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> I don't want personalized news, I use Google News for the exact opposite reason. That's what I used to use google news for too. Then a few years ago, google

> I don't want personalized news, I use Google News for the exact opposite reason. That's what I used to use google news for too. Then a few years ago, google "personalized" and "localize"d news to your area and it became pointless. Google news was especially great for international events in the early 2010s because you'd get international sources listed back then. So you could see the difference in coverage between our media and china's media and europe's media and middle east's media of the same event. Now, google news is just mostly NYTimes and Washingtonpost stories. And considering they espouse the same message on pretty much everything, I stopped using google news. I understand that google was heavily pressured by the news industry to push traffic to major US news sites, but I wish they would have given us the option to opt out of personalization and localization. What's even more disappointing is that google search was updated to heavily favor local news. So if I search for "North korea news" or "syria news", the search result is ridiculously skewed to US news' perspective. They used to list forums, messageboards, etc on search for international events, but they scrubbed those from the search results. Social media used to have alternate/external/foreign sources but after US media pressure, they've also "personalized" and localized. It's amazing how easily the news industry has pressured tech companies into limiting what the public sees and hears. I wish there was a news aggregate site which had a page per news event where it listed international coverage of the event.

r00fus 8y ago
Just look at Wikipedia Current Events [1] or WikiTribune [2] if you want news that's relatively unbiased and current. Google has long since been biased/personalized. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events [2] https://www.wikitribune.com https://www.wikitribune.com
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Google news was especially great for international events in the early 2010s because you'd get international sources listed back then I still get international sources (sometimes as the first source on a story , as on the Iran deal right now) on both the Google News & Weather app and the Google News desktop page. Strangely, the new Google News mobile page doesn't as much (and doesn't seem to expand to provide multiple sources for the same story the way it used and the other interfaces still do), and there's little consistency in sources, or even stories selected, between the three interfaces.
adrianmonk 8y ago
> Now, google news is just mostly NYTimes and Washingtonpost stories. What? This is certainly not my experience. I just went to news.google.com in my desktop browser, and I clicked on the World section. On the Iran sanctions/deal story, there are several sources grouped together in one card. The top source is indeed Washington post but the same card also contains coverage from Mehr News Agency (which it highlights as "From Iran"), Reuters, The Hill, RollingStone.com, NYT (highlighted as "Opinion"), NEWS.com.au, and Associated Press. If I click on "View full coverage", I get more sources, of course.
- 3steve 8y ago
  This was not my experience, my feed has been flooded by NYT and WSP stories. This normally wouldn't be a problem but these stories are often different takes on current events and the algorithm is bad serving related articles for these stories. The result is a feed full meta analysis about the news without the actual news.
  - gowld 8y ago
    > meta analysis about the news aka "opinion" aka "blogging" aka "less expensive and more eye-catching than finding and reporting facts"
- thankthunk 8y ago
  > What? This is certainly not my experience. Your comment describes the experience to the tee. > The top source is indeed Washington post but the same card also contains coverage from Mehr News Agency (which it highlights as "From Iran"), Where are you from? In the NY area, all I see is US related. A couple of washingtonpost, a couple of nytimes, rolling stone, cnn, etc. Even in the expanded "view full coverage", I don't see mehr news. > Reuters, The Hill, RollingStone.com, NYT (highlighted as "Opinion"), NEWS.com.au, and Associated Press. So, no diversity? They all are essential one news agency masquerading as different news. Yes, even the australian source. How about this, I wish I had better access to different echo chambers. Reuters, The Hill, RollingStone.com, NYT (highlighted as "Opinion"), NEWS.com.au, and Associated Press along with the nytimes and washingtonpost are part of the same echo chamber. They all push the same message. I want to see what the other nations/regions are saying. I want different opinions/perspectives/news.
touristtam 8y ago
This is exactly how I feel but I am located in the UK and sources can be really biased on how and what they report. I usually end up consulting several foreign news outlet including what our national media would qualify as not so reputable.

r00fus 8y ago

Just look at Wikipedia Current Events [1] or WikiTribune [2] if you want news that's relatively unbiased and current. Google has long since been biased/personalized. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events [2] https://www.wikitribune.com https://www.wikitribune.com

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Google news was especially great for international events in the early 2010s because you'd get international sources listed back then I still get international sources (sometimes as the first source on a story , as on the Iran deal right now) on both the Google News & Weather app and the Google News desktop page. Strangely, the new Google News mobile page doesn't as much (and doesn't seem to expand to provide multiple sources for the same story the way it used and the other interfaces still do), and there's little consistency in sources, or even stories selected, between the three interfaces.

adrianmonk 8y ago

> Now, google news is just mostly NYTimes and Washingtonpost stories. What? This is certainly not my experience. I just went to news.google.com in my desktop browser, and I clicked on the World section. On the Iran sanctions/deal story, there are several sources grouped together in one card. The top source is indeed Washington post but the same card also contains coverage from Mehr News Agency (which it highlights as "From Iran"), Reuters, The Hill, RollingStone.com, NYT (highlighted as "Opinion"), NEWS.com.au, and Associated Press. If I click on "View full coverage", I get more sources, of course.

3steve 8y ago
This was not my experience, my feed has been flooded by NYT and WSP stories. This normally wouldn't be a problem but these stories are often different takes on current events and the algorithm is bad serving related articles for these stories. The result is a feed full meta analysis about the news without the actual news.
- gowld 8y ago
  > meta analysis about the news aka "opinion" aka "blogging" aka "less expensive and more eye-catching than finding and reporting facts"
thankthunk 8y ago
> What? This is certainly not my experience. Your comment describes the experience to the tee. > The top source is indeed Washington post but the same card also contains coverage from Mehr News Agency (which it highlights as "From Iran"), Where are you from? In the NY area, all I see is US related. A couple of washingtonpost, a couple of nytimes, rolling stone, cnn, etc. Even in the expanded "view full coverage", I don't see mehr news. > Reuters, The Hill, RollingStone.com, NYT (highlighted as "Opinion"), NEWS.com.au, and Associated Press. So, no diversity? They all are essential one news agency masquerading as different news. Yes, even the australian source. How about this, I wish I had better access to different echo chambers. Reuters, The Hill, RollingStone.com, NYT (highlighted as "Opinion"), NEWS.com.au, and Associated Press along with the nytimes and washingtonpost are part of the same echo chamber. They all push the same message. I want to see what the other nations/regions are saying. I want different opinions/perspectives/news.

touristtam 8y ago

This is exactly how I feel but I am located in the UK and sources can be really biased on how and what they report. I usually end up consulting several foreign news outlet including what our national media would qualify as not so reputable.