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Like others have said, the BBC, the Times of London, Le Monde English version, The Japan Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other large newspaper websites from around the country.
I have to add another vote for Al Jazeera America. I don't watch any TV news. I only access it online. For world news their site the best. It is simple. It is straight to the point. I also like the Economist and BBC.
I've bolded my recommendations in each category for your convenience.
Cable news, both domestic and international: CNN (U.S.), MSNBC, and Fox News are trash. MSNBC makes no secret of the fact that they don't air news, just highly biased opinion programs and prison documentaries. Fox News at least pretends to care about real news, and for a few hours in the late morning and the early afternoon, they air "hard" "news" programs (note the quotation marks) before descending into biased opinion primetime. CNN was pretty good...in the 1980s and 1990s; nowadays, it's embraced infotainment, their new version of Crossfire is a joke, and they've pretty much given up on airing real news, just "news", even during breaking news events. Al Jazeera America isn't absolutely perfect, but I consider it to be the best out of our domestic news channels. It's too bad a lot of people in this country won't take off the "TERRORIST!!!" glasses and see Al Jazeera for what it is instead of what the media and politicians made people believe it was after 9/11. I'd also recommend their international news service, Al Jazeera English, but because of the launch of Al Jazeera America and associated cable protectionism, you can't legally watch AJE in the United States, so you have to use a VPN or a proxy. Other real international news sources include the BBC and, to a slightly lesser extent, Deutsche Welle.
Local news: For the most part, it is still okay, but the quality of such operations varies by market and the content tends to be local in nature, so it's a no-go for real national or international news. If you're in a large market like Los Angeles or Miami, I'd probably stay away from local news as well due to those stations' highly tabloidal nature.
Newspapers: The Christian Science Monitor, despite the name, is a great source for fairly neutral newspaper based stories, as is the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). I'd stay away from every other national newspaper, including The New York Times.
Network news, both television and radio: At best, it's almost WSJ-standard (PBS,) and at worst, current CNN-standard (ABC and NBC). CBS's evening newscast is a bit better now than it was five years ago, but not quite to the point where I'd wholeheartedly recommend it over all others. I'd argue that for most topics, NPR is a pretty good national news source on the radio. I can't speak for Spanish networks.
- skbl17
Great information here - I appreciate all the replys. Definitely going to check into Al Jezeera and the rest.
I think our mainstream news sites are trash as well and I don't trust their reporting, sadly.
Has anyone found a news source or website that cuts through all the BS celebrity and tabloid type stories and reports news that is actually important to know?
I used to go to USA Today, but they have gotten as bad as the rest. For example, the top headline today is about the stupid Kardashians, and other things I don't give a flip about. We have a pressure cooker going on in Iraq, border issues, economic issues, and 95% of the stories on the major news websites now are sensationalized fluff. If I wanted that crap, I'd buy a copy of the Enquirer.
Any suggestions?
Fox and USA-Today can barely be considered news these days. Fox News is the right-wing equivalent to Soviet propaganda on the TASS news agency with Roger Ailes getting more senile and mean every day, and USA-Today is news for 5th graders (not entirely bad but just way too incomplete in it's little twitter-like feeds for those who can't keep their attention for more than two paragraphs).
Of US sources, New York Times is still trying to put some depth and truth into its news and investigative features even though I hear they are having to lay off reporters as revenues decline. I bought a subscription to their adhanced online version recently to encourage them to keep trying. Recently I've been going to BBC and Reuters for very good (and free!) coverage. The Brits don't bash Americans quite as bad as the rest of the world - especially western Europe and they write pretty complete and in-depth stories, unlike USA-TodayLite.
Living in the Middle East I also find it incredibly important to read various little blogs, twitter feeds, and local newspapers (even if the English grammar and copywriting is a bit sketchy) for what really may/or maynot be going on locally. The only problem is you have to mentally filter everything you read based on who is writing it - gov't, local reporter for a particular sect's newspaper, cleric, academic, liberal, conservative, baby-jihadist, etc. and you never get the full truth out of any one source. You half to filter out the lies and exaggerations, add up all-the half truths, and recognise and CHERISH the likely total truths and only then you have a completed ***-saw puzzle (maybe) of what is really happening in a newsworthy situation.
It's probably getting nearly this way in the US unfortunately. You used to be able to just tune in Walter Cronkite and you got a complete, un-biased distillation of a news event. Now you have to do it like a chemical experiment: 1 gram MS-NBC + 1 gram Fox News (to balance) + 2 grams CNN (Anderson Cooper only, otherwise subtract 1) + 1 gram NY Times + 2 grams Local Newspaper/TV = 0.2 grams of the truth, 0.2 grams maybe half-truth, and the rest of original mass converted to energy and hot air (of most of the columnists and TV anchors).
There are no single news sources that can be trusted - anywhere. Even the foreign outfits that have little or no stake in the events happening here are tainted to some extent.
As for the American news media, it is all about entertainment (T.V.) or "clicks" (online). In either case, it becomes a commercial enterprise rather than a news service. If any of you remember "Weekly World News", that is where the rest of our "news" sources are headed and when they all arrive en masse (if they haven't already), it won't be pretty.
It is almost impossible to get any news of import without either being on the scene yourself (and then there is a risk of injecting personal biases) or, alternatively, accessing a number of sources across the ideological spectrum and across international boundaries.
But who has time to do a thorough job of all that?
I completely agree that non single news source can be trusted. As cable TV, MS-NBC, CNN, and Fox-News should supplimented by Al-Jazeera America. I think the fact that it is the pet project of a couple of progressive, western-educated Qatari princes of Sunni Muslim background (and all the scrutiny by the west and non-muslims everywhere) makes them go out there way to give honest, non-sectarian, non-biased news.
Has anyone found a news source or website that cuts through all the BS celebrity and tabloid type stories and reports news that is actually important to know?
I used to go to USA Today, but they have gotten as bad as the rest. For example, the top headline today is about the stupid Kardashians, and other things I don't give a flip about. We have a pressure cooker going on in Iraq, border issues, economic issues, and 95% of the stories on the major news websites now are sensationalized fluff. If I wanted that crap, I'd buy a copy of the Enquirer.
Any suggestions?
Here's where I go for rantless BS-free national and international news:
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