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Common Dreams NewsCenter, often referred to simply as Common Dreams, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit U.S. based progressive news website.[1][2] Common Dreams publishes news stories, editorials and a newswire of current breaking news. Common Dreams also re-publishes relevant content from numerous other sources such as the Associated Press and writers such as Robert Reich and the late Molly Ivins. The website also provides links to other relevant columnists, periodicals, radio outlets, news services, and websites.

History

Inspiration for the website name "Common Dreams.org" came from the book title The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is Wracked by Culture Wars, written by Todd Gitlin and published in 1995.

The non-profit organization Common Dreams was founded in 1996 by political consultant Craig Brown, and the News Center launched the following year, in May 1997, by Brown and his wife Lina Newhouser (1951–2008). Brown, a native of Massachusetts, has a long history in progressive politics. He was the director of the Maine Public Interest Research Group from 1973 to 1977 and worked on the presidential campaigns of former US Senators Alan Cranston and Paul Simon. Brown also served as Tom Andrews' Chief of Staff from 1990 to 1994.[3] Part of Brown's job was to compile news for Representative Andrews, which gave him the impetus to do the same on the internet.[4]

During the Kosovo War Common Dreams hosted the "Drumbeats of War" site which, according to the BBC, presented "a round-up of interesting articles with wide-ranging points of view that have previously appeared in newspapers and journals across the United States."[5] Known for its anti-war stance,[6][7] by August 2003 commondreams.org had sold a quarter-million stickers at cost with the message: "Attack Iraq? NO!"[8] Common Dreams has never accepted advertisements or special interest money since its inception, sustaining itself through the contributions of its members and readers, with a few foundation grants along the way. This policy was established to assure its independence as a media outlet.

Praise and criticism

Common Dreams attracts both praise and criticism in political circles. Among its notable supporters are Bill Moyers,[9] Ralph Nader, and Don Imus.[3] The organization has been criticized both for being too progressive[10] and for not being progressive enough. [11]

Many Common Dreams users have criticized the site for its practice of banning users of its reader-comment utility for no obvious violations of the posting rules, but rather for deviations from (often to the left of) certain politically moderated positions, or for any mentioning that Common Dreams bans users.[12] A “purge” of left-critics of Democratic party candidates occurred just before and after the November 2008 election. The comment deletions and bannings occurred with no notice or explanation from the moderator. Since Jan. 2010 the banning is accompanied at some of the deleted postings the note: *Comment deleted by site administrators for violating our Comment Policy*. The posters are banned and the rest of their postings deleted from the site without any recourse to appeal or explanation. Posters appear to be banned and their postings deleted based on disagreement with the views presented in the relevant articles [12], or with unstated political views of the editors. (The sanitation of CommonDreams' image extends to repeatedly purging this Wikipedia-entry by deleting this paragraph with its references, and replacing it with e.g. the unspecific statement that: "Common Dreams attracts both praise and criticism in political circles", or the biased: "A few persistent Common Dreams critics have complained that the site has a practice of banning users...", further stating "They claim...", thus disregarding the existing documentation[12] .) In this way, CommonDreams is hypocritical in often (re)publishing articles promoting free speech and open rules, while not practicing this themselves.

On Aug. 22, 2012, Commondreams owner Craig Brown posted this on the matter of comment deletions: "... anonymous posters who [...] spread conspiracy theories about mass "censorship" will be banned from commenting on our site."[13]

Features

Common Dreams has featured original articles by the following authors:

References

  1. ^ Balko, Radley (2003). "Has Ashcroft Abandoned Federalism for Federal Power". Fox News. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b "Common Dreams entry on 'Discover the Network'". Horowitz, David. Archived from the original on 2006-02-22. Retrieved 2006-09-05.
  3. ^ a b "CommonDreams.org 'about us'". {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Rob, Kelley (2007). "[[Willamette Week]] Online". War on the Web Four sites worth checking out. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  5. ^ "Kosovo - the conflict on the Web". BBC Online. June 14, 1999. Retrieved January 2, 2010. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Campbell, Duncan (2001). "Internet Gives Peace a Chance; The anti-war movement has been fuelled by counter-cultural online news services, making it very different from its Vietnam predecessor". Guardian Unlimited (London). {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Nieves, Evelyn (2003). "Antiwar Organizer's Politics Cause Rift; In a letter on the Web site Commondreams.org, more than 150 of the most notable progressive writers and intellectuals in the country." (subscription required). Washington Post: A22. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Weinstein, Joshua L. (2003). "Spur-of-the-moment thought clicks with critics of Iraq war;A Maine man sells 250,000 anti-war bumper stickers over the Internet". Portland Press Herald (Maine): 10A. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Ritch, Willy (2007). "Audio Interview - Bill Moyers exclusively with CommonDreams". {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Common Dreams Profile. Discoverthenetworks.org: A Guide to the Political Left. 2003. Access date unknown.
  11. ^ "Common Dreams website completely fails to cover A22 Bush protest". Portland Independent Media Center. 6 September 2002
  12. ^ a b c Logan, Tony (2008-11-15). "Common Dreams? Or is it censorship in common with the corporate media?". Notmytribe.com. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
  13. ^ http://www.commondreams.org/spam-filter-glitches
  14. ^ Kirkpatrick, David (2006). "Two T-Shirts, Two Messages and Two Capitol Ejections". New York Times. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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