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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.
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?
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?
Don't I wish, at least for domestic news, world news I see there have been some interesting listings, but if you want to know what's going on locally seems difficult to get straight hard factual reporting. Even so I'm pretty leery of most sources these days local or foreign anyway.
One of those pieces of advice is almost as bad as the other. The New York Times had as much to do with selling the Invasion of Iraq to the American people as any news source in the country. Remember their star reporter Judith Miller? She went to jail to "protect" Scooter Libby, the man who would have done a nice jail sentence for the Valerie Plame affair (among other illegal favors he was doing for Cheney) had he not been pardoned by President Bush. (At least he was disbarred.) Judith Miller is a disgrace to journalism and she was the Times' idea of a writer to build an international news desk around. I'm not saying the Times is worthless from beginning to end, but they certainly can't be trusted to present unbiased international news to the public.
Another type of extreme is that crazy list provided by redwhiteblue1. We're supposed to trust FOX for our news when half of their headlines end in a question mark and they sue all the way to the Supreme Court for the "right" to lie and call it news if that's "more entertaining" than the truth? The Blaze, mouthpiece for Glenn Beck? World News Daily, which claims President Obama has 12 lovers and says we should vote for Rick Santorum for president? Seriously? Why don't we just read the paper that always has the Boy Raised by Bats on the cover?
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check some of them out. Just looking for intelligent news reporting on things that may acutally impact my life and my family. I just don't care what Justin Bieber or Beyonce is doing, but you would think that tripe is news we all need to know.
For written news, The Week is a very good weekly magazine. It's a roundup of articles that have been published throughout the week and a good way to stay on top of numerous sources. It has sections focused on the US, The World, Opinions, Books and yes, one page of entertainment news. On hot topics they give small parts of the print articles from both sides of the debate, allowing you to take from it what you will.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Freddy
I'm not interested in the problems of strangers, foreigners, or politicians.
I only watch the news if it's interesting or entertaining.
In other words, you're exactly who the MSN is targeting these days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceece
My son and I were flipping between Fox and CNN and MSNBC the other night and it was seriously killing us. We switched over to Aljeezira and the first thing he said was "nobody is raising their voice, nobody is yelling"...haha. After about 30 minutes of some interesting takes on all sorts of things, including World Cup and some other stories that are hot right now, we realized we hadn't heard the name "Obama" the entire time. Who'd have thunk there is more to life that him? (Bashing or Defending...basically giant commercials for Political leanings). Certainly not Americans.
This echoes my experiences too. Al Jazeera America is startlingly good. They'll bring on people with opposing but informative viewpoints for discussion yet the discussion is absent much of the rhetoric, yelling and often free of BS.
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?
This is quite true. Depending on a single news source is just bad because they all have their problems. It's why I look/listen to more than one and I think anybody who doesn't won't get a good picture of wht's going on.
NPR is the gold standard, IMO, when it comes to radio news, along with maybe the BBC.
On television, as others have said Al Jazeera, BBC and PBS stations are still strong. I only watching CNN for breaking news. Something like 9/11. On that day they were magnificent. Since then a long slow slide down. MSNBC and Fox obviously have opposite political agendas, but MSNBC has far better reporting. I've lost count of the number of out and out mistakes and shoddy reporting I've seen on Fox. They are entitiled to their opinions. They are not entitled to their facts.
In print, the three big national papers, the Times, Wall Stret Journal, and Washington Post are all still good. None is perfect, but each of those organizations still pours lots of money into their news holes, and it shows. And I don't think bad, mistaken reporting (like the Times did with Iraq and Judith Miller, or the Jayson Blair scandal) is intentional bias. Every media organization has screwed up and every one will do so in the future. But will they publiclly own up to it like the NYT did? No. And that's why I keep reaing the Times. It's willingness to publically correct itself gives it credibility. And of courrse when they are good, they are very, very good.
The only magazine I read regulaly for news is The Economist. Lots of news that doesn't get reported here, but that's because they are reporting on their former colonial outposts. I think there is a lot to be desired in their US reporting though becuase it coms with that Oxbridge snark that dosn't always play right for US coverage.
Local TV news is pretty bad in most markets I've seen and I just have to take my chances that the local papers, Websites, and TV stations can once in a while find some actual news and bother ot report it. "If it bleeds it leads" is still how most local news outfits operate, unless there is a weather story. And that can be even worse, hearing about how its going to snow, SNOW I TELL YOU! -- in the middle of January.
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