Where do you source news and how do you rate those sources?
I source my news online via what I assume are two of the most commonly read here in the UK. I don’t really have strong opinions on either, find them fine for what they do, but I am keen to see what other options are out there.
As above plus the Indy and Al Jazeera.
Same with Reteurs & AP thrown in as well. and obvs MEN for local.
I wouldn’t check it for breaking news the way I do with the BBC - deeply flawed but force of habit - but Politico is really good. I have tried to check out of being wired into the news during the day as it was tanking my MH but I read their Playbook daily email (goes out around 7am Mon-Fri and on Sunday there’s a mini version at about 2pm) to keep abreast of what’s going on, some inside info, a broad overview of speculation from multiple papers and a bit of sense checking as well. While it’s not perfect, I feel like I’ve been significantly more well-informed on the pandemic since I started reading it daily, and it’s just a really helpful digest.
They’ve just hired Esther Webber as well who is a rare political journalist that I really respect. She’s really funny but also pretty grounded and I don’t think I’ve ever felt like she’s propagandising for anything. And it’s really a side note given how good she is at her job, but she has cerebral palsy and the hurdles you have to overcome to be a journalist with any physical impairment are huge.* She’s really a star.
*The NCTJ historically discriminated against people whose disabilities prohibited them from achieving shorthand qualifications. Originally they withheld qualifications from those who couldn’t do shorthand and while this had been overturned by the time it was relevant to me, I still had to invoke the Discrimination Act to not be charged £400+ to take alternative modules when my RSI progressed to the point that 100wpm would have wrecked me
I tend to read Fark (a news aggregate site) more than actual news sites, which I just check on once a week or so. ProPublica, Democracy Now, and the Christian Science Monitor.
I used to read different editions of The Local - are those still worth reading?
Would second Politico and the Playbook in particular.
The Guardian can be useful for news on some topics but I always have to remember its serious prejudices (e.g. transphobia) and actively ignore anything they say on those matters (and I would recommend not giving them any money because of those prejudices).
Would not touch BBC news with a barge poll these days. You might as well read Russia Today’s Putin coverage.
Pretty much most things without a paywall.
Use twitter quite a lot, but mostly so I don’t feel like I’m likely to be trapped in an echo chamber.
For depth and insight in reporting I read as much of Jacobin, Tribune, Open Democracy, Byline Times, Atlantic, The Conversation, Wired, Vice, GalDem, New Socialist, Red Pepper etc etc as I can. Adam Bienkov at BusinessInsider and Sienna Rodgers at LabourList are also good for honest political reporting. A lot links come via the people I choose to follow on twitter. I’d definitely be less informed if I watched the evening news every night and read a newspaper.
BBC news and the Guardian are useful for some of their more in depth reporting, but their political coverage is shallow and too easily led by spin and briefings from their mates.