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Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

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Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#51

Post by pbhjpbhj »

mellosouls wrote: post #36
walthamstow wrote: post #5

Guessing you're British or a UK resident? If you're not reading Private Eye already I would highly recommend it.

Yeah, Private Eye pretty much the only essential publication in the UK for me.

Satire and comedy panel shows (HIGNFY, Mock the Week, Daily Mash, etc.) have been a major source of news and debate for me over the last decade or so. The BBC appear to be reflecting this by cancelling all news related comedy shows on TV -- presumably following pressure from the Tory government? The BBC also appear to have put a month-delay on podcasts which prevents them from helping u inform opinions on recent news. These things limit democracy, IMO. I've found such shows (in the same way as Private Eye) will lampoon anyone and so seem quite well balanced.

This all just seems to be one more data point on the chart that shows our UK government to be quite fascist.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#52

Post by PedroBatista »

williamcotton wrote: post #27
PedroBatista wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've casually noticed, in recent years they declared the EU dead at least 4 or 5 times and the bias towards some kind of Liberal US/UK lead/controlled World is clear. They are liberal and anglo, so of course the bias is there ( also smug, but that's pretty much since their beginnings) , but they try to pass their views as fact, meaning: "There's chat going around, this is what the reality is and will be.."…

You must be reading a different magazine than I have because The Economist has been writing a lot about the need for the US and the West to provide military and economic aid in support of Ukraine!

Yeah, I've been ready the magazine for more than a couple years.

When "nothing is gonna happen" and business was good, there was the need to "support"/sell Ukraine stuff. When shit got real "It was important for the World to don't confront Russia and let it be", when Russia flubbed the military support for Ukraine needed to be much more! more!.

I'm sure now that the war is extensive but also will be long, they'll try to push the "Listen.. you have to broke a deal with Putin."

Every take they had over the years is in line with pretty much every tabloid. My main criticism is they pretend they are something else, some high society deep thinkers, when in reality they are not. They've missed every economic crash and found every one of it the same way all the others did.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#53

Post by donpott »

Maybe Foreign Policy? Can't say I've read any issues in the past few years, but back when I last read it, it appeared to fit your requisites reasonably well (perhaps a bit too US-centric for your liking).

This chart shows FP as a more factual, slightly closer to the Center than The Economist (EDIT: Wrong)

https://www.datawrapper.de/_/rrzFK/

Source for the chart: https://www.thefactual.com/blog/is-foreign-policy-magazine-r...

EDIT: I misunderstood the chart. It shows FP as more factual and slightly more opinionated than The Economist, while labelling both as "Center" (without relative comparisons) ideologically.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#55

Post by skrebbel »

PedroBatista wrote: post #16
williamcotton wrote: post #8

What narrative manipulation have you seen from The Economist? I haven’t noticed it so perhaps I am being manipulated! I’d love to hear your insight!

From what I've casually noticed, in recent years they declared the EU dead at least 4 or 5 times and the bias towards some kind of Liberal US/UK lead/controlled World is clear. They are liberal and anglo, so of course the bias is there ( also smug, but that's pretty much since their beginnings) , but they try to pass their views as fact, meaning: "There's chat going around, this is what the reality is and will be.."…

> They ( as