21–30 of 78 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I currently have two daily sources of news, Reddit and Google News. > News is mostly clickbait I don't want to tell you how to do you, but just know that there are plenty of informative journalistic sources that do not reduce their headlines to clickbait - if you are willing to pay a bit for your news.
Can you recommend some informative journalistic sources that don't reduce their headlines to clickbait?
I donate to local and public media because the work is nevertheless important to support but I consume almost none of the product. Sucks.
That said, as a US-centered person, I recently found this factual email distillation, and do find it useful. Think there should be more of these, locally and regionally tailored.
I do listen to a twice weekly podcast that mostly sums up the stuff worth hearing about. In a world that is instant, and where content must be new to be of value, I think it is best to delay our news consumption by at least days if not weeks, and in some cases probably even months. News (I won't say "modern", I suspect it has always been this way) agencies make money off eyeballs, they do not make money by reporting accurately or with calm and reason. They make money with splashy headlines and inaccurate (if only because it is too new and breaking) ledes. You can fix the inaccuracies next week when the dust clears, but right now it is important to shout about the thing.
All this is create over informed and wrong readers who are anxious about everything. I am married with children, I have enough to be anxious about. I do not need to add to my list of worries, especially with things happening on the other side of the world in a country I have no intentions of ever visiting. I can still empathize with the problems of the world, but my empathy is just as useful to those people today as it is in three weeks when the sensationalist headlines have moved onto the new thing.
My recommendations as a professional: The kind of news you want is that which remains relevant tomorrow. Some news are designed to create cumulative knowledge and cumulative understanding. Search for those formats and make a habit of reading them regularly, but not necessarily daily. A great example is the economist and in particular its weekly recap. By the way, I'm not a fan of podcasts because you're not in contro…
https://www.tomorrowspapers.co.uk/
to see the trashy side without any temptation to actually read!
For international news and other takes, BBC, The Guardian, and Financial Times work for me.
For Norwegian news (since that's where I'm living), I stick with NRK since that's free - I'd like to subscribe to a local paper, but their prices are insane.
I've stopped reading news 3 years ago. One of the best decisions of my life. Before I was super anxious and had a big FOMO syndrome. Now I'm more relaxed and I sleep better. If something is really important, I can be sure other will let me know.
I like uniqueuid's recommendation more generally though
The seed idea was reading this essay: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews
It is not that I agree 100%, but it made clear to me that news is entertainment. Not more, not less. Watching a show on Netflix or watching fulfill the same role. And I prefer fiction.
The “understand better the world” part comes from other sources that are not, at all, about reporting the “news”. Books, articles, podcasts on topics that I am curious about.
Occasionally, I do go to the news. But that’s when I want to know something very specific. Like when I wanted to know the results of the elections in my country. I don’t go to the news to “check what’s going on”. I go only when I already know what I want to check. I’ll watch more news now during the World Cup, for example.
Stopping following the news didn’t make any negative difference in my understanding of the world, I believe.
My recommendations as a professional: The kind of news you want is that which remains relevant tomorrow. Some news are designed to create cumulative knowledge and cumulative understanding. Search for those formats and make a habit of reading them regularly, but not necessarily daily. A great example is the economist and in particular its weekly recap. By the way, I'm not a fan of podcasts because you're not in contro…
I also scan the UK newspaper front pages https://www.tomorrowspapers.co.uk/ to see the trashy side without any temptation to actually read!
Is an actual front page story.
I've stopped reading news 3 years ago. One of the best decisions of my life. Before I was super anxious and had a big FOMO syndrome. Now I'm more relaxed and I sleep better. If something is really important, I can be sure other will let me know.