Pacific News Service (PNS) was an American nonprofit

alternative news Alternative media are media sources that differ from established or dominant types of media (such as mainstream media or mass media) in terms of their content, production, or distribution.Downing, John (2001). ''Radical Media''. Thousand Oaks, C ...

media organization. PNS ceased operations in 2017. The organization was located in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

History

PNS was founded in 1969 by

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and sociologist

Franz Schurmann Herbert Franz Schurmann (June 21, 1926 – August 20, 2010) was an American sociologist and historian who was best known for his research and writings about Communist China during the Cold War period. Schurmann taught at the University of Califo ...

and

Orville Schell Orville Hickock Schell III (born May 20, 1940) is an American writer, academic, and activist. He is known for his works on China, and is the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York. He previousl ...

, author, journalist and former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. The original mission of PNS was to supply mainstream newspapers with an independent expert sources and reporting on the United States' role in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. In 1974 after the Vietnam War ended, PNS changed its objective from covering the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, especially California, under the guidance of Executive Editor

Sandy Close Alexandra Close is an American journalist and the founder of Ethnic Media Services. She was the executive director of Pacific News Service from 1974 to 2017 and of New America Media from 1996 to 2017. Early life and education Close received ...

. PNS operated a news-wire service, produced documentary films and television shows, and published ''Youth Outlook'', a monthly news magazine by and about young people. PNS focused on publishing stories written by and about those on the margins of society. In 1995, PNS editor Sandy Close received the MacArthur Genius Award for her work in giving "voice to the voiceless" through PNS.

New America Media New America Media (NAM) was a multimedia ethnic news agency and a coalition of ethnic media. Founded in 1996 by the nonprofit Pacific News Service, NAM was headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, ...

was founded by PNS in 1996, and serves as a clearinghouse for news and feature stories from and in America's ethnic media. On November 1, 2017, the board of directors announced that New America Media and PNS would cease operations by November 30, 2017. New America Media executive director Sandy Close said that the reason for the closure was, "we grew too fast, and were reluctant to cut off programs after their funding expired. We reached a point where we were not sustainable, as currently constituted."

Notable contributors

Some noted contributors include: * T.D. Allman, foreign correspondent who exposed CIA war in Laos, prize-winning author of ''Unmanifest Destiny, Miami: City of the Future, Rogue State'' and ''Finding Florida.'' *

Jamal Dajani Jamal Dajani ( ar, جمال الدجاني) is a Palestinian-American journalist and an award-winning producer. He is the co-founder oArab Talk Radio He formerly served as Director of Strategic Communications & Media for former Palestinian Prime M ...

Lyn Duff Lyn Duff (born 1976) is an American journalist. Her career began in eighth grade with an underground school newspaper and has continued in various written and audio mediums. She has done extensive reporting in Israel and Haiti. After being forced ...

Lucy Komisar Lucy Komisar is a New York City-based investigative journalist and drama critic. Komisar was editor of the ''Mississippi Free Press'' in Jackson, Mississippi from 1962 to 1963. The weekly covered the civil rights movement and related political and ...

, investigative journalist who wrote on

Gladio Operation Gladio is the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU), and subsequently by NATO and the CIA, in collaboration with several European intelligence agencies during ...

(Italian branch of NATO "

stay-behind In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case an enemy occupies that territory. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement or act as sp ...

" secret paramilitary organizations, which has been involved in terrorist "

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...

" operations, starting with the 1969

Piazza Fontana bombing The Piazza Fontana bombing ( it, Strage di Piazza Fontana) was a terrorist attack that occurred on 12 December 1969 when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana ...

) and also on

Clearstream Clearstream is a financial services company that specializes in the settlement of securities transactions and is owned by Deutsche Börse AG. It provides settlement and custody as well as other related services for securities across all asset cl ...

scandal, one of the biggest financial scandals ever *

Andrew Lam Andrew Lam (born 1964) is a Vietnamese American author and journalist who has written about the Overseas Vietnamese experience. Biography Andrew Lam was born Lâm Quang Dũng in 1964 in South Vietnam. He led a privileged life as the son of Gen ...

Renée Montagne Renée Montagne (pronounced Mon-TAIN) is an American radio journalist and was the co-host (with Steve Inskeep and David Greene) of National Public Radio's weekday morning news program, ''Morning Edition'', from May 2004 to November 11, 2016. Mo ...

Richard Rodriguez Richard Rodriguez (born July 31, 1944) is an American writer who became famous as the author of '' Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez'' (1982), a narrative about his intellectual development. Early life He was born on July 3 ...

, contributor to ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...

'' *

, co-founder of PNS *

Yoichi Shimatsu Pacific News Service (PNS) was an American nonprofit alternative news media organization. PNS ceased operations in 2017. The organization was located in Berkeley, California. History PNS was founded in 1969 by historian and sociologist Fra ...

, former associate editor of PNSDangers of U.S. Foreign Intervention
current contributor to related New America Media * William O. Beeman, anthropologist, political analyst and author * Walter Truett Anderson, political scientist, social psychologist and author

References

External links

pacificnews.org
Organization's official website which is now a dead link, but past pages available vi
Wayback Machine:www.pacificnews.org

IlkaHartmann.com
Photographer who contributed to Pacific News Service. {{Authority control 1969 establishments in California Alternative journalism organizations Organizations based in Berkeley, California Mass media in Alameda County, California News agencies based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in California Organizations established in 1969 Mass media in Berkeley, California

History

Notable contributors

See also

References

External links