 I was trained as a newspaper man and became a foreign correspondent based in London. Although the mainstream media was always an extension of established power. In those days there was space for independent journalists. Indeed we are often welcome. Today those spaces have long gone. Shut down as the media has become an echo of itself. But this isn't another tale of woe about the media. For on the net you can find some of the finest journalism. And none finer than at consortium news.com, which was started in the 1990s by the late and great Bob Perry. And is today edited by his outstanding successor, Joe Laurier consortium is what newspapers used to be. It's up to the minute news and analysis are superb. It sees the world from the ground up, not from the top down. It exposes and decodes the unrelenting propaganda of power. And this includes the many stories the mainstream media neglects and willfully ignores, not least the persecution of Julian Assange. But consortium can't run on praise alone, and it needs your help urgently. Please support Joe Laurier's fundraiser and help keep real journalism alive. Thank you.