AlterNet

Alt-media that changed ownership in 2018, now NewsGuard gives Alternet a "green" rating.

File:AlterNet.png

 http://www.alternet.org link Sourcewatch
Started: June 16, 1997

Owner: Independent Media Institute

AlterNet is a US Left-wing online news outlet,, although it follows many of the corporate grand narratives when they align with what the Democratic Party espouses.

It was launched in 1998 by the Independent Media Institute. In 2018, the website was acquired by the owners of The Raw Story Inc.

While it has published many interesting stories, especially in its first decade, claiming to have developed a "unique model of journalism to confront the failures of corporate media, as well as vitriol and disinformation of right wing media, especially 'hate talk" media', it follows many of the corporate grand narratives, especially when they align with the Democratic Party.. This trend seems to have increased since 2018.

As an indication of this change, the CIA front organization NewsGuard gives Alternet a "green" rating, although it gave the site a poor rating on the "handles the difference between news and opinion responsibly" criterion. In 2019, NewsGuard said that AlterNet had been among media sources that had changed their practices as part of NewsGuard's rating process, by providing additional information about ownership or financing.

Another sign that AlterNet is losing the independent edge it used to have, is the fact that "many of AlterNet's readers come from search engines (like Google), a testament to the fact that AlterNet reaches beyond the typical “choir" of progressive readers." Most genuine dissident sites were made invisible by Google in the years before 2020.