6 ms·

Must-(re)read: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews - it was 10 years ago.

redsummer 10y ago
He mentions: "instead of reading the back and forth of a daily, why not read a weekly review? Instead of a weekly review, why not read a monthly magazine? Instead of a monthly magazine, why not read an annual book?" Can anyone recommend such a weekly or monthly review? One that isn't particularly ideological. It would save so much time.
- copperx 10y ago
  The Economist is a good weekly review; the stories are very short but the information density is high.
  - Patrick_Devine 10y ago
    I'd also echo that The Economist is well worth a subscription. It also has the interesting quirk that doesn't use bylines and all articles are published anonymously.
  - nnvvhh 10y ago
    +1 for the Economist. You get much more value than what you pay for an annual subscription. This week's edition has a letter to the editor from the president of Peru... It's that kind of publication.
  - sien 10y ago
    That and listen to a short, quality news bulletin once a day like NPR or the BBC is all you want.
  - RachelF 10y ago
    You'll battle to find a better source than The Economist. It is not as good as it was, as their editor was replaced last year.
  - narrator 10y ago
    The problem I have with the economist is they mix opinion into almost everything they report. It's a very British aristocratic opinion. I can almost hear the exaggerated accent sometimes when reading it, like it's a Monty Python skit. I find it annoyingly predictable and somewhat patronizing to the reader.
    - alimw 10y ago
      That's a bit vague. "Can be read in an exaggerated British accent" (whatever you're imagining there) is not an ideological position.
  - adrienne 10y ago
    The Economist is a good review, but it's laughable that so many people think it answers for "not particularly ideological". Capitalism is an ideology - albeit one basically invisible to Hacker News members - and the Economist has that one in spades.
    - B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago
      School of Agnelli and Rotschild (proprietors), the "dulce et decorum est pro libertate mori" sort. (This freedom stuff has to be dosed carefully: owners moving themselves or their stuff, fine and dandy. Cattle moving around unsupervised or mouthing off, not good.)
      - adrienne 10y ago
        Yup. And since most of the frequent contributors on HN think basically the same way, they don't even notice the ideological stance.
- tmnvix 10y ago
  I haven't bought a copy for a long time now, but I used to find that the Guardian's weekly international edition was good for that kind of round up. Lots of in depth articles. I have no idea if it is still like that. Given what has happened to the online Guardian in recent years I suspect it might have similarly gone downhill.
- renolc 10y ago
  Google News for iOS has a "week in review" option. Being an aggregation of sources, it doesn't have any particular bias (except maybe to showcase only the largest stories of the week).
- losteverything 10y ago
  The week - http://theweek.com http://theweek.com
- slavik81 10y ago
  It is rather ideological, but that is basically the pitch for Last Week Tonight. https://youtu.be/_BlI3BRUTHs https://youtu.be/_BlI3BRUTHs
  - rjeli 10y ago
    "Rather" is an understatement. There is zero nuance or reasoned critique on LWT - just "look at this stupid person, make ridiculous analogy, yell at imaginary person, laugh track" over and over for 20 minutes straight. Proponents will argue that it brings scandals into the light of popular media, or that mockery is the only reasonable critique of such idiocy displayed on the show, to which I say knowing little about a subject and mocking the target is worse than knowing nothing at all - it solves no problem and only polarizes politics more. "It's only a comedy show" is no excuse when politics is rapidly becoming vitriolic, polarizing and dehumanizing.
- LVB 10y ago
  I just restarted my subscription to The Atlantic (paper edition). Monthly, a bit more in depth, and a break from screens to boot.
- ashark 10y ago
  I'd love a not-more-often-than-quarterly (preferably annual) summary of important science (natural and social) papers, ideally including mathematics. I looked for something like this a while back, or for some kind of meta-journal that selected the best (or at least most important) from all sources, but couldn't find such a thing.
- hackermailman 10y ago
  There's http://www.slow-journalism.com/ http://www.slow-journalism.com/ plus Oxford journals like Foreign Policy Analysis. I find the Economist suspicious because no names are given for articles, and they contradict themselves every couple of issues. Well they used to about 4yrs ago when I stopped reading it. For immediate news on whatever happening is going on I have a 4chan app as it's surprisingly an accurate source for unfolding events (Sam Hyde memes aside) and I can quickly regex the content. I also read the Syrian /sg/ general thread to get the other side of the war there as Syrians often post to it. I try and find a book for anything else, Princeton University Press is great for this.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  Sunday New York Times paper edition. There's enough variety in there to keep you busy. The Economist is good, but it's like the capitalist's NPR. Good content, but it gets a little preachy.
- alltakendamned 10y ago
  Le Monde Diplomatique. English version can be found at https://mondediplo.com/ https://mondediplo.com/
- devopsproject 10y ago
  nextdraft.com is a daily one curated by one guy. I find quite a few interesting stories from it. I wish there was an option for weekly\monthly.
RachelF 10y ago
You beat me to it - Aaron's essay is great. Another good take is N. Taleb who contends that news contains "negative information" in that it makes you stupider. Much news is just noise on top of the signal.

