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Independent News - an idea for aggregating independent journalism (lemmy.today)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Wren@lemmy.today to c/communitypromo@lemmy.ca
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I've run !independent_news@lemmy.today for a few months now, along with newly associated !indy_news_canada@sh.itjust.works — because I'm Canadian.

Now, I'd like to gage interest in an idea. It would be neat if every country had their own independent journalism community, aggregated by and partnered with Independent News where everything will be cross-posted. I'm currently doing this with Indy News Canada.

My goal is to expose the fediverse to more diverse, trustworthy journalism which isn't beholden to major corporate interests.

I'm an English/French(ish) speaker in North America, which limits my media diet, so I would love to see more dedicated indy journalism hubs for other countries and regions. I just can't run them, and shouldn't, since I'm not local to those regions and can't match experience to their issues.

If you agree and would like to start a community for independent news in your country or region, let's talk!

P.S. My communities are english and english/french only, I can't moderate posts in a language I don't understand. But! I'll open up Independent News to cross-posting if non-english/french posts are being reviewed by someone who speaks the language.

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[-] ambitiousslab@feddit.uk 6 points 1 month ago

I like the idea and also want to support independent journalism, but in the UK context, I don't think a separate community makes sense. I had a look at !uk_politics@feddit.uk and !unitedkingdom@feddit.uk and I think most (70%+) of the posts from my unscientific sample would count as independent (in the sense of "free from government and corporate interests, and not controlled by a major media conglomerate").

I wonder if it would make sense to set up a bot to automatically crosspost articles from allowlisted domains from these general news communities? And if unknown links were found, there could be a mechanism to add them to the allowlist?

These were the sources I found:

  • The Guardian
  • Al Jazeera
  • Novara Media
  • The Canary
  • Socialist Worker
  • Morning Star
  • Democracy for Sale
  • BBC
  • Politics Joe
  • ITV
  • New York Post
  • Metro
  • The National
  • Associated Press
  • Big Issue
  • London on the Inside

A lot depends on the definition of independent, and I'm focused on the text rather than perhaps the intent of the definition. If that was stronger, a lot of these could be excluded and a separate community might make more sense.

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago

It's true that it wouldn't make sense for some countries. I'm thinking more like: South Africa, Indonesia, Phillipines, and Japan, for examples. Countries we don't see as often in the north western media, especially in North America. The UK is lucky to have the Guardian and BBC covering major news, too, so they're a special case.

I'm opposed to a bot only because I like to read everything I post, and I tend to select things I don't see covered on my front page - or at least not from the perspective of the article I post. Though, I would be trusting other people to have read the articles they post if we cross-posted manually anyway. It's something to think about. I get that may be too big of an ask and hard to prove.

Media Pluralism covers my intent, to some extent, meaning diversity is one of the goals. I put that in the sidebar of my communities, but could make it more prominent with an explanation. If a guardian article has been posted to one or more major communities, I don't need to post it in mine, kinda thing.

Other than that, I don't want to micromanage what's considered independent if I don't need to. I get that other community mods won't have the exact same ideals as I do.

[-] sga@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

I would be interested to do india related stuff. I sparingly post to /c/india (piefed.social) community, but largely just read passively.

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

Awesome. There's some good, independent journalism coming from India, too.

Would you want to post in English as well as Indian languages? If so, which ones?

Occasionally I add explanations for words/terms North Americans may not understand, but that's not necessary.

[-] sga@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

i personally only majorly read english only, so would do that. my main source would be folks like scroll.in or bbc india, or reporters collective. if you want to check their work, to see if they fit, you definitely should. Also there are many youtube channels who do ground reporting independent of big media houses (news pinch comes to mind, but many more), so may also share that.

Occasionally I add explanations for words/terms North Americans may not understand, but that’s not necessary.

would do that, but i may not know exactly what terms should i add, so may wait for some comments to point out some specific words, otherwise, i can also do a brief post explaining what happens in india and some themes to know, but that would involve a lot work, so i would leave that to a future me (future me hates present me)

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago

It's fair to wait to see what people understand. I guess I have a better vantage point for that.

