Close the Circuit
Last summer, as California was going through yet another heatwave, our refrigerator called it quits. Some tinkering around revealed the compressor was the culprit. Fixable for sure. But every electrician we called told us it wasn’t worth it — between the labor charges...
Inside Biden’s uphill battle to restore the EPA after Trump
Laws are only as good as their enforcement. During his four years in office, former President Donald Trump’s appointees to the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, decimated the agency’s ability to catch and penalize polluters breaking environmental rules. As a...
Biden “Illegally” Bombs Iranian-Backed Militias in Syria, Jeopardizing Nuclear Talks with Tehran
The Biden administration is facing intense criticism from U.S. progressives after carrying out airstrikes on eastern Syria said to be targeting Iranian-backed militia groups. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports at least 22 people died. The...
India Targets Climate Activists With the Help of Big Tech
THE BANK OF cameras that camped outside Delhi’s sprawling Tihar jail was the sort of media frenzy you would expect to await a prime minister caught in an embezzlement scandal, or perhaps a Bollywood star caught in the wrong bed. Instead, the cameras were waiting...
How Inequity Gets Built Into America’s Vaccination System
It’s a fact that simply being eligible for a vaccine in America doesn’t mean that you can instantly get one. Yet the ability to get to the front of the line isn’t the same for everyone. ProPublica has found that, whether intentionally or not, some vaccine programs...
Trump Briefings? Always News. Biden Briefings? Not News.
Nowadays, corporate media would have you believe they are appalled by Donald Trump: He’s a liar and a cheat who distorted our democracy and was rotten to the press. I mean, they had to cover him because he was president, but they held their nose the whole time, and...
Backlash Over the Equality Act Is Fueling State-Level Attacks on Trans Youth
The Equality Act — the landmark piece of LGBTQ legislation passed for a second time by the House of Representatives this week — faces near insurmountable odds to pass and become law as currently written. Support for it in the Senate is currently nowhere near...
Republicans Are Trying to Kill What’s Left of the Voting Rights Act
In 2013, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion gutting Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required that states with a long history of discrimination had to approve their voting changes with the federal government. That ruling led to a...
$15 Minimum Wage Is Dead for Now, Thanks to Democrats Manchin and Sinema
The push for a $15 federal minimum wage in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus is dead as the proposal’s last hope has been abandoned by its main proponents. The last best hope for the inclusion of the $15 minimum wage was a proposal by Senate Budget Chair...
Student Work
“Home is Here” Documentary by PCIM Intern Julien Sobel
“Home is Here” explores the life of Dolores, an undocumented farmworker in Upstate New York, as she talks about her experiences, her struggles, and the work she is doing to help others in situations similar to hers. The 26-minute documentary broadcasted...
Internship: Madison Fernandez at The Ithaca Voice
Madison Fernandez '21 (Journalism) has been working with The Ithaca Voice, where she's been pitching and writing lots of stories—around 40 her first month. Her favorites covered the new Odyssey Bookstore, where she conducted her first socially-distanced in-person...
The Indy Brief
Big Tech and E-Waste
March 2, 2021 The Park Center for Independent Media circulates the Indy Brief. Subscribe for a weekly selection of news stories from journalists operating outside traditional corporate systems. Subscribe The Headlines U.S. Politics $15 Minimum Wage Is Dead...
Vaccine Supply Chains, Texas Freeze
February 23, 2021 The Park Center for Independent Media circulates the Indy Brief. Subscribe for a weekly selection of news stories from journalists operating outside traditional corporate systems. Subscribe The Headlines U.S. Politics FBI Seized...
PCIM Exclusives
Yes, Antiwar Democrats Should Appear on Fox
Ithaca College alum and former PCIM student Sean Reardon writes his thoughts on the double standards and poor journalism in the Twitter discourse surrounding California Representative Ro Khanna’s December 1 interview on Fox News. “I fail to see the downside to...
‘2016 Was Not A Fluke’ — Unpacking Election 2020
The Park Center for Independent Media hosted a panel discussion on the results of election 2020, featuring Ithaca College-affiliated speakers who are experts in politics, media, and culture. The conversation tackled the issues that influenced the presidential race,...
Izzy Award 2020
The Park Center for Independent Media held the 12th annual Izzy Award ceremony Oct. 28, honoring the 2019 work of "News Inside"; the Puerto Rican organization Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI, the Center for Investigative Journalism); and journalist Matt...
Commentary: Why Election 2020 Could Be a Turning Point in the History of United States
by Raza Rumi* On November 3, 2020, Americans will elect their next president, but this is not the traditional electoral contest. In many ways, this race will determine the political direction of the country. American voters are confronted with the choice of advancing...
Featured
Nominations Open for 13th Annual ‘Izzy Award’ for Independent Media
With the Izzy Award set to celebrate its 13th year, award nominations are now open for work produced in the calendar year 2020. The annual honor for outstanding achievement in independent media — named after legendary journalist I. F. “Izzy” Stone — is...
A Record Number of U.S. Journalists Arrested in 2020
The U.S. has seen a 1200% increase in the number of journalists arrested compared to 2019, according to a new report from Freedom of the Press foundation (FPF). The organization tracked 117 arrests or detainments of journalists, which is up from 9 last year. With data...
The Decline of American Journalism—Robert McChesney
On theAnalysis.news podcast, author, activist, and Izzy Award judge Robert McChesney joins Paul Jay to discuss the degradation of American media. “The range of legitimate debate on political issues has always been pretty much set by people in power.” As real...