My list of Indie, Non-Profit, and DIY News Sources
How to Go Punk Rock with Your News Because Corporate Media Sucks
If you can’t tell me what you’re thinking, you’re not really free. - Henry Rollins
To be punk rock is to revolt against the status quo. A typical attitude in the punk subculture is opposition to selling out in exchange for wealth, status, or power. It is an insurgence fueled by frustration, dissatisfaction, and a desire for change. Because anti-establishment attitudes are essential to the punk subculture, a network of independent record labels, venues, and distributors developed in defiance of the “mainstream.”
Similarly, corporate news outlets are “selling out” by normalizing Donald Trump and his authoritarian impulses and sanewashing what he says. Thus, the corporate media is the “mainstream media.” I wrote about this in a previous Substack, Whoever Controls the Media Controls the Mind.
I plan to avoid supporting corporate media outlets. I have compiled this list to help you punk rockify your media diet for 2025.
It is time to return to more independent, DIY, and non-profit (PUNK ROCK) media and avoid the “mainstream.” Here is a list of my recommendations! *
Substack/Newsletter
Zeteo is a new media organization that seeks to answer the questions that matter while always striving for the truth. Mehdi Hasan founded Zeteo as a movement for media accountability, unfiltered news, and bold opinions, as well as on Substack.
The New Republic was founded in 1914 to bring liberalism into the modern era. The founders understood that the challenges facing a nation transformed by the Industrial Revolution and mass immigration required bold new thinking. Today’s New Republic is wrestling with the same fundamental questions: how to build a more inclusive and democratic civil society and fight for a fairer political economy in an age of rampaging inequality. Also, on Substack.
The Editorial Board is a newsletter on Substack about politics in plain English for normal people, democracy, and the common good. Every weekday, readers receive fresh insight, analysis, and commentary on current political events.
Letters from an American—Heather Cox Richardson—is a professor of American history. This is a chronicle of today’s political landscape. Because you can’t get a grip on today’s politics without an outline of America’s Constitution, laws, economy, and social customs, this newsletter explores what it means and has meant to be an American. She recaps the daily political news and grounds it within history.
Popular Information - with Judd Legum - Popular information is daily news and analysis that respects you as a citizen. You won’t just learn about who is up and who is down. You’ll get in-depth information and perspective on the things that really matter. Every day, there is an avalanche of information — but much of it is a distraction. This newsletter guides you through the noise and helps you focus on what’s important. Popular Information won the 2020 Online Journalism Award for Excellence in Newsletters.
Meidas Touch Network— (MTN) was founded by three brothers, Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas. It is a pro-democracy news network that has quickly established itself as one of the world's most viewed and visited news networks. MeidasTouch is independently owned and operated.
The Bulwark - The Bulwark was founded to provide analysis and reporting to defend America’s liberal democracy. That’s it. That’s their mission. They publish written articles and newsletters. They create podcasts and YouTube videos. They give political analysis from experts who have worked in the business.
Indie
Status News - Oliver Darcy is the founder and writer for Status. In his nearly decade on the beat, seven of which were for CNN, Darcy has built a reputation for consistently delivering consequential scoops and must-read insight that pulls back the curtain on the industry. He is well-read by those who make up the industry, news chiefs, Hollywood bosses, tech executives, top political figures, and others seeking a deeper understanding of the media landscape. Status is proudly independent and relies on its readers for support.
Tangle News - Tangle is an award-winning media organization covering the most significant U.S. political stories by summarizing arguments from the right, left, and center (then "our take"). They are independent, non-partisan, and subscriber-supported, with a newsletter read by over 275,000 people in 55+ countries worldwide and a podcast that reaches hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners. Their audience comprises conservatives, liberals, independents, and those who don't identify with any political tribe.
Platformer - Platformer is your daily guide to understanding social networks and their relationships with the world. It's the best way to keep up on the events that mattered at Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Snap, and TikTok — with regular guest appearances from Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and the upstart platforms that are challenging them.
NOTUS - is produced by the Allbritton Journalism Institute, a new journalism education organization founded by Robert Allbritton, the former publisher of POLITICO. At AJI, they are training the next generation of great journalists by pairing some of the country’s most promising up-and-coming reporters – individuals from different regions, backgrounds, and beliefs – with some of the most accomplished journalists working in Washington today.
TrustworthyMedia.org - List of Independent Media
This is a list of more than 300 independent, community-based, member- and audience-supported, nonprofit, not-for-profit, cooperative, and social justice-oriented news publications, primarily based in the United States and Canada. There are four sections: U.S. and World News, Canada, Local and State News, and Commentary.
Non-profits
ProPublica - ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. They dig deep into important issues, highlighting abuses of power and betrayals of public trust — and we stick with those issues as long as it takes to hold power to account. With more than 150 dedicated journalists, ProPublica covers various topics, including government and politics, business, criminal justice, the environment, education, health care, immigration, and technology.
