4 ms·

Whatever your feelings about newspapers are, they have existed for hundreds of years and learnt some incredibly valuable lessons about news, journalism, reader

Whatever your feelings about newspapers are, they have existed for hundreds of years and learnt some incredibly valuable lessons about news, journalism, reader psychology, etc. The collective wisdom of newspapers of record could fuel countless of business ventures and avoid lots of costly mistakes.

Swizec 10y ago
Totally. I just don't think I've ever experienced that. For as long as I can remember news has been about sensationalism at all cost. The question was do I personally remember newspapers and the answer is no. I remember them as a thing that exists, yes, but not as a thing that provides value.
- hkmurakami 10y ago
  As one of the other commenters suggested, I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Economist.
  - bshimmin 10y ago
    I dearly love The Economist (and, indeed, have a small stack of them about a foot from me right now), but I do sometimes get the feeling that reading a newspaper with which I agree so strongly on almost all issues (hell, even the advertising feels like it's targeted at people just like me) is probably a little unhelpful in terms of giving me a balanced perspective on the world. I'm not sure what one can do to balance this, though - I picked up a copy of Nexus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_(magazine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_(magazine)) recently and that didn't really much help either, though it was pretty damn entertaining.
    - dagw 10y ago
      I'm not sure what one can do to balance this, though Try reading magazines like The Spectator, The National Review and The American Conservative. Even if you don't agree with everything they write (or especially if you don't agree with everything they write), they're on the whole well written and present their view in a pretty well argued manner.
    - hkmurakami 10y ago
      I have a friend who is a intelligent, die hard progressive who makes it a point to read the most extreme right wing news sites, just to glean how a person on the other side might view and construct the world. Maybe that is a bit extreme, but I think Economists readers (I think the publication is center right?) can pick up a center left or far left publications from time to time.
      - bshimmin 10y ago
        It's a bit tricky to pin The Economist to either the left or the right; they describe themselves as being "radically centrist". This Quora answer from an Economist writer is good: https://www.quora.com/Is-The-Economist-left-or-right https://www.quora.com/Is-The-Economist-left-or-right
- DrScump 10y ago
  news has been about sensationalism at all cost. Sadly, newspapers in the 19th and early 20th centuries were even worse, and unlike today, you had no way to independently research if you were being lied to. (Hearst was a classic example.)
DrScump 10y ago
The "collective wisdom of newspapers of record" hasn't managed to save them from their own costly mistakes, generally speaking, when you look at their current financial state.
- Baeocystin 10y ago
  That they are having trouble navigating the new world of the web is orthogonal to the knowledge of how to digest the world's happenings in a concise, informative manner, and (IMO) tossing all of what newspapers have accomplished out due to financial issues is a clear baby-with-the-bathwater situation.

Swizec 10y ago

Totally. I just don't think I've ever experienced that. For as long as I can remember news has been about sensationalism at all cost. The question was do I personally remember newspapers and the answer is no. I remember them as a thing that exists, yes, but not as a thing that provides value.

hkmurakami 10y ago
As one of the other commenters suggested, I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Economist.
- bshimmin 10y ago
  I dearly love The Economist (and, indeed, have a small stack of them about a foot from me right now), but I do sometimes get the feeling that reading a newspaper with which I agree so strongly on almost all issues (hell, even the advertising feels like it's targeted at people just like me) is probably a little unhelpful in terms of giving me a balanced perspective on the world. I'm not sure what one can do to balance this, though - I picked up a copy of Nexus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_(magazine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_(magazine)) recently and that didn't really much help either, though it was pretty damn entertaining.
  - dagw 10y ago
    I'm not sure what one can do to balance this, though Try reading magazines like The Spectator, The National Review and The American Conservative. Even if you don't agree with everything they write (or especially if you don't agree with everything they write), they're on the whole well written and present their view in a pretty well argued manner.
  - hkmurakami 10y ago
    I have a friend who is a intelligent, die hard progressive who makes it a point to read the most extreme right wing news sites, just to glean how a person on the other side might view and construct the world. Maybe that is a bit extreme, but I think Economists readers (I think the publication is center right?) can pick up a center left or far left publications from time to time.
    - bshimmin 10y ago
      It's a bit tricky to pin The Economist to either the left or the right; they describe themselves as being "radically centrist". This Quora answer from an Economist writer is good: https://www.quora.com/Is-The-Economist-left-or-right https://www.quora.com/Is-The-Economist-left-or-right
DrScump 10y ago
news has been about sensationalism at all cost. Sadly, newspapers in the 19th and early 20th centuries were even worse, and unlike today, you had no way to independently research if you were being lied to. (Hearst was a classic example.)

DrScump 10y ago

The "collective wisdom of newspapers of record" hasn't managed to save them from their own costly mistakes, generally speaking, when you look at their current financial state.

Baeocystin 10y ago
That they are having trouble navigating the new world of the web is orthogonal to the knowledge of how to digest the world's happenings in a concise, informative manner, and (IMO) tossing all of what newspapers have accomplished out due to financial issues is a clear baby-with-the-bathwater situation.