5 ms·

This may not be the proper place to ask - but I'm generally disconnected from the news cycle outside of tech and sports, mainly because I don't know of any good

by gxs 8y ago

This may not be the proper place to ask - but I'm generally disconnected from the news cycle outside of tech and sports, mainly because I don't know of any good, objective news sources. Is there anything that you or anyone else on HN can recommend?

notamy 8y ago
Personally, I try to subscribe to subreddits like r/news, r/worldnews, ... and a few subreddits on both sides of the American political spectrum; I find that it's been good enough for me so far.
- DuskStar 8y ago
  If you think r/news or r/worldnews are neutral, I've got some bad news for you...
  - notamy 8y ago
    I never said I thought they were neutral; I just use them as one way to get a view of what's going on in the world.
gnicholas 8y ago
I built an app called Read Across The Aisle that offers a variety of news sources across the political spectrum and has a timer that tracks the aggregate political bias in your news consumption. The app is free — and provides free access to the WSJ, thanks to a generous partnership they offered us. http://www.readacrosstheaisle.com http://www.readacrosstheaisle.com
- fovc 8y ago
  Would love to try it out, but I use FF and Android
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    We'll probably be on FF soon — it's not a super difficult port from Chrome.
- DuskStar 8y ago
  Have you considered collaborating with https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ to expand the list of analyzed sites?
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    Haven't heard of them before but will check it out. Thanks!
sien 8y ago
The Economist. It's classical Liberal. Derided by the left for being pro market. Nicknamed 'The Ecommunist' by bond traders. The articles are short. Read through it every week and you will get a better understanding of the world for your time than pretty much anything else will give you.
rascul 8y ago
r/NeutralPolitics might interest you, but it's kinda slow in activity.
dublinben 8y ago
There is no such thing as an "objective" source of news that is without bias. All publications express bias through their editorial decisions on merely what stories to cover and not cover. Not that I recommend it, but if you're looking for a relatively neutral way of 'staying informed' about current events, follow a news wire service like Reuters or the AP. Just don't think that either of them is giving you a complete account of anything.
dredmorbius 8y ago
Diversify for viewpoint, and filter aggressively for straight bullshit. Top-tier US print sources, national news organs, some cross-aisle sampling, and various monitoring of chatter, international media. NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Streeet Journal, Christian Science Monitor. Good, though all have a net strong institutional bias. NPR, PBS, CBC, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, ICIJ. Bloomberg strikes me as quite good, see also news wires: Rueters, AP, AFP. Sample headlines out of London, France, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, etc. Recognise that some organs are highly propagandistic. FT, The Guardian, The Economist, Mother Jones, Democracy Today, ProPublica. Monitor network news headlines: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox. Right-wing talk: Hannity, Carlson, Jones, Limbaugh (all nutjobs, but with large audiences and strong influence.) Metasources include reports on influence or corruption. Sourcewatch and On the Media, groups such as FAIR or Project Censorship are on my list. I've cut way back on my own news exposure as 1) it's crazy-making and 2) tremendously non-strategic. I periodically monitor the above, though mostly I dive deep into themes of interest, guided by the overarching question "what are the Big Problems?". I've been kicking around the idea of what a true news dashboard or other interface might look like.
pjc50 8y ago
There's no such thing as an objective news source, the act of selecting "news" or "not news" is subjective. But given that, the best strategy is to step outside news targeted at you. Read foreign coverage of your own country. In the UK, I'd suggest the Irish Times as a starting point. The FT is also good as it's targeted at a specialist audience and not the general public.

by gxs 8y ago

notamy 8y ago

Personally, I try to subscribe to subreddits like r/news, r/worldnews, ... and a few subreddits on both sides of the American political spectrum; I find that it's been good enough for me so far.

DuskStar 8y ago
If you think r/news or r/worldnews are neutral, I've got some bad news for you...
- notamy 8y ago
  I never said I thought they were neutral; I just use them as one way to get a view of what's going on in the world.

gnicholas 8y ago

I built an app called Read Across The Aisle that offers a variety of news sources across the political spectrum and has a timer that tracks the aggregate political bias in your news consumption. The app is free — and provides free access to the WSJ, thanks to a generous partnership they offered us. http://www.readacrosstheaisle.com http://www.readacrosstheaisle.com

fovc 8y ago
Would love to try it out, but I use FF and Android
- gnicholas 8y ago
  We'll probably be on FF soon — it's not a super difficult port from Chrome.
DuskStar 8y ago
Have you considered collaborating with https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ to expand the list of analyzed sites?
- gnicholas 8y ago
  Haven't heard of them before but will check it out. Thanks!

sien 8y ago

The Economist. It's classical Liberal. Derided by the left for being pro market. Nicknamed 'The Ecommunist' by bond traders. The articles are short. Read through it every week and you will get a better understanding of the world for your time than pretty much anything else will give you.

rascul 8y ago

r/NeutralPolitics might interest you, but it's kinda slow in activity.

dublinben 8y ago

There is no such thing as an "objective" source of news that is without bias. All publications express bias through their editorial decisions on merely what stories to cover and not cover. Not that I recommend it, but if you're looking for a relatively neutral way of 'staying informed' about current events, follow a news wire service like Reuters or the AP. Just don't think that either of them is giving you a complete account of anything.

dredmorbius 8y ago

Diversify for viewpoint, and filter aggressively for straight bullshit. Top-tier US print sources, national news organs, some cross-aisle sampling, and various monitoring of chatter, international media. NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Streeet Journal, Christian Science Monitor. Good, though all have a net strong institutional bias. NPR, PBS, CBC, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, ICIJ. Bloomberg strikes me as quite good, see also news wires: Rueters, AP, AFP. Sample headlines out of London, France, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, etc. Recognise that some organs are highly propagandistic. FT, The Guardian, The Economist, Mother Jones, Democracy Today, ProPublica. Monitor network news headlines: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox. Right-wing talk: Hannity, Carlson, Jones, Limbaugh (all nutjobs, but with large audiences and strong influence.) Metasources include reports on influence or corruption. Sourcewatch and On the Media, groups such as FAIR or Project Censorship are on my list. I've cut way back on my own news exposure as 1) it's crazy-making and 2) tremendously non-strategic. I periodically monitor the above, though mostly I dive deep into themes of interest, guided by the overarching question "what are the Big Problems?". I've been kicking around the idea of what a true news dashboard or other interface might look like.

pjc50 8y ago

There's no such thing as an objective news source, the act of selecting "news" or "not news" is subjective. But given that, the best strategy is to step outside news targeted at you. Read foreign coverage of your own country. In the UK, I'd suggest the Irish Times as a starting point. The FT is also good as it's targeted at a specialist audience and not the general public.