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 this year’s Democratic National Convention.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


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
Special breaking reports and analyses, as well as interactive features.

LA Weekly
THE alternative weekly of note in LA. They’ve been on this story longer than just about anyone. You want context? You got it.

LA Independent Media Center
The bad boys and girls of indy media are on the ground with the protesters, getting the stories behind the glam. Also a bulletin board of stories from eyewitnesses, updated throughout the day.

Democracy Now
Democracy Now has a great calendar of scheduled events outside the Staples Pavillion.

Free Speech TV
Video netcasts from the LA 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 dedicated its news muscle to the Shadow Conventions during the GOP gathering.


Activist Groups/Guides/Events

The Direct Action Network
Major organizers of the Los Angeles protests.

The D2K Network
A subset of the Direct Action Network, D2K is a loosely organized umbrella group of organizers and activists (known two weeks ago as R2K) who are taking to the streets of LA for the convention. The best spot to get updates on scheduled protests and organizing meetings.

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

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.

People’s Convention
The Left’s own progressive alternative to the Big Party shindig. Without the Huffington/Franken glamor factor.

LA Protestors’ Resource Guide
A somewhat comprehensive guide to planned events, marches, organizing meetings, and rallies scheduled for the Democratic Convention.

Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)
Parody site and group calls attention to the problem of campaign finance. The “Candidate Price/Performance Analysis” is priceless. They’re scheduled to hold another Million Billionaires March in LA.

Stop Bush 2000
No Bush fans, these. Good-looking site with anti-Bush art and downloadable fliers.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate