News

From public meltdowns to public breakups, Alex Balcerski dishes the dirt in the celebrity news series It Could Be Worse. It's a shame that the episodes aren't exactly posted on the weekly schedule the channel shoots for, as the celebrity world moves so fast. But when they eps do go up they're always lots of fun.

You wouldn't think there’s so much to say about Superman these days. Smallville has been off air for a while, and everyone seems more concerned with The Avengers and other Marvel Comics superheroes than the Man of Steel. Yet somehow Steven Younis manages to pull together enough Superman news to present his news program Speeding Bullet each week.

The YBOT Boys chat about the latest news in the world of technology and the internet in their fun tech series Your Brain on Tech. Its good humor and short five-minute format is very appealing, but the sporadic episodes are a bit disappointing. While the creators boast weekly episodes, we've been waiting since the end of July for the next one. The world of technology moves far too fast for that!

Americans Andrew Hawkins and Hiroki Matsuuchi deal with the culture shock of their new Japanese homes through their lighthearted news channel Bad Communication. While the lads look at the news from Japan, it's not really a program designed to inform. Instead it's there to illicit a few laughs, and the natural chemistry between the hosts ensures it does this week after week.

When Laura Flanders announced she was putting an end to GRITtv's 30-minute news broadcasts, many of us thought the sharp news channel would go the way of the dinosaurs. But it continues to live on online, with intelligent viewer submitted content and interviews conducted by Flanders herself. She may not be churning out the daily content she once did, but it should still satisfy fans.

America may be the land of the free, but that doesn't seem to apply to its media. With broadcast journalism becoming a corporate entity owned by a few fat cats, independent news channel Democracy Now! looks to offer an alternative. Its daily output of content is impressive, although the hour-long episodes are a bit heavy-going for the average internet user.

Experienced journalist Richard Gizbert knows that when it comes to the media, often the story that isn't told is just as important as the one that is. With his news series Listening Post, the Al Jazeera reporter dissects the world's media coverage. Its attention to traditional media forms alongside new online media is impressive, as is the in depth analysis.

Stratfor provides an intelligent alternative to the edutainment that passes as mainstream broadcast news. Its high brow videos are pretty heavy going, but they're ideal for anyone who wants to truly understand the world around them. Political and economic stories dominate this news series, which posts new episodes every weekday.

If you believe the Bollywood movies, India is a colorful and cheery place where people sing and dance in the street. The team from Video Volunteers tells a very different story with their local news channel IndiaUnheard. As its name suggests the webseries puts cameras into the hands of marginalized people and encourages them to reveal the true India.

NTD TV China News is striking out against the heavily regulated and heavily censored government run media industry of China with its independent news broadcasts. The television station is run out of New York City, so it's free to report exactly what's going on in the Asian country. This daily series is worth a look if you want the real story on China.