redsummer 10y ago

He mentions: "instead of reading the back and forth of a daily, why not read a weekly review? Instead of a weekly review, why not read a monthly magazine? Instead of a monthly magazine, why not read an annual book?" Can anyone recommend such a weekly or monthly review? One that isn't particularly ideological. It would save so much time.

copperx 10y ago
The Economist is a good weekly review; the stories are very short but the information density is high.
- Patrick_Devine 10y ago
  I'd also echo that The Economist is well worth a subscription. It also has the interesting quirk that doesn't use bylines and all articles are published anonymously.
- nnvvhh 10y ago
  +1 for the Economist. You get much more value than what you pay for an annual subscription. This week's edition has a letter to the editor from the president of Peru... It's that kind of publication.
- sien 10y ago
  That and listen to a short, quality news bulletin once a day like NPR or the BBC is all you want.
- RachelF 10y ago
  You'll battle to find a better source than The Economist. It is not as good as it was, as their editor was replaced last year.
- narrator 10y ago
  The problem I have with the economist is they mix opinion into almost everything they report. It's a very British aristocratic opinion. I can almost hear the exaggerated accent sometimes when reading it, like it's a Monty Python skit. I find it annoyingly predictable and somewhat patronizing to the reader.
  - alimw 10y ago
    That's a bit vague. "Can be read in an exaggerated British accent" (whatever you're imagining there) is not an ideological position.
- adrienne 10y ago
  The Economist is a good review, but it's laughable that so many people think it answers for "not particularly ideological". Capitalism is an ideology - albeit one basically invisible to Hacker News members - and the Economist has that one in spades.
  - B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago
    School of Agnelli and Rotschild (proprietors), the "dulce et decorum est pro libertate mori" sort. (This freedom stuff has to be dosed carefully: owners moving themselves or their stuff, fine and dandy. Cattle moving around unsupervised or mouthing off, not good.)
    - adrienne 10y ago
      Yup. And since most of the frequent contributors on HN think basically the same way, they don't even notice the ideological stance.
tmnvix 10y ago
I haven't bought a copy for a long time now, but I used to find that the Guardian's weekly international edition was good for that kind of round up. Lots of in depth articles. I have no idea if it is still like that. Given what has happened to the online Guardian in recent years I suspect it might have similarly gone downhill.
renolc 10y ago
Google News for iOS has a "week in review" option. Being an aggregation of sources, it doesn't have any particular bias (except maybe to showcase only the largest stories of the week).
losteverything 10y ago
The week - http://theweek.com http://theweek.com
slavik81 10y ago
It is rather ideological, but that is basically the pitch for Last Week Tonight. https://youtu.be/_BlI3BRUTHs https://youtu.be/_BlI3BRUTHs
- rjeli 10y ago
  "Rather" is an understatement. There is zero nuance or reasoned critique on LWT - just "look at this stupid person, make ridiculous analogy, yell at imaginary person, laugh track" over and over for 20 minutes straight. Proponents will argue that it brings scandals into the light of popular media, or that mockery is the only reasonable critique of such idiocy displayed on the show, to which I say knowing little about a subject and mocking the target is worse than knowing nothing at all - it solves no problem and only polarizes politics more. "It's only a comedy show" is no excuse when politics is rapidly becoming vitriolic, polarizing and dehumanizing.
LVB 10y ago
I just restarted my subscription to The Atlantic (paper edition). Monthly, a bit more in depth, and a break from screens to boot.
ashark 10y ago
I'd love a not-more-often-than-quarterly (preferably annual) summary of important science (natural and social) papers, ideally including mathematics. I looked for something like this a while back, or for some kind of meta-journal that selected the best (or at least most important) from all sources, but couldn't find such a thing.
hackermailman 10y ago
There's http://www.slow-journalism.com/ http://www.slow-journalism.com/ plus Oxford journals like Foreign Policy Analysis. I find the Economist suspicious because no names are given for articles, and they contradict themselves every couple of issues. Well they used to about 4yrs ago when I stopped reading it. For immediate news on whatever happening is going on I have a 4chan app as it's surprisingly an accurate source for unfolding events (Sam Hyde memes aside) and I can quickly regex the content. I also read the Syrian /sg/ general thread to get the other side of the war there as Syrians often post to it. I try and find a book for anything else, Princeton University Press is great for this.
Spooky23 10y ago
Sunday New York Times paper edition. There's enough variety in there to keep you busy. The Economist is good, but it's like the capitalist's NPR. Good content, but it gets a little preachy.
alltakendamned 10y ago
Le Monde Diplomatique. English version can be found at https://mondediplo.com/ https://mondediplo.com/
devopsproject 10y ago
nextdraft.com is a daily one curated by one guy. I find quite a few interesting stories from it. I wish there was an option for weekly\monthly.

RachelF 10y ago

You beat me to it - Aaron's essay is great. Another good take is N. Taleb who contends that news contains "negative information" in that it makes you stupider. Much news is just noise on top of the signal.