from the Center for Media and Democracy.

ZComm Portal for a range of ZCommunications (ZMag, ZNet, ZBlogs, ZVideo)
Alternative media operations and projects, including news, print, blogs, and video.

Media watchdog and activist sites

Canada

Adbusters 
"Articles as well as activist commentary from around the world addressing issues ranging from genetically modified foods to media concentration."

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 
"Independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice."

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting 
Includes Media Monitor, a database of news stories on the broadcasting system, media ownership and cultural policies.

Your Media.ca 
Information on Canada's largest media conglomerates; launched 17 March 2004 by Canada/CWA, one of the country's largest media unions.

Centre for Research on Globalization (globalresearch.ca)
An independent, non-profit research and media group of writers, scholars, journalists and activists based in Quebec, featuring news feeds sorted by region and by topic.

United States and Europe

Accuracy in Media (AIM)  
Non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that seeks to balance a perceived liberal bias in the mainstream media.

Centre for Digital Democracy  
"Preserving the openness and diversity of the Internet in the broadband era, and realizing the full potential of digital communications through the development and encouragement of noncommercial, public interest programming".

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) 
US-based "national media watch group, has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986."

FreePress 
"A national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector."

Media Matters for America 
"Not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."

Project Censored 
"Media research group which tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters and compiles an annual list of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media."

Pew Research Journalism Project 
"An initiative by journalists to clarify and raise the standards of American journalism"; in partnership with Columbia Journalism Review; publishes the Annual Report on the State of the News Media

Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch 
Project to investigate and expose public relations spin and propaganda. Includes the archives of the PR Watch, a quarterly investigative journal; and SourceWatch, a wiki-based directory of the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda (formerly Disinfopedia).

Media Lens
A UK-based media-watch project.

Media watchdog sources

American Journalism Review | website
"Feature articles, commentary, profiles, books, legislation and timely news of note for editors, columnists, reporters and correspondents on newspapers, television, magazines, radio, business and government."

Columbia Journalism Review | website
"Critique of political journalism; analysis of the larger forces -- political, economic, technological, social legal -- that affect press performance day in and day out; monitoring and critiquing the journalism of the business and financial press."

Alternative television, video and radio

Alternet's video website 
Links to streaming video interviews.

AR: Alternative Radio
AR provides information, analyses, and views that are frequently ignored or distorted in corporate media.

Between the Lines 
Weekly podcast of news stories and interviews marginalised by the mainstream press.

Democracy Now!
Independent TV and radio news programming.

Free Speech TV
A network that amplifies underrepresented voices and those working on the front lines of social, economic and environmental justice.

Paper Tiger Television  
PTTV programs analyze and critique issues involving media, culture, and politics.

Other useful guides

Mount Allison University Alternative Media Guide
This guide includes some definitions of alternative media and an extensive list of links to alternative media sites.

University of Washington Opposing Views
A well-organised list of resources representing the US political spectrum; includes categories such as Anarchist, Communist, Green Parties, Conservative, Libertarian, Women, Socialist etc.