Scroll.in looks good. I'd personally call it borderline because they don't have an about page and there isn't much transparency, but I understand that the nature of journalism is affected by cultures and policies of the region. BBC is editorially independent enough they fit, but I'd love to see those independently published journalists too. My community is fine with blogs and unincorporated solo projects as long as they're reliable.

My standards shouldn't be everyone's standards, so I trust you to know what counts as independent, reliable and relevant for your country.

For larger orgs I like factordaily.com - though they rarely publish, and https://www.factchecker.in/ and https://countercurrents.org/ - though that last one is heavily biased.

[-] sga@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

over here, basically all media houses (those who do tv) are basically paid indirectly by ruling party (we basically have a olligarcy mixed with populist fascism) so anyone raising questions against ruling party immediately is seen as better. If they are unaffiliated with opposition parties, then that is independent enough for me - basically do not take funding from parties or huge corporations, small corporates or businesses are fine as long as there is no major influence on content (they should not have editorial say on anything basically).

we do not have lobbying as a thing, and any politician taking money from any individual for any reason could be classifieed as wrong doing (that certainly does not stop quid pro quo, they just have to be creative in giving money)

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

Gotcha, so you're looking for editorial independence? That's good enough for me, and the main thing to focus on. You never know what kind of back room deals happen at "independent" publications anyway.

If you want to start a community for that, I'm all for partnering up.

[-] sga@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

the thing is that i am currently working and get not much free time, and maintaining and filling comms is hard. will wait for some time unti i am unemployed again

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Fair enough, and that's grim. I would of course help post/crosspost/mod(if you want) when it's set up. Good luck out there in the meantime!

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

if something is going to be dedicated to journalism I would love it if posts required the five W's and H. as a header to each post. Modern media has destroyed jounalism. The headline should give a decent idea of what its about. The first paragraph should andswer the five W's and H in sort and the rest of the article should expand on it.

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

I disagree on this. Yes, all those questions should be answered in the article, but I don't think they should always be condensed to the first paragraph or stated in the post. There are reasons the writer decided to structure their article the way they did.

The problem with media literacy has as much to do with modern journalism as it does with education, where people form opinion off headlines and/or the first paragraph instead of reading the article.

Some articles, especially in long form journalism, rely on the narrative, and some subjects are too dense and nuanced to simplify in a cold open.

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

Im a believer in the traditional inverted pyramid design. Journalism is not creative writing. The reason to require it in a post is to show it follows that old school actual journalism motto. You could take it on faith but from what I find people post links of things they never even read themselves. Its annoying.

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I read everything I post and think other people should, too. An article should be taken as a whole because I believe in the values of narrative and rhetoric in arguing and conveying information relatably.

Bias is inherent in everything, and long form journalism is actual journalism, which is creative - like all journalism. Narrative structure, context and word choices all play a part in how a piece of writing feels, which was certainly the case in "old school" journalism. Ever read any old articles by Jack London or Hunter S. Thompson?

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

See I don't really consider those journalism in the sense of news. They are more like documentaries in some ways. I mean I like mike royko but I don't want to get my news from his satire even though they do contain news and he did quite a bit of investigation.

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

That's up to you, then, but choice in presentation has and will always be a part of journalism.

If you want to make a community dedicated to bare-bones investigative reports, I support you.

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

oh yeah. of course. I was just giving feedback im not telling you what to do just what I would like. I sorta assume post like this want this type of feedback opinion. Do it any way you like and good luck.

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

I always appreciate other opinions, I hope that came across. I'll always argue my own points of view as well. I was being earnest when I said I'd support you, but it did feel like we came to an impasse.

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

yeah. I often have stuff like that. People have different opinions and even motivations. Im mean your community is about indpendent journalism and not necesarrilly lois lane, perry white old school stuff. I get that. I think a lot of things online can come off as or turn into arguments when really its just people expressing themselves. its all good and I appreciate anything people do.

[-] Wren@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

It's easy to read emotion into something even if it's meant to be neutral. I try to remember that becaue I'm guilty of getting annoyed at text for no reason, too.

I made my communities when I saw rules on other major news coms that inadvertently excluded good journalism but allowed for bigger, less reputatable publications to be posted. I wanted to see more, different, international news and less corporate controlled media.

I don't want to make, but would follow a com dedicated to least biased news sources.

this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026
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