The Digital Beat Extra is a free online news service provided by the Benton Foundation. Much like our Digital Beat Daily , Digital Beat Extras are intended to keep you up to date on important industry developments, policy issues, and other pertinent communications-related news events.
Extras go beyond the headlines to get a deeper perspective of selected topics.
We welcome your suggestions. As the number of daily newspapers continues to dwindle and media companies of all stripe race to consolidate, the Internet is often seen as the last venue in which alternative and independent journalists can have a voice. Hundreds of independent, small, progressive news organizations and individual reporters descended on Seattle in the last days of November to bring the world news about the WTO, free trade and grassroots activism. According to media organizers involved with the independent efforts in Seattle, the public was desperate for news it was not getting from the main stream media. A glance at Web sites displaying the work of independent journalist shows hundreds of stories addressing the ramifications of WTO policies on everything from the survival of family farms and availability of public education around the world, to rising the global temperatures caused by ozone depletion.