{{Short description|Left-wing activist-oriented media group}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox website | name = ZNetwork | logo = ZNetwork logo.png | logo_size = 85 | commercial = No | type = Left news and analysis website | registration = Optional | owner = The Institute for Social and Cultural Communications, Inc. (A 501(c)3 nonprofit) | launch_date = {{start date and age|df=yes|1995}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://znetwork.org/about-z/|title=About Z}}</ref> | current_status = Active | url = {{URL|https://znetwork.org}} }} '''ZNetwork''', formerly known as '''Z Communications''', is a left-wing activist-oriented media group founded in 1986 by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent.<ref name="Elbaum2002">Max Elbaum. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uqhnJT-LvjMC&pg=PA296 ''Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che'']. London, England, UK; New York, New York, US: Verso, 2002. p. 296.</ref> It is, in broad terms, ideologically libertarian socialist, anti-capitalist, and heavily influenced by participatory economics, although much of its content is focused on critical commentary of foreign affairs.{{Citation needed|date=May 2015}} Its publications include ''Z Magazine'', ''ZNet'', and ''Z Video''.{{r|atkinson}} Since early November 2022, they have all been regrouped under the name ''ZNetwork''.
== History == '''''Zeta Magazine''''' was founded by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent in 1987, both of whom had previously co-founded South End Press.{{r|zeta}} It was renamed '''''Z Magazine''''' in 1989.{{r|monthly}}
Founded in 1994, '''Z Media Institute''' provides classes and other sessions in how to start and produce alternative media, how to better understand media, and how to develop organising skills.{{r|mrorg}} The institute has hosted Stephen Shalom presentations on parpolity a number of times.{{r|shalom}}
Founded in 1995, ZNet (also known as ''ZNet'', ''ZNetwork'' and ''Z Communications'') is a website with contributors that include Noam Chomsky,{{r|nspilger}}{{r|chomsky1}}{{r|chomsky2}} Eduardo Galeano,{{r|nspilger}} Boris Kagarlitsky,{{r|nspilger}} Edward Said,{{r|nspilger}} Chris Spannos{{r|spannos}} and Kevin Zeese.{{r|zzeese|cwzeese}} John Pilger described it as one of the best news sources online.{{r|nspilger}} Rene Milan of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies called the site a rich source of information about participism.{{r|milan}}
== Publications and authors == ''Z Magazine'' is published in print and on-line monthly. Contributors to the magazine have included Patrick Bond{{r|bond}} Noam Chomsky,{{r|nschomsky1}}, Ward Churchill,{{r|churchill}} Alexander Cockburn, Edward S. Herman,{{r|dvherman}} bell hooks,{{r|hooks}} Mike Kuhlenbeck,{{r|kuhlenbeck}} Staughton Lynd, John Ross, Juliet Schor, Holly Sklar, Cornel West, Kevin Zeese and Howard Zinn.{{r|zzeese}} Articles written by Chomsky have been republished in the ''New Statesman''.{{r|nschomsky1}}{{r|nschomsky2}}
== Reception == In a 2005 interview with Joshua Frank, Ward Churchill discussed issues he had with ''Z Magazine''. Churchill said an article he worked on was not published for two years and was misattributed. He also felt Albert and Sargent had greater influence than others involved with the publication.{{r|churchill}}
In 2012, George Monbiot wrote a critical article about the book '' The Politics of Genocide'' by Edward Herman and David Peterson. Znet published a response to Monbiot from Herman and Peterson. Monbiot said he asked Michael Albert to publish Martin Shaw's review of Herman and Peterson's book on Znet to balance the comments from Herman and Peterson. Albert refused.<ref>{{cite news|last=Monbiot|first=George|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/21/ratko-mladic-genocide-denial|title=My fight may be hopeless, but it is as necessary as ever|newspaper=The Guardian|date=May 21, 2012|access-date=May 1, 2022}}</ref>
== See also == * Alternative media (U.S. political left) * Independent Media Centre * Political cinema * TeleSUR
== References == {{reflist|30em|refs=<ref name=kuhlenbeck>{{cite web|title=Workers getting burned by McDonald's greed|date=17 March 2015|url=http://peoplesworld.org/workers-getting-burned-by-mcdonald-s-greed/|publisher=Peoples World|access-date=22 May 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=atkinson>Joshua D. Atkinson, ''Alternative Media and Politics of Resistance: A Communication Perspective'' (Peter Lang, 2010), {{ISBN|978-1433105173}}, pp. 88-90. [https://books.google.com/books?id=aR5uGYkTj5UC&dq=%22Z+Magazine%22&pg=PA89 Excerpts available] at Google Books.</ref>
<ref name=chomsky1>{{cite web|title=Chomsky's Bio Info |url=http://www.zmag.org/zspace/noamchomsky |publisher=Z Net |access-date=22 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212095512/http://www.zmag.org/zspace/noamchomsky |archive-date=December 12, 2008 }}</ref>
<ref name=chomsky2>{{cite web|title="Good News," Iraq & Beyond, Part 1 |url=http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/17048 |publisher=Z Net |access-date=22 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216133931/http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/17048 |archive-date=December 16, 2008 }}</ref>
<ref name=churchill>{{Cite web|url=http://dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Frank0919.htm|title=(DV) Frank: An Interview with Professor Ward Churchill (Part One)|website=dissidentvoice.org}}</ref>
<ref name=hooks>{{cite web|last1=hooks|first1=bell|title=Straightening Our Hair|date=1 April 2007|url=https://znetwork.org/zmagazine/straightening-our-hair-by-bell-hooks/|publisher=Z Magazine|access-date=10 March 2023}}</ref>
<ref name=dvherman>{{cite web|last1=Herman|first1=Edward S.|title=Krugman, Putin and the New York Times|date=27 September 2014|url=http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/09/krugman-putin-and-the-new-york-times/|publisher=Dissent Voice|access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=milan>{{cite web|last1=Milan|first1=Rene|title=The Vision Thing|url=http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/milan20150425|access-date=22 May 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=mrorg>{{cite web|last1=Berger|first1=Dan|last2=Cornell|first2=Andy|title=Ten Questions for Movement Building|url=http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2006/bc240706.html|work=Monthly Review|date=24 July 2006|access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=nspilger>{{cite web|last1=Pilger|first1=John|title=John Pilger prefers the web to TV news - it's more honest online|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/node/144335|work=New Statesman|access-date=2 June 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=nschomsky1>{{cite web|last1=Chomsky|first1=Noam|title=Judge the US by deeds, not words|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/node/134969|publisher=New Statesman|access-date=2 June 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=nschomsky2>{{cite web|last1=Chomsky|first1=Noam|title=Is this really a grand Nato victory?|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/node/134969|publisher=New Statesman|access-date=2 June 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=shalom>{{cite web|last1=Doherty|first1=Alex|title=The Politics Of A Good Society|url=http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/the_politics_of_a_good_society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525232015/http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/the_politics_of_a_good_society/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=25 May 2010|publisher=New Left Project|access-date=22 May 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=spannos>{{cite web|title=Insurrection Debated|url=https://www.adbusters.org/blogs/blackspot-blog/insurrection-debated.html|publisher=Adbusters|access-date=22 May 2015}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
<ref name=zzeese>{{cite web|title=Kevin Zeese's|url=https://zcomm.org/author/kevinzeese/|publisher=Z Communication|access-date=7 June 2015}}</ref>
<ref name=cwzeese>{{cite web|last1=Zeese|first1=Kevin|title=U.S.A.: Mobilizing Against Halliburton, the "Poster Child for War Profiteering"|url=http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12147|publisher=CorpWatch|access-date=7 June 2015|archive-date=8 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608053545/http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12147|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="bond">{{Cite web|url=https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/south-africas-junk-credit-rating-was-avoided-but-at-the-cost-of-junk-analysis/|title=» South Africa's junk credit rating was avoided, but at the cost of junk analysis|website=zcomm.org}}</ref>
<ref name=monthly>{{Cite journal|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/515982|title=Z magazine|date=February 12, 1989|journal=Z Magazine}}</ref>
<ref name=zeta>{{Cite book|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4758958|title=Zeta magazine|year=1987|publisher=Institute for Social and Cultural Change}}</ref>
}}
== External links == * {{Official website|https://znetwork.org/}}
Category:Political magazines published in the United States Category:Alternative magazines Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States Category:1987 establishments in the United States Category:Publishing collectives Category:Magazines established in 1987 Category:Communications and media organizations based in the United States Category:Organizations based in Massachusetts Category:Magazines published in Massachusetts