Alternate Focus (www.alternatefocus.org) is an organization based in San Diego, California, that has been broadcasting on US cable access stations. Their weekly half-hour show about Middle East issues has aired for the last three years. In 2003, Alternate Focus received the Community Achievement Award from the San Diego Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Thanks to the growth of broadband and the Internet, Alternate Focus has recently begun offering their programs free of charge on Google Video, YouTube, MySpace and Archive.org. Thirty of their documentaries and interviews are now available online and the group will be posting more productions on the Internet in the future.
Founded by a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim, Alternate Focus is an all-volunteer registered nonprofit organization dedicated to broadcasting “the other side of the story” on the Middle East. Their videos cover the situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Iraq War and other Middle East-related issues. Alternate Focus has over 20 producers who help with every aspect of video production, broadcasting, and DVD distribution to libraries and schools.
Some of Alternate Focus’ newer shows are: “Orpheus in Nazareth,” which is about a joint Israeli-Palestinian music program; “Divesting from Violence,” which is about the Presbyterian Church’s plan to divest from companies that support the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; “American Inquisition,” which is about the American use of torture; and “Off the Charts,” an interview with Alison Weir of “If Americans Knew.”
