Online Alternatives to Mainstream Media (News/Discussion/Debate)

[davebarnes]

^ Save the link to this post for a quick answer to the "Whaddya do all day?" question.

These are only 1/2 of the sites I visit daily. I left off the political and really weird ones.

Holy s**t. I want to find an easy, quick way to get important stuff.

You don't think that the latest news about potatoes is important?
I suppose this means you will miss https://www.potatopro.com/potato-conferences-tradeshows/world-potato-congress-2021-europatat-2021 ?

 

[Aerides]

Any tips on how to make Twitter or Twitterfall useful?

You have to curate your feed to get it working for you.

• Set twitter to latest tweets (vs. the default which is not a natural timeline)
• Follow smart people - less friends, more people you'd like to know than you already do
• Don't be afraid to unfollow
• Review their tweets first - are they gonna be dominant in your feed tweeting every hour, maybe pass, especially if there's a lot of outrage or self-promo
• Check their bio and pinned tweet this will tell you a lot about what to expect
• Consider turning off retweets so you only see actual content from the person (though retweets are often how I find out about new folks I find interesting)
• If you read something smart elsewhere, follow that writer, or the subject of their interview
• Avoid all the "pics in history" type bots
• Anytime something seems crazy it probably is, but resist being the "actually..." reply guy
• Follow some funny people

 

[dixonge]

An addendum to my previous post - this is a good read (imho):


https://markmanson.net/why-you-should-quit-the-news

 

[blueskyk]

Thanks for that link - I’m not alone in finding the news as currently presented detrimental to my mental health! I too, have found myself more optimistic and empathetic towards my fellow humans (of any persuasion or viewpoint) in inverse proportion to my news consumption.

 

[jollystomper]

Everyone has their bias. I try to look at various sources, understanding their bias. A good site one DS told me about is https://www.allsides.com. They show news events and topics, and how sources considered "left" "center" and "right" are covering them. It is fascinating to see the headlines side by side on the same topic, it really highlights how wording can change the view of a set of facts. The site is run by folks who have a range of political views but seem to get along.

I like the saying on their site: "Unbiased news does not exist; we provide balanced news and civil discourse".

 

[statsman]

An addendum to my previous post - this is a good read (imho):

https://markmanson.net/why-you-should-quit-the-news

Pretty accurate assessment with what's going on with the mainstream media, especially in the U.S.

I don’t feel the need for immediate news. Weather I check once or twice a day. They rest of the stuff I don’t care if I find out a day or two later. In fact, I like the news to age a bit, because the reporting quality improves as more info is uncovered and some initial inaccuracies are corrected.

While there are instances where I like to know about something right away, for the most part I agree with waiting for the news. It might be said we were better off in the days when we either waited for the evening news, or we read the newspaper many of us had delivered to our house the next day.

The 24/7 cable news networks have steered us to instantaneous "news". Sadly, when the actual truth comes out about a reported situation, it is not often this information is corrected in the news. We're left with misinformation as the main headline.

There is one thing I could do without in the news, and I think this is going to be a viewpoint that is political. I wish we could do away with political polls. Most of them are being "generated" by specific news organizations, and I believe fully they are heavily biased.

 

[Gumby]

P
The 24/7 cable news networks have steered us to instantaneous "news". Sadly, when the actual truth comes out about a reported situation, it is not often this information is corrected in the news. We're left with misinformation as the main headline.

As the famous saying often misattributed to Mark Twain* has it:

"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”


*(actually probably written by Jonathan Swift https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/books/famous-misquotations.html)

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I find that local governments -- county, municipality, school district -- have far more impact on my life than goings-on in world capitals, including our own. Actions there seldom make even the local newscast unless blood is shed.

The job of covering them is left to local newspapers, but they're so broke at this point that they may not cover day-to-day stuff. Change comes about, and then people show up with torches and pitchforks, wondering why they weren't informed. Hey, it's a DiY world out there now, people.

