CounterPunch
CounterPunch is a bi-weekly newsletter published in the United States that covers politics in a manner its editors describe as "muckraking with a radical attitude". It includes a website, updated daily, which contains much more material not published in the newsletter.
Running six to eight pages in length, the CounterPunch newsletter primarily publishes commentaries by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair with regular contributions by a wide range of others. It is noted for its critical coverage of both Democratic and Republican politicians and its extensive reporting of environmental and trade union issues, American foreign policy, and the Israeli-Arab conflict.[citation needed]
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[edit] History
The newsletter was established in 1994 by the Washington, D.C.-based investigative reporter Ken Silverstein. He was soon joined by the journalists Cockburn and St. Clair. In 1996 Silverstein left the publication and Cockburn and St. Clair have since been co-editors.
[edit] Contributors
Notable contributors to CounterPunch have included Robert Fisk, Edward Said, Tim Wise, Ralph Nader, M. Shahid Alam, Tariq Ali, Ward Churchill, Lila Rajiva, Peter Linebaugh, Tanya Reinhart, Noam Chomsky, Frank "Chuck" Spinney and Alexander Cockburn's two brothers, Andrew and Patrick, both of whom write on the Middle East, Iraq in particular.
Some paleoconservative writers such as Paul Craig Roberts and William Lind and libertarian writers such as Sheldon Richman and Anthony Gregory also contribute to CounterPunch. The site regularly publishes articles from those with left-wing views, such as Lenni Brenner, Fidel Castro, and the late Stew Albert, as well as newer contributors, such as Diane Christian, Joshua Frank, Norman Finkelstein, Ron Jacobs, Pam Martens, Gary Leupp, Cynthia McKinney,[1] Kelly Overton and David Price.
[edit] Criticism
Ben Cohen of the American Jewish Committee has described Counterpunch as "frequently anti-Semitic."[2]
A number of writers, such as Franklin Foer of The New Republic and political commentator Steven Plaut, have written articles charging CounterPunch of being biased against Israel and antisemitic. Plaut cites the controversial anti-Zionist Gilad Atzmon in particular, and alleges that, "Almost every self-hating Jew on the planet capable of banging on a keyboard is today either a columnist for the anti-American web magazine Counterpunch ... or is an object of Counterpunch’s celebration."[3][4]
CounterPunch has also been criticised by anti-Zionist activists Tony Greenstein and Roland Rance of Jews Against Zionism, for its practice of publishing articles by writers such as Gilad Atzmon and Israel Shamir which they describe as "blurring the distinction" between Zionism and Judaism, and failing to publish responses to these articles. [5][6]
In 2009, CounterPunch's publication of articles by Alison Weir on organ transplant accusations were accused of disseminating the medieval antisemitic blood libel.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ McKinney, Cynthia; Cynthia McKinney (September 18 2002). "Goodbye to All That". counterpunch.org. http://www.counterpunch.org/mckinney0918.html. Regarding COINTELPRO
- ^ Race encyclopedia's flawed compromise, Ben Cohen, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 4, 2009. [1]
- ^ Plaut, Steven (June 21 2005). "CounterPunch's Self-Hating Jews". frontpagemag.com. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=18477.
- ^ Taranto, James. "The Devil You Know". The New Republic Online. https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=express&s=foer040902.
- ^ "Reply to Gilad Atzmon’s 'What is to be Done?’". What Next Magazine. http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Politics/Atzmonreply.html.
- ^ "Open Letter to CounterPunch: Who’s Afraid of Gilad Atzmon and the Holocaust Deniers? or Why Alex Cockburn Refuses to Print a Reply to Mary Rizzo". What Next Magazine. http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages///Politics/Counterpunch.html.
- ^ http://www.antisemitism.org.il/eng/articles/43907/Whyleftwinganti-ZionismisantisemitismByDanielGreenfield
