Dear comrades and friends,
We are happy to inform you that The Dawn News has been relaunched as Peoples Dispatch.
The Dawn News was born in 2015 as part of a vision to transform the ‘Foreign/International’ section of media coverage. Across the world, news that forms part of this section has for long been narrowly restricted to the analysis of the whims of certain individuals and staid stereotypes about identities that privilege the perspectives of the elite.
Except for moments of crisis, people’s movements – the most authentic social expressions of a populace – rarely find a voice in the coverage of news that instead becomes an amalgamation of the contrasting views of those in power and a narrow band of experts. This tendency is accentuated by the dominance of a few organizations in the realm of ‘foreign’ news. The by-product of this dominance is the setting of certain narratives about countries and societies. What is ignored is the diversity of articulations and assertions being made by millions of people – trade unionists, unorganized workers, human rights defenders, environmental activists, feminists and those fighting racial, ethnic and caste injustice, among others.
When news about ‘foreign’ countries gets reduced to the deeds of presidents and corporate mergers, what is missed out is the shared experience of struggle, the common threads that bind our aspirations for a more just society. Those reported about become passive tools of social processes rather than the active instigators of change they are. It is ironic, yet perfectly natural that in this time of media being owned by big corporations, as the volume and extent of media coverage increases, the above mentioned tendencies seem to get amplified. There are notable exceptions of course, yet they are too few in number.
Since its inception, The Dawn News has sought be such an exception, delving into the world of people’s movements and chronicling the struggles of workers, peasants, and all those fighting for a better life. In recent times, we have also tried to present breaking news, but with a different perspective from that of most mainstream media outlets.
The launch of Peoples Dispatch marks a new phase in our endeavor. In this phase, we aim to diversify our coverage to encompass more movements from world over at a time when resistance to capitalism is on the rise.
As The Dawn News, we have had the extraordinary privilege of having a community of readers who have followed our work closely and helped us on innumerable occasions with corrections, input and offers of help. We are honored to be read by those with deep political and social commitment, whose years of involvement in a cross-section of struggles help inform our own work. As Peoples Dispatch, we hope that this support from our readers continues and that together, we march forward on the path towards another, better world.
Happy Reading!
In solidarity,
Peoples Dispatch Team