A local example: my town sewerage plant is completely inadequate for the effluent generated by new residential development from the last 15 years. The farmers running the town board could have imposed a levy against the developers building all those new homes, but they didn't -- and now, people getting sewer services will see a ~250% increase in their water rates when the new plant is built (this is the number a town board member quoted to me).

This isn't much of an issue at the moment, because the town board is playing it pretty close to the vest. A good reporter could blow them out of the water, but we don't have any.

 

[rodi]

I find that local governments -- county, municipality, school district -- have far more impact on my life than goings-on in world capitals, including our own. Actions there seldom make even the local newscast unless blood is shed.

The job of covering them is left to local newspapers, but they're so broke at this point that they may not cover day-to-day stuff. Change comes about, and then people show up with torches and pitchforks, wondering why they weren't informed. Hey, it's a DiY world out there now, people.

A local example: my town sewerage plant is completely inadequate for the effluent generated by new residential development from the last 15 years. The farmers running the town board could have imposed a levy against the developers building all those new homes, but they didn't -- and now, people getting sewer services will see a ~250% increase in their water rates when the new plant is built (this is the number a town board member quoted to me).

This isn't much of an issue at the moment, because the town board is playing it pretty close to the vest. A good reporter could blow them out of the water, but we don't have any.

I agree that local news is often more relevant to daily quality of life. I follow several local reporters (print, radio, and tv) on twitter. I also read the city council agendas. And for hyper local I participate as an audience member in our local planning group (a group that recommends (or not) large development projects for our part of the city...) The local planning group allows comment from audience and is a good 'early warning' on projects like sewer projects, trolley projects, new high rise developments, mass expansion at the local university, etc. This early warning allows one to gather the troops to attend and voice concerns (or support) at city council meetings and subcommittees. While these meetings are technically public - very few people attend even though the impacts of these proposed projects can be huge.

 

[CaptTom]

Any tips on how to make Twitter or Twitterfall useful?Holy s**t. I want to find an easy, quick way to get important stuff.

Log on to Twitterfall. Type a word into the box below "searches" and click/tap "Add." You'll start to get a "waterfall" of all the tweets containing that word.

I don't follow anybody (and nobody follows me.) I like to choose what I want to learn more about, not have others' opinions pushed to me.

A good site one DS told me about is https://www.allsides.com.

That looks pretty good. Thanks!

 

[target2019]

For a nice summary, minus opinion, I am currently using this daily email service: https://join1440.com/

I no longer use Google News as I am driven mad by politics in general, and they often include *very* sketchy sources in their aggregation. Plus ads.

Having said that, to be honest, what I *really* want is to be this guy, with zero news:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/style/the-man-who-knew-too-little.html

Google News can be tailored to delete sources if you login with gmail account.

This link gets you today's news from your first referenced site, without subscribing through email.
https://join1440.com/today

 

[timo2]

I like Newsy https://www.newsy.com/ The are well sourced and impartial. I don't think I've ever seen an opinion piece on it. Because of the youth of the reporters, it seems like the 'news for millenials' to me. Quite refreshing, IMO.

 

[springnr]

No news is good news!

Still, here are a couple I scan at times.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/

https://humanprogress.org/

...and one Debbie Downer
https://www.antiwar.com/

 

[target2019]

Google News can be tailored to delete sources if you login with gmail account.

This link gets you today's news from your first referenced site, without subscribing through email.
https://join1440.com/today

Thank you join1440.
https://digg.com/2020/bill-murray-in-famous-paintings

 

[CaptTom]

Google News can be tailored to delete sources if you login with gmail account.

Ahh, but you have to log on with a Google account to do that. No way am I giving them my news preferences to sell! I suppose I could set up a phony account. Or better yet, two phony accounts, one for conservative news and one for liberal news, then see what sort of "suggestions" each one gets.

I'm pretty sure how that experiment would turn out, so it's not really worth the bother. Plenty of other ways to self-filter what I read.

This link gets you today's news from your first referenced site, without subscribing through email.
https://join1440.com/today

That seemed like a good site, until I noticed that EVERY story was just a link to a video. I can read for myself far faster than some talking head can read to me.

