drilling beneath the headlines
Linked with Chris Hedges – USA.
… Truthdig is a Web magazine that provides expert coverage of current affairs as well as a variety of thoughtful, provocative content assembled from a progressive point of view. The site is built around reports by authorities in their fields who conduct in-depth exploration of contemporary topics. To offer frequent change and surprise, the magazine also presents a diversity of original reporting and aggregated content culled by the site’s editors and staff … (about 1/2).
Homepage and many links (newsletters);
digs;
reports;
ear to the ground;
uncovered;
A/V booth;
cartoons;
address: Truthdig, 1158 26th St., No. 443, Santa Monica, CA 90403-4698;
contact.
About 2/2: In this hyperlinked, blog-filled, talk-show-dominated world, discourse is often a food fight. It is increasingly difficult for people seeking to understand the world to find stories in depth, told by those who know their topic best.
An exception in 2004 was « The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq, » by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Robert Scheer, co-authored with his son Christopher Scheer and reporter Lakshmi Chaudhry and funded by readers of the Web site Alternet.org. Despite receiving little play in the media, the book, which describes the roots of the Iraq quagmire, received publicity via the Internet, alternative radio shows and word of mouth and landed on the Los Angeles Times best-seller list. Three decades earlier, Pulitzer Prize finalist Scheer had challenged conventional thinking with 1965’s groundbreaking « How the U.S. Got Involved in Vietnam, » which helped to launch a new era of investigative reporting.
The lesson was that if you respect the story and present it in a clear way, it will find an audience. There have always been and will always be people digging for the truth, rather than simply accepting the conventional wisdom of the day. It is these people we hope to reach with our Web magazine, Truthdig.
Truthdig was co-founded by Los Angeles entrepreneur Zuade Kaufman, who serves as publisher, and journalist Robert Scheer, the Web site’s editor.
Kaufman, who holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California, is a former reporter for the Westside Weekly, a Los Angeles Times publication. A photojournalist, she occasionally shoots portraits and photo essays for Truthdig.
Syndicated columnist Robert Scheer, based at the San Francisco Chronicle, is also a syndicated radio talk-show host on NPR and author of several acclaimed books, including, most recently, « Playing President: My Relationships With Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton — and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush »
Wasserman, a director of Kneerim & Williams at Fish & Richardson and manager of its New York office, was editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review from 1996 to 2005 and a principal architect of the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
Peter Scheer, the son of journalists Robert Scheer and Narda Zacchino, grew up in the newspaper business. He graduated with a communication degree from the University of Southern California and, after working in the movie business, joined Truthdig, where he is now managing editor.
After earning a degree in English literature and sociology at Swarthmore College, Anderson worked as a Web journalist in San Francisco and as an entertainment reporter for the New York Daily News. She has also written freelance pieces for Salon.com and the Orlando Sentinel, among other publications. At the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication, she received a master’s degree. In addition to being Truthdig’s associate editor, she is writing a doctoral dissertation on celebrity and politics … (full text).