Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow....

... syndicated his This Modern World cartoon to alternative weeklies in different parts of the country.  But when an "alternative" weekly chain cancelled his cartoon, he was financially hurt. (Luckily, he was soon asked to do a Pearl Jam album cover.)

Formulaic News

A BBC correspondent lampoons and deconstructs the sameyness (and cliches) of  mainstream TV news reports.

Will Pay Walls Around News Content Work?

No, says Arianna Huffington in May 2009 U.S. Senate testimony. And here's "Life After the Pay Wall" nightmare scenario from Advertising Age.  (A former indy media student complained about Boston Globe's paywall around the Globe's editorial.)

Bloggers' Rights to Access

In March, a Massachusetts court ruled that blogger deserve the same privileges in covering courts and trials as traditional media. (H/t former student Bianca N.)

"The Internet Is My Religion"

Dazzling speech from Brave New Films' Jim Gilliam (who was raised a conservative Christian evangelical) discussing how the Internet offered him salvation -- and literally saved his life.

Pre-financing of indy media projects

Spot.Us involves the community in funding watchdog journalism, and was founded in 2008 by David Cohn.

Kickstarter.com is "a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers..." A key aspect of Kickstarter and similar funding platforms is "All or Nothing funding."

On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

"Iraq for Sale" documentary was...

...funded mostly by small donors BEFORE the documentary was made -- and example of grassroots pre-financing.