Looking for an alternative to mainstream media news?

Let's face it, these days you can't be sure if what you're being fed up isn't simply serving the interests of corporate sponsors and government officials, unless you turn to the web.

The problem is, in trying to find reliable counter-information, it's often hard to see the wood for the trees. There are thousands of videos out there, and only so much time in the day. That's what Robin Good is here for - to filter out and hand-pick the latest in alternative news for you. In this mini-guide I have gathered ten key stories from the last 12 months, complete with video.

So, if you want to get the word from the underground, unhindered by censorship and the interests of advertisers, take a look at this selection:

• Network Neutrality: What It Is, Why It Is Important, What You Can Do About It
• Human Rights Violations - What Mainstream Media Doesn't Tell You: Outlawed Video
• Iraq News: Bloggers And Independent Journalists Are The Only Reliable Sources For Western Media News (Before They Are Censored)
• Tsunami Video: Tsunami Prevention - What Could Have Been Done
• Independent Movie Making Lifts The Lid On America's Foreign Policy In The Middle East: Breakdown - Video Excerpts
• Media Advertising Reality And The Manufactured Beauty Myth - Video
• The War On File Sharing And The Pirate Bay Film - The Official Robin Good Video Remix
• Public Media Reinvents Itself: Beyond Broadcasting - Video
• Are Your Privacy And Security At Risk With Google Apps? Googlephobia And The Master Plan Video
• The New Science Of Food: Chemically Contaminated, Genetically Modified - Video Short

Here are the details:

Network Neutrality: What It Is, Why It Is Important, What You Can Do About It

Net neutrality remains a hot topic in 2007 as the US congress discusses again around whether providing truly equal access to every publisher on the Internet will remain a fundamental right or whether those having greater financial capabilities can rule a preferred distribution highway for themselves.

In this article a selection of videos and commentary fill you in on the issues surrounding net neutrality, why it is important, and what you can do about it.

Access the full article and video

Human Rights Violations - What Mainstream Media Doesn't Tell You: Outlawed Video

The horrific images of Guantánamo Bay detainment camp leaked out into the public are just the tip of the iceberg. Over time news has emerged of the systematic kidnapping, extradordinary rendition, torture, and secret detention of innocent people under the supervision of the United States government.

Two such cases are the subject of the groundbreaking documentary Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture and Disappearances in the 'War on Terror'. This powerful documentary, funded by the human rights organization Witness, details the stories of two innocent men who had years of their lives stolen.

This article includes highlights and commentary on the Outlawed documentary, and the shocking truths that it reveals.

Access the full article and video

Iraq News: Bloggers And Independent Journalists Are The Only Reliable Sources For Western Media News (Before They Are Censored)

The chaotic bloodbath that has consumed Iraq often comes to our TV screens sanitized and carefully edited, to make it a little easier to stomach as we drink our morning coffee, or relax after a day at the office.

But there is a different story being captured by independent journalists and bloggers bringing back news from the front line.

This article tells their story, supported by video footage from the Channel 4 documentary Iraq - The Hidden Story

Access the full article and video

Tsunami Video: Tsunami Prevention - What Could Have Been Done

In this set of video footage from the 2004 tsunami, some interesting clips focusing on the issue of tsunami prevention, what could have been done and what should be done in the future to avoid similar tragedies from repeating themselves.

The video clips shown here below explain some of the issues relating to tsunami prevention and to some of the communication breakdowns that avoided appointed officials and organizations in the alerted countries to take the necessary evacuation steps in time.

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Independent Movie Making Lifts The Lid On America's Foreign Policy In The Middle East: Breakdown - Video Excerpts

Independent movie making has been given a new lease of life by the internet, allowing film makers across the world to get their message out to millions and counter the mass media propaganda machine.

Breakdown is one such example, an independent documentary that lifts the lid on America's foreign policy in the Middle East - from the exploitation of 9/11 and the war on terror facade, to the occupation of Iraq and invasion of Afghanistan.

This article features highlights from the documentary along with commentary on their implications.

Access the full article and video

Media Advertising Reality And The Manufactured Beauty Myth - Video

The battle for equality between the sexes has been a long one, and many would argue that it is far from finished. While women have effectively fought for the right to be equal to men in the right to vote, success in professional careers, and access to education there still looms one long shadow that continues to have a great impact on the lives of many women. The artificially-created and pervasively marketed idea of beauty.

In this article about the the issues surrounding beauty, you can also see the excellent one minute documentary The Evolution of Beauty, which reveals the literal media construction of beauty.

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The War On File Sharing And The Pirate Bay Film - The Official Robin Good Video Remix

Steal This Film (Part One) is a freely available open-source movie about file sharing, Bit Torrent and the news story of the Swedish very popular Pirate Bay torrent tracker.

In the original version of Steal This Film, a heady mix of in-depth interviews, mashed up Hollywood footage and political sloganeering builds an interesting opinionated chronicle of MPAA-ignited orchestrated raid on the Pirate Bay's Swedish-based BitTorrent servers and the impact this event had and will have on the broader culture of file sharing.

This article features an original remix of the video, along with discussion of the implications it raises.

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Public Media Reinvents Itself: Beyond Broadcasting - Video

Here is our own, short (7 mins), pared down version of the excellent Beyond Broadcast video documentary produced by Martin Lucas about the Beyond Broadcasting: Reinventing Public Media in a Participatory Culture conference that was held at the Berkman Center this past spring.

The documentary details a conference in which an increasingly waning old media met with new media professionals and commentators to discuss the future of the evolving media.

Access the full article and video

Are Your Privacy And Security At Risk With Google Apps? Googlephobia And The Master Plan Video

Everybody trusts Google - the name has become synonymous with web searches and contextual advertising, but mounting evidence leads some dissenters to ask the vital question 'are my privacy and security at risk when using Google services?'

In this guide to Googlephobia, I have gathered a range of questions that are starting to be asked about the possible negative impact the web juggernaut might have on your life. In an age in which governments are attempting closer and closer surveillance and control of their citizens, can a private company be trusted to keep private information confidential?

The article features and highlights the excellent Anti-Google animation The Master Plan.

Access the full article and video

The New Science Of Food: Chemically Contaminated, Genetically Modified - Video Short

Chemically contaminated, genetically modified foods find their way onto our tables with alarming ease, despite their unknown effects upon our bodies and on the natural ecosystems that have supported us until now. As an increasingly smaller number of corporations comes to control the production of world agriculture, the matter at stake is not only the potential health poisoning we may inflict on ourselves, but the dramatic and often irreversible crisis in which we place the welfare of thousands of farmers around the world.

This article also features and discusses the short documentary Contaminated.

Access the full article and video

Additional Resources

If you want to find more alternative news, you might want to check out the following links:

• COA News
• Guerilla News Network
• Daily Kos
• The Real News

Originally written by Michael Pick for Master New Media and originally published as: "Alternative News - The Best Of Robin Good's Counter-Information Videos: A Mini-Guide"