The Intercept - The Intercept aspires to drive meaningful change by empowering the public with information to demand a better world from institutions and leaders. Rigorous and courageous journalism is vital in protecting human rights, safeguarding freedoms, checking the influence of money and power, and moving society toward a just future.
Mother Jones—Mother Jones is a nonprofit, reader-supported newsroom founded in 1976 that reaches millions of people each month through its website, social media, videos, newsletter, and print magazine. Mother Jones is produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting, which also produces Reveal, the weekly investigative radio show and podcast. Their newsroom investigates the big stories that may be ignored or overlooked by other news outlets, including democracy and voting rights, racial justice, reproductive rights, and food and agriculture.
The Guardian—Guardian Media Group is a global news organization that delivers fearless, investigative journalism. It gives a voice to the powerless and holds power to account. Its independent ownership structure means we are entirely free from political and commercial influence.
Bolts - covers the nuts and bolts of power and political change from the local up. It reports on the local elections and obscure institutions that shape public policy but are dangerously overlooked in the U.S. and the grassroots movements targeting them. It focuses on two areas where local governments play a key role: criminal justice and policing and voting rights and democracy.
Democracy Now! - produces a daily, global, independent news hour hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. Their reporting includes breaking news headlines and in-depth interviews with people on the front lines of the world’s most pressing issues. On Democracy Now!, you’ll hear a diversity of voices speaking for themselves, providing a unique and sometimes provocative perspective on global events.
The 19th - The 19th launched in August 2020 with the hope that it would become *the* news organization of record for women, with the added and critical bonus of giving women of color and LGBTQ+ people a more representative seat at the civic table. In our current media landscape, over 70 percent of editors are men – most of whom are White – and women-led newsrooms are still rare. Those historically underserved by the mainstream media are left without access to reliable and trustworthy news and information.
The Emancipator - Housed within Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research, our newsroom produces award-winning multimedia content and commentary, as well as community events and experiences.
The Emancipator is more than just a magazine. It is a dynamic space where the movement's voices and its intersections converge. The Emancipator harnesses their collective power to drive positive and equitable change for all by bringing together many different communities and ideas on a single platform.
Institute for Non-Profit News - strengthens and supports more than 475 independent news organizations in a new kind of news network: nonprofit, nonpartisan, and dedicated to public service. From local news to in-depth reporting on pressing global issues, members of the INN Network tell stories that otherwise would go untold – connecting communities, holding the powerful accountable, and strengthening democracy. Non-profit news locator - Use this link to find various non-profit news organizations on different topics, nationwide or local in scope.
Local Focus
Barbed Wire - produces credible journalism that readers trust. They tell important stories and do it well. Their team is from all across the Lone Star State (TX) — Killeen and Houston, Wichita Falls and San Antonio, Austin and Dallas.
The Texas Observer—a local nonprofit—mission statement: The Texas Observer is a progressive nonprofit news outlet and print magazine covering the Lone Star State. The Observer strives to make Texas more equitable through investigative reporting, narrative storytelling, political and cultural coverage, and commentary. We dig beyond the headlines and contextualize news events. Our essays, reviews, and criticism seek to create a new cultural canon and challenge existing mythologies.
Cal Matters—CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization that brings Californians stories that probe, explain, and explore solutions to quality-of-life issues while holding our leaders accountable. We are the only journalism outlet covering America’s biggest state, 39 million Californians, and the world’s fifth-largest economy.
The Tennessee Holler—The Tennessee Holler is an audience-supported progressive news site with several active social media feeds that seek to amplify voices throughout Tennessee and YELL THE TRUTH about what’s happening there.
The Mississippi Free Press—The mission of the Mississippi Free Press, a nonprofit journalism website and multimedia network launched in March 2020, is to publish deep public-interest reporting on causes and solutions to the social, political, and structural challenges facing Mississippians and their communities. Mississippians need to know each other across regions and share our challenges and solutions despite geographic and other differences.
Nevada Independent - The Nevada Independent is a statewide, reader-supported, digital-only nonprofit newsroom committed to illuminating the state’s most pressing issues, fostering insightful conversations, and holding those in power to account. They look to tell the story of the Silver State and its people in a timely and nuanced way that promotes civic engagement and empowers Nevadans to improve their communities and quality of life. They do not have a paywall, and all their content is free.
(Descriptions based on how each of these publications described themselves in their about us pages / please note that this is by no means comprehensive - it is just the stuff I use regularly)
Add your favorites to the comments! I want to create another post with reader-generated suggestions, so please leave yours in the comments or email them to me. Add yours if your Substack is in a news-based journalistic format.
Thx for the awesome list!
Here are some NC centric suggestions:
Carolina Public Press - https://carolinapublicpress.org/
NC Health News - https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/
The Assembly - https://www.theassemblync.com/
Officially punk rockified for 2025..very thorough list! Nice piece Dr.