Pacific News Service

PNS was founded in 1969 by historian and sociologist Franz Schurmann and Orville Schell, author, journalist and former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/new-america-media-is-closing-and-thats-bad-news-for-all-american-media/|title=New America Media Is Closing—and That's Bad News for All American Media|last=Walsh|first=Joan|date=2017-11-03|work=The Nation|access-date=2019-01-01|language=en-US|issn=0027-8378|archive-date=2019-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102050818/https://www.thenation.com/article/new-america-media-is-closing-and-thats-bad-news-for-all-american-media/|url-status=dead}} The original mission of PNS was to supply mainstream newspapers with an independent expert sources and reporting on the United States' role in Indochina during the Vietnam War.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27schurmann.html|title=Franz Schurmann, Cold War Expert on China, Dies at 84|last=Weber|first=Bruce|date=2010-08-26|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-01-01|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

In 1974 after the Vietnam War ended, PNS changed its objective from covering the Far East to the United States, especially California, under the guidance of Executive Editor Sandy Close.

PNS operated a news-wire service, produced documentary films and television shows, and published Youth Outlook, a monthly news magazine by and about young people.{{Cite web|url=https://comptonherald.org/new-america-media-announces-closure/|title=New America Media announces closure|author1=New America Media|date=2017-11-10|website=Compton Herald|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-01|archive-date=2019-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102094521/https://comptonherald.org/new-america-media-announces-closure/|url-status=dead}} PNS focused on publishing stories written by and about those on the margins of society.

In 1995, PNS editor Sandy Close received the MacArthur Genius Award for her work in giving "voice to the voiceless" through PNS.{{Cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/507/|title=Sandy Close|website=www.macfound.org - MacArthur Foundation|access-date=2019-01-01}}

New America Media was founded by PNS in 1996, and served as a clearinghouse for news and feature stories from and in America's ethnic media.

On November 1, 2017, the board of directors announced that New America Media and PNS would cease operations by November 30, 2017.{{cite web|title=Pacific News Service dba New America Media Announces Closure of Organization|url=http://newamericamedia.org/2017/11/pacific-news-service-dba-new-america-media-announces-closure-of-organization.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107015649/http://newamericamedia.org/2017/11/pacific-news-service-dba-new-america-media-announces-closure-of-organization.php|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 7, 2017|website=New America Media|accessdate=3 November 2017|language=en}} New America Media executive director Sandy Close said that the reason for the closure was, "we grew too fast, and were reluctant to cut off programs after their funding expired. We reached a point where we were not sustainable, as currently constituted."

Some noted contributors include:

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• T. D. Allman, foreign correspondent who exposed CIA war in Laos, prize-winning author of Unmanifest Destiny, Miami: City of the Future, Rogue State and Finding Florida.
• Walter Truett Anderson, political scientist, social psychologist and author
• William O. Beeman, anthropologist, political analyst and author
• Jamal Dajani
• Lyn Duff
• Lucy Komisar, investigative journalist who wrote on Gladio (Italian branch of NATO "stay-behind" secret paramilitary organizations, which has been involved in terrorist "false flag" operations, starting with the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing) and also on Clearstream scandal, one of the biggest financial scandals ever
• Andrew Lam
• Renée Montagne
• Richard Rodriguez, contributor to PBS NewsHour
• Franz Schurmann, co-founder of PNS
• Yoichi Shimatsu, former associate editor of PNS[http://highbrowmagazine.com/dangers-us-3foreign-85intervention Dangers of U.S. Foreign Intervention], current contributor to related New America Media

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{{portal|California|Journalism}}

• Alternative news agency
• News agency

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20021128180853/http://www.pacificnews.org/ pacificnews.org] Organization's official website which is now a dead link

::past pages available via [https://web.archive.org/web/20000815000000*/http://www.pacificnews.org/ Wayback Machine: www.pacificnews.org].

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20030425080456/http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=47 History] at Pacific News Service

Contributors

• Ilka Hartmann, Photographer who contributed to Pacific News Service.
• {{cite web |title=Ilka Hartmann, Photographer |url=https://www.ilkahartmann.com/ |website=www.ilkahartmann.com |access-date=9 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021112144812/http://www.ilkahartmann.com/ |archive-date=2002-11-12}}
• {{cite web |title=Home |url=http://ilkahartmann.squarespace.com/ |website=Ilka Hartmann Photography |publisher=squarespace.com |access-date=9 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241209193853/http://ilkahartmann.squarespace.com/ |archive-date=9 December 2024}}

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Category:1969 establishments in California

Category:2017 disestablishments in California

Category:Alternative journalism organizations

Category:Organizations based in Berkeley, California

Category:Organizations established in 1969

Category:Mass media in Alameda County, California

Category:Mass media in Berkeley, California

Category:News agencies based in the United States

Category:Non-profit organizations based in California