Sites You Need

Sunday's talk shows were like paid political advertising for the George Bush re-election campaign. Reporters were reduced to talking airheads.

Tim Russert to Dick Cheney: "How's your health?"

Cheney: "Good. No complaints."

Russert: "Do you prefer french fries or freedom fries?"

Cheney: "I don't eat them, whatever they're called."

Or Bob Schieffer on CBS: "Well, I mean, do you think that the president will announce some sort of timetable today from the Azores?"

Cheney: "Bob, I . . . I don't want to be in a position where I predict what my boss is going to do."

Schieffer: "I understand."

Instead of complaining about the U.S. press coverage, why not just skip it, or at least supplement it? Here is a very incomplete, short list of sites that will actually tell you what's going on:

BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk): best basic location for information about the war itself and the effects on other parts of the world. Replace CNN, ABC, Fox News, etc., with this.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC.ca/news/iraq): another strong alternative. Commonwealth Institute War Report (comw.org): an excellent resource for background articles on all aspects of the Iraq war.

The London Independent (independent.co.uk): generally excellent foreign reporting. Watch for Robert Fisk's Middle Eastern stories.

Financial Times (news.ft.com) for both general foreign reportage and business news. Replace The Wall Street Journal with this.

Haaretz (haaretzdaily.com): informed, skeptical Israeli newspaper, for news from what could soon be the second front.

Additional reporting: Phoebe St John, Mosi Secret, and Joanna Khenkine