Truthout.org

TruthOut.org is a political website aimed at providing an alternative to corporate news sources. It was started in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election with the goal of, in its words, "hoping to reach a few people, have some small impact on the dialogue, and maybe try to restore a little integrity." It claims to have more than 4 million visits per month.

Some of its prominent contributors include William Rivers Pitt, Jason Leopold, Scott Galindez, David Bacon, Dean Baker, Tom Engelhardt, William Fisher, Dahr Jamail, Ray McGovern, J. Sri Raman, Norman Solomon, David Swanson and James Zogby. The organization has reported extensively on the anti-war movement and helped to put Cindy Sheehan on the map by publishing many of her writings. Focus is also provided to issues concerning the environment, labor, women, health, and voter rights. Its articles are now carried by press release archives like [http://www.wn.com World News] , [http://www.scoop.co.nz/ scoop.co.nz/] and [http://www.californianews.com California News] . It has been critisized by some for constantly asking for funds when the organization took in approximately $1,500,000 in 2007 and paid Director Marc Ash over $188,000 in annual compensation [http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=guidestar&npoId=100724559] .

The website also had a blog where visitors could discuss various issues or specific articles.

Karl Rove Indictment Controversy

On May 13, 2006, Truthout.org reporter Jason Leopold wrote that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove had been indicted as part of the investigation into the Valerie Plame affair. On May 19th, after almost a week had passed with no announcement of the indictment, Truthout.org Executive Director Marc Ash issued a "partial apology". [McLeary, Paul. [http://www.cjr.org/politics/jason_leopold_caught_sourceles.php "Jason Leopold Caught Sourceless Again."] "Columbia Journalism Review," June 13, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2008.] ]

On June 14, in response to news reports that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald would not be pursuing charges against Rove, Truthout Executive Director Marc Ash issued a statement that TruthOut was "standing down on the Rove matter." He wrote, in part, "Obviously there is a major contradiction between our version of the story and what was reported yesterday [by the mainstream media] . As such, we are going to stand down on the Rove matter at this time. We defer instead to the nation's leading publications." As to the status of Jason Leopold, Ash writes, "There is no indication that Mr. Leopold acted unethically," and, " [W] e stand firmly behind Jason Leopold."

Blocking by ISPs

As of September 13, 2007, subscribers to Truthout's newsletters have found that the website's emails are often blocked, marked as "spam", or otherwise routed away from the default inbox. Some users have reported success by adding Truthout's email address to their address book, but Truthout claims that Microsoft Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and until recently, AOL Mail have confirmed that Truthout's messages are being interfered with due to Truthout's "reputation". [http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091307Z.shtml]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.truthout.org TruthOut web site]