 

[sengsational]

I'm a zero news guy. If it's just going to make me mad or prove how right my opinion is/was, then it's not making the world any better. I do read books and listen to some podcasts with the purpose of actually changing my behavior or taking action I would otherwise not taken. The list is very small because not many people have much to say that interests me AND gives me something to do to improve the world or myself (solidly in my sphere of control). It's not that I'm withdrawing, but I choose carefully what I think matters AND that has a lever I feel like, if I pull on it, something good will come out of it. And no, posting a meme on Facebook isn't considered "doing something" or pulling a lever, hehehe!

 

[Gumby]

That seemed like a good site, until I noticed that EVERY story was just a link to a video. I can read for myself far faster than some talking head can read to me.

That's why I never watch a speech. I can wait for it to be over and then read it in much less time (think of the State of the Union address). What I particularly hate are news sites where a video immediately starts to auto-play when you arrive or, sometimes, even just scroll down the page. If I want to watch video, I'll click on it. Just give me text.

 

[target2019]

Ahh, but you have to log on with a Google account to do that. No way am I giving them my news preferences to sell! I suppose I could set up a phony account. Or better yet, two phony accounts, one for conservative news and one for liberal news, then see what sort of "suggestions" each one gets.

I'm pretty sure how that experiment would turn out, so it's not really worth the bother. Plenty of other ways to self-filter what I read.

That seemed like a good site, until I noticed that EVERY story was just a link to a video. I can read for myself far faster than some talking head can read to me.

Ok, you don't have a gmail account you're using strictly for anonymity. I use it in a browser with many tracking things turned off (Brave browser).

 

[EastWest Gal]

I go these 50 sites every day.

http://www.metafilter.com MetaFilter | Community Weblog
https://www.military.com/defensetech DefenseTech: Modern Warfare and Weapons | Military.com
https://libya.liveuamap.com Libya live map. Libya civil war news today
https://www.strategypage.com/default.aspx StrategyPage | Military News Humor Photos
https://warontherocks.com War on the Rocks
http://www.thecorner.eu European economic news
https://dolartoday.com DolarToday
https://angrybearblog.com Angry Bear
https://ritholtz.com The Big Picture
https://www.calculatedriskblog.com Calculated Risk
http://econofact.org Econofact
http://www.marginalrevolution.com Marginal Revolution
https://www.thestreet.com/mishtalk Mish Talk
http://www.newgeography.com Newgeography.com | Economic, demographic, and political commentary about places
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com Apartment Therapy
http://curbed.com Curbed
http://www.fark.com FARK
http://daringfireball.net Daring Fireball
https://www.loopinsight.com The Loop
http://www.macobserver.com Mac Observer - You’ll get your Mac news here from now on!
http://www.macrumors.com Mac Rumors: Apple Mac Rumors and News You Care About
http://arstechnica.com Ars Technica
https://www.digitimes.com/index.asp DIGITIMES daily IT news
https://www.fastcompany.com/co-design Fast Company | The future of business
https://www.inputmag.com Input
https://mondaynote.com Monday Note
http://thenextweb.com The Next Web - International technology news, business & culture
https://www.theregister.com The Register: Sci/Tech News for the World
https://semiaccurate.com SemiAccurate - On Target Technology News
http://slashdot.org Slashdot News for nerds, stuff that matters
http://techmeme.com Techmeme
http://www.techdirt.com Techdirt.
http://www.theverge.com The Verge
https://adage.com AdAge
http://www.bicycleretailer.com Bicycle Retailer
http://www.bikerumor.com bikerumor
http://www.boxofficemojo.com Box Office Mojo Movie Report
https://chainstoreage.com Chain Store Age | The leading provider of retail news and analysis
http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities Commodity Prices - Price Charts, Data, and News - IndexMundi
https://gcaptain.com gCaptain – Maritime News
https://grapecollective.com Grape Collective online wine magazine, wine reviews and recommendations and buy wine online. - Grapecollective.com
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com Hotel News
https://mjbizdaily.com Marijuana Business News | Cannabis Industry Financial & Legal News
https://www.packagingdigest.com Packaging Digest
https://www.potatopro.com/news PotatoPro
https://progressivegrocer.com Progressive Grocer | Grocery & Supermarket Industry News
http://nrn.com Restaurant News
https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com Restaurant Business Magazine - Trends, Ideas and News
http://www.rottentomatoes.com ROTTEN TOMATOES Movie Reviews & Previews
https://www.supermarketnews.com Supermarket News

