ABOUT THE ALBION MONITOR

QUESTIONS ABOUT POPULAR ARTICLES

WHERE CAN I BUY ITEMS THAT AREN'T MADE IN SWEATSHOPS?   Visit sweatshopwatch.org's web section for Shop with a Conscience. HOW MANY NATIONS HAVE SIGNED THE KYOTO TREATY?   To date, 189 nations (including the U.S.) have signed and ratified the 1992 "UN Framework Convention on Climate Change." This document states that global warming is a threat to mankind and steps must be taken to reduce/stabilize greenhouse gases. The Framework left the decision of what specific actions should be taken to be decided at the 1997 conference in Kyoto. The Kyoto Protocol went into force February 16, 2005. As of that date, 84 nations, including the United States, have signed the Kyoto Protocol and 141 have ratified it (signing the document was symbolic only). Only 35 of those nations are now required to reduce their emissions to below 1990 levels by the year 2012. Full details about both the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol at the offical UN website. HOW CAN I CONTACT ANDREA YATES?   Write to her at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Skyview Unit: Yates, Andrea #1087566 Skyview Unit-5C P.O. Box 999 Rusk, TX 75785 HOW CAN I CONTACT JULIA "BUTTERFLY" HILL?   Send e-mail to her personal assistant Megan Swoboda or write via the Circle of Life Foundation: Circle of Life Foundation P.O. Box 3764 Oakland, CA 94609 WAS FORTUNA ALLIANCE A SCAM? CAN I GET MY MONEY BACK?   Our 1996 investigative story on the Fortuna Alliance pyramid scheme still draws hundreds of readers a week, but there have been no new developments since 1998, when the Federal Trade Commission finished distributing $5.5 million that had been collected from Fortuna principals, who were cited with contempt for not paying an additional $2+ million. MORE

WHAT IS THIS?       The Albion Monitor is an web-only newspaper with an international readership. It has been published continuously since 1995, making it probably the oldest Internet media of its kind. Over 10,000 articles can be found in its archives. Topics most often covered include the environment, human rights, politics, and media criticism. Our intent is to offer an interesting newspaper of the "news you're missing" in the American mainstream press.

About 30-40 articles are added every week, and the current contents are archived as an "issue" when staff feels that an editorial balance has been presented. That usually happens every 3-4 weeks.

No advertising is accepted. The Monitor is supported entirely by subscriptions.

WHY DO SOME ARTICLES REQUIRE A NAME AND PASSWORD?       All articles in the entire Monitor archive are available to subscribers, but some are purchased with copyright restrictions that they not be available to the Internet at large. This protects the author's rights to sell the article elsewhere.

HOW CAN I GET A NAME AND PASSWORD?       For $9.95 (US), anyone can subscribe to the Albion Monitor. Free books or DVDs are available to subscribers. See our SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION OFFER for more information.

COULDN'T I FIND ALL THESE ARTICLES FREE ELSEWHERE?       No. Most articles appearing in the Albion Monitor are purchased from other sources -- see question below. The author or publisher retains ownership. While some web sites might make content free for a short time as a promotion, the material almost always disappears from the Internet at large after a few days. (Every article that has ever appeared in the Monitor remains available to subscribers, and is searchable.)

All stories that appear in the Albion Monitor are copyrighted, including stories appearing in the free section. Often in those cases, we have obtained one-of-a-kind permission (and paid a premium price to the author) to make an article available "free."

WHERE DO YOUR ARTICLES COME FROM?       The Monitor editorial staff works with experienced journalists around the world to develop original stories, but like your daily newspaper, most of our news and opinion articles are reprints purchased from news syndicates. The Monitor is unique because it can draw on both the "mainstream" and the "alternative" press, where we select the best articles from regional newsweeklies from around the country. Frequently used sources include:

Creators Syndicate
Pacific News Service (PNS)
Interpress Service (IPS)
Environment News Service (ENS)
New California Media (NCM)
Women's E-News (WE)

CAN I REPOST ARTICLES ON MY WEB PAGE OR IN A DISCUSSION GROUP?       Absolutely not! Besides violating the author's copyright, taking an article in that manner removes any context of related stories we've published in the past or might update in the future. We welcome "fair use" reproduction, where you can summarize an article and provide its URL (which is guaranteed never to change). When we find articles posted to discussion groups or elsewhere on the Internet we take it quite seriously and pursue it aggressively.

WHY IS THE ALBION MONITOR CALLED A "NEWSPAPER?"       A wide spectrum of web pages offer news, but we have always felt that "newspaper" is the best description for this publication. Like a daily or weekly newspaper, every issue is a combination of copyrighted original articles and material drawn from news services. We share the view that a newspaper has the responsibilty to accurately write the "first draft of history" about our times (our view of what is significant news often differs from the mainstream press, however).

The Monitor is not a "portal" web page, offering links to articles found elsewhere on the Internet, where articles may expire or be removed after a short time. All articles published since the first issue in August, 1995 remain available to paid subscribers.

WHY WASN'T THERE COVERAGE OF (insert big story here)?       Monitor news articles are selected based on both importance and the lack of coverage/balance in the mainstream American press. We don't seek to cover all news of the day. Sometimes we even try to avoid current events; our only mention of the infamous O.J. Simpson trial, for example, was coverage of media overreaction to the story. (Did you know that there were more fiber optic cables installed outside the Los Angeles courthouse in 1995 than anywhere in the world at the time?)

WHAT IS THE POLICY ON CORRECTIONS?       Mistakes happen in all media, and our policy is to correct them promptly in the current issue. We do not modify the content of any articles once they have been archived. Corrections to older articles will appear in the current issue's letters section.

HOW CAN I SUBMIT AN ARTICLE?       The Monitor editorial staff is always interested in discussing original articles and reprints with professional writers. Query editor@monitor.net and include:

A one-paragraph summary of the story
A short summary of your writing history and expertise relevant to this story
Contact information (phone, e-mail address)
Availability of photos or illustrations

(No astrology, sports, or lifestyle writing or cartoons are considered.) The author retains full copyright of all material; limited rights purchased include non-exclusive first or reprint plus archival rights.

WHERE'S "ALBION?"       There is a town in Northern California named Albion, but our offices are more than a hundred miles away. (Please don't ask us to make reservations at the bed and breakfast there.) As the first Europeans to visit Northern California, Sir Francis Drake and his crew landed near Point Reyes on July 17, 1579. Drake called the country Nova Albion, and commented upon the beauty of the land and the nobility of the people who lived here, "free from guile or treachery." He stayed for less than a week, then left. Unfortunately, the Europeans who followed in the next four hundred years did not share his respect for the land or the people. We use the name Albion to remind us that we are all visitors, here in Eden.

Monitor is an old-timey newspaper name, like Guardian, Sentinel, Observer, and many others. Our logo means, "we're watching."