I got this letter from a friend long in Thailand:
Looking at my continual warnings that I am about to reach my limit of free articles with various news organs, I wonder what you do to keep informed without breaking the bank. Embarrassing to say, dating from my first email account (opened with the help of a young guy at an Internet cafe in Thailand in 1995) I still have Yahoo as my home page (blushes). That has been pretty awful, but Idon't know where to turn for better sources. I mostly just skim over news, and that is doable on a free basis, but is there a more cost effective way to dig into real content than sending hundreds of dollars a year to the 'Grey Lady'?
R
Well in the first place R, I think Yahoo is still my homepage too. Don't be too embarrassed, I'm not. I just never look at it. If you were still on AOL we could all rightfully laugh at you. But Yahoo doesn't cause many snickers. I have one of the earliest yahoo accounts on my pacbell.net email.
The question of where I turn for news is a good one. My first stop is always Google News. Why? It is an uber aggregator, concise, thorough and most importantly, neutral. I hate news with a spin. I had to turn off Rachel Maddow today because it was so smarmy and self congratulatory and I equally abhor Fox. Give me the news straight up and I will spin it myself, I don't want or need any favors.
Beyond that I can and do go just about anywhere, from Alternet to Breitbart and all stops in between. Townhall is a good place to take the pulse of the right, Daily Kos or Mother Jones on the left. NPR. WSJ when I can get through the payscreen. WaPo where I am usually forced to read headlines because body is often restricted. Sometimes I get lucky. The only one I pay for is the New York Times. Los Angeles Times is now a total joke.
Huffington Post is pretty good but you have to read about Kanye or somebody's nipple slip. Talking Points Memo is a necessity.
But it all starts with Google News.
*
Yosemite under Orion's gaze
2 comments:
The idea that the latest is the greatest news is a dumb one...though, of course, the draw is to make the reader feel less lonely. Being on the same page as the masses fulfills some deep-rooted human need. No, don't get sucked in by the corporate media model...which is really an advertisement-delivery vehicle similar to how tobacco is the deliver vehicle for nicotine.
The better move is to find authors that you like and trust...and accumulate enough of them that you've got enough reading material. They might not be writing on the latest hot topic...but, these are determined by corporate gatekeepers anyway.
I am an information processor, I need it real time. Goole News is the closest thing to real time, piped nearest the source. I then break it down myself.
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