50 sites every day? When do you have time to do anything else? Just kidding. That’s quite a list, worth checking out.

I like POTUS on SiriusXM, NPR, and for in depth The Atlantic is quite good. News 360 phone app lets you select your topics of interest, though lately it has lost my interest. I like the trivia radio shows on NPR on the weekends.

I find it helpful to just search topics of interest as well.

Podcasts-I really like This Week in Virology and sometimes listen to Lawfare. They do an interesting thing with Congressional testimony. They record the hearing and cut out all the Congressional grandstanding. Just questions and answers. It reduces a 4 hour session to about an hour, I learn something and everyone seems much less biased and more knowledgeable than they do in the real time hearings. I also listen to political podcasts which are of course biased, by choice.

 

[W2R]

I don't listen to television news, or online mainstream news sources either (if I can help it). Somehow everything important filters down to me anyway.

I try to get what I can from youtube. It's a struggle, though. I have no channels to recommend since most of the ones I like are quite partisan and not appropriate for discussion here. Listening to something that partisan that agrees with me, is just confirmation bias and not really news. I think of it as entertainment, although sometimes it gives me some idea of what actual news stories exist.

I get nothing from Facebook memes since I only have two Facebook "friends".

For local news I go to what used to be the website for our newspaper, back when we had a newspaper. The articles there are quite biased so I read them with a grain of salt; still, I need to know things like street closures and so on and they do have that.

If I hear of an interesting news story, I will Google it, hold my nose, and read what comes up about it. This probably happens just 2-3 times a week.

I don't have a solution to the question, in other words. I do know that I'd rather have no news, than listen to any variety of mainstream news, such as the network news shows available on TV.

 

[Lsbcal]

I think this is a good question from the OP. This source rates media and I think it is reasonably accurate: https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-ratings

Here is their table:

I like Reuters and BBC for centrist views.

 

[capjak]

I think this is a good question from the OP. This source rates media and I think it is reasonably accurate: https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-ratings

Here is their table:

I like Reuters and BBC for centrist views.

Unfortunately this rating service is biased as well. There just isn't any unbiased news that I have found, but as long as you realize that it can be pretty entertaining to see how each one spins it for their audience.

 

[CoolChange]

I have been trying to wean myself off "news" but still do the following most mornings with my coffee:
Google News for a rundown of all the top headlines so I'm not completely clueless if I have to interact with other people.
Bloomberg's few minutes of free live real-time video from Bloomberg TV to make sure I'm not missing something important in the financial world.
Facebook to completely numb my mind.

 

[Katsmeow]

I rarely look at Twitter since it seems like a firehose of crap. I "follow" a few people but even with that I can't figure out much. Twitterfall looks pretty interesting. Any tips on how to make Twitter or Twitterfall useful?Holy s**t. I want to find an easy, quick way to get important stuff.

First, what Aerides says is basically what I do. It , it can also be helpful to create lists of specific topics. For example, I have a gaming list. So if I only want to see a feed of stuff posted by people on that list I can do that. I also have a health list which are the medical/epidemology types. And, a politics list and several others. That allows me to focus on a feed of specific types of content when I don't want to just read everything. When I follow someone I will unfollow at times even if what they is OK. But if they are two repetitious or post too much or don't add anything knew then I just unfollow them. Works out really well and I get caught up on news really quickly.

 

[Elbata]

News aggregator: Citizen Free Press (CFP)
Swings hard to the left though. Be careful.