Where do we get our news?

[dmp]

I mostly read the WSJ and NYT daily, look at cnn sometimes, listen to NPR,  and survey other more partisan fringe sights to see what the headlines are, out of curiosity.

Curious where other people get their news.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I went though this exercise decades ago, reading 3 daily papers for a year.

I cannot agree completely with the assessment from that graphic, but there may be some subjective bias on my part. FWIW I thought the NYT was a liberal rag back in the 70's so now it's off my scale (left).

Do not depend on any one single source of information. There is often a positive feedback loop between a news outlet and a given audience/group of news consumers where we end up with a bit of an echo chamber (news that keeps the audience watching).

I often find that high profile stories in the domestic news cycle are rarely all that is going on in the world. Sadly many "news/commentary" programs and late night comedians, regurgitate the same exact stories, so it's hard to miss what media thinks is important on a given day. My greatest disappointment with 24 hour news channels is we get the same one hour of news repeated 24 times. So much bandwidth, so little content.  :'(

It's always amusing when they assemble video clips of a dozen people reciting the exact same political talking points. Worse during the heat of the campaign, but there is a remarkable sameness to themes on social media.

Good luck, there is no one optimal news source, but many that are much less so.

JR 

PS: I read the WSJ and see some fox commentary, but it is hard to not see/hear news around the WWW, often different versions of the same news. I hate breaking news on TV where they spend hours telling you they don't know anything. I don't understand the attraction for immediacy. I much rather read the actual facts a day later. Especially these days with fake news.

 

[dmp]

I cannot agree completely with the assessment from that graphic,

I should have put a disclaimer... I agree with the principle of the graphic but not all the rankings.
I'm more interested that so many people are getting news from unconventional sources on the www.

 

[living sounds]

I'm German, so my news comes in part from domestic sources. For international news I read The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, The Nation, Slate and watch certain shows on MSNBC (preferably Chris Hayes and also Rachel Maddow). For entertainment I sometimes look at The Huffington Post.

http://www.electoral-vote.com is my must-read website for US election coverage.

consortiumnews.com provides an interesting investigative angle, but needs some caution.

To keep up with anything science I listen to The Skeptics Guide (www.theskepticsguide.org) podcast regularly.


WSJ is largely behind a paywall, I've tried to read it but that's where it stops. NYT I find a little hard to trust, WaPo is Ok, but something in the design of either doesn't work for me. CNN is pretty much useless, Fox News is utter drivel.

Independent news gathers are ramping up their act. For instance, The Young Turks now have three paid investigative journalists on staff. It will be interesting to see where this leads.

Books provide an invaluable source of background, I'm really looking forward to investigative reporter Matt Taibbi's new book on Trump, for example.

 

[pucho812]

I read all my news from the bathroom wall, apparently sally will give you a good time and toms mother is C**T... ;D

 

[emrr]

BBC, NPR, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, NYT (seems more conservative on many fronts),  BoingBoing, local newspaper www and 3 local TV www. 

When the LA Times digs into a story, they seem to do it better than any of the rest. Washington Post digs in more frequently, but not quite as strongly.  BBC and NPR are beginning to show signs of bad writing ala local news.  BoingBoing isn't a news organization per se, but I find additional dimensions on many important stories there as well as coverage of many important world stories that don't get US or BBC front page coverage at all, many stories before they break elsewhere. 

 

[hodad]

PS: I read the WSJ

Just for contrast, WSJ's editorial page is off my scale (right).  Though there's some good reporting to be had there sometimes.  And don't forget that NYT reporters have served as right wing propagandists as well (Judith Miller on Iraq springs to mind, but at least as far back as  the overthrow of the Arbenz govt. in Guatemala in the '50s.)

For news:  NPR, BBC, Guardian, NYT, Washington Post, my local rag, others less frequently. 

 

[JohnRoberts]

I'm German, so my news comes in part from domestic sources.

What no Deutsche Welle?  Back in the 60's when I was SWL short wave (radio) listening, I'd hear english language broadcasts from DW beamed at America. (and BBC, and CBC, and radio Moscow, even radio Havana Cuba) Oddly all the broadcasts were in english.    ;D ;D ;D  Kind of like a bad movie where all the foreigners speak perfect english.

In fact I think some DW news shows in english gets rebroadcast on some cable channels here, but I can often learn what Germany thinks right here.  8)

BBC even started a dedicated US channel, to keep us former colonists straight. Al Jazera news was interesting for a while.


JR

PS:  A little like Plato's allegory about the shadows on the cave wall.. all these different news outlets are the different shadows cast on the cave wall from the same one news event.  (sorry a little stretch there).

 

[living sounds]

What no Deutsche Welle?  Back in the 60's when I was SWL short wave (radio) listening, I'd hear english language broadcasts from DW beamed at America. (and BBC, and CBC, and radio Moscow, even radio Havana Cuba) Oddly all the broadcasts were in english.    ;D ;D ;D  Kind of like a bad movie where all the foreigners speak perfect english.

In fact I think some DW news shows in english gets rebroadcast on some cable channels here, but I can often learn what Germany thinks right here.  8)

BBC even started a dedicated US channel, to keep us former colonists straight. Al Jazera news was interesting for a while.


JR

PS:  A little like Plato's allegory about the shadows on the cave wall.. all these different news outlets are the different shadows cast on the cave wall from the same one news event.  (sorry a little stretch there).

Deutsche Welle is an international broadcaster, it is not aimed at a domestic audience. The US itself has several international broadcasters, many countries have:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_broadcasters

 

[JohnRoberts]

Deutsche Welle is an international broadcaster, it is not aimed at a domestic audience. The US itself has several international broadcasters, many countries have:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_broadcasters

US had (has?) Voice of America to return the favor.  English language broadcasts from non-english speaking countries seem aimed for external consumption. I ASSumed Deutsche Welle also had German language programs.

I looked at that list and didn't see several stations I got QSL cards from (post cards to confirm I logged their broadcast) back in the 60's., and bunch I didn't receive back then.

More recently I enjoyed a satellite TV program for several years that edited and rebroadcast english language news broadcasts from/about the middle east, and even translated some that were not in english. They lost funding a few years back, but it was really interesting to see what other countries from that region wanted to broadcast as news. 

JR

 

[living sounds]

Interesting, never heard of QSL cards before.

 

[Rocinante]

NPR, NYT, BBC, and LA Times. I have a subscription to the NYT and even though I lean left I really feel the NYT tries to be objective. They just call out the lies which doesnt fit the rights agenda.  In the morning while checking my email I dip into yahoo news which springboards me all over the place.
I've been reading Vice magazine for a decade and had a collection of "The Vice Guide to_____" which was my personal favorite for in depth articles. I wish there was a daily edition newspaper but their FB and website suffices.
MRR (Maximum Rock and Roll) and Slug and Lettuce are also great monthly magazines.
Al Jazeera and NPR  is on in the background 24/7 as my business partners need it to break up the repeating audio and video we torture ourselves with.

 

[benb]

I listen to the local talk station and NPR, so maybe there's some "balance" between the two. I also see tons of stuff (junk?) on my Facebook and Twitter feeds, all pretty much dependent on the leaning of each poster.

This pic is interesting for several reasons, one is that Facebook was deleting posts containing it, supposedly because of "copyright" but has restored them after allegedly (I read this from a third party) concluding it was "fair use:"