Do you Google search and click on whatever news sources come up or do you look into the news sources leanings, news reporting quality, and credibility? Maybe just if you can vibe with it or not in general?
Simplified
Do you save a list of specific news sites? Or do you just click on anything just to read that specific story on a search engine?
Me personally: I have a set list of sites I check. I know that they are credible and trust worthy to the public, being non profits and them having high standards to news reporting. (some of them include Npr, and Ap news) Most of their news stories are intended to benefit the public. Of course they aren’t always perfect, but a solid choice, especially if you’re starting out on picking a specific news source.
How about you all?
I mostly cut out the live news cycle from my life. There’s really no benefit in keeping up with the immediacy of the live news cycle.
I still have the guardian news app just for the breaking news alerts in case of something major. The only reason I use this is that they tend to send the least number of bullshit notifications (e.g. no shit about British royal family drama).
I’m finding the news experience is much better when I catch a summary of the news story a few days later when the situation is better understood and developed. I get almost all my news from the TLDR news YouTube channel.
If you are going to use a news site, then I would suggest using it through an RSS reader app. That way the news comes through chronologically. If you do this, you get away from the bullshit prioritisation of stories on news websites.
IMO you’re doing it the right way.
If there’s a single indicator to pay attention to, it’s the source of funding. Where does the media outlet get its money from?
Next is professional ethics: does it employ real journalists? Journalism is like medicine, it’s a profession with a code of conduct. In this case, a commitment to factual accuracy, a good-faith search for the truth, fairness in choices about what to cover, transparency about sources, etc.
And if you feel the journalists are doing a bad job, then go back to point 1 and ask: Who is paying them? Are you? The reason for today’s crisis in journalism is not that journalists are lazy or evil, it’s that the internet cratered their business model. More of us need to step up and pay. It’s that simple.
I have a couple of paid subscriptions. If that’s the cost of living in a properly informed society, it’s a great deal.
That’s easy! None of them.
I read them all. I treat them like a prosecutor would treat witness testimony.
I use ground.news and only read from the sources marked High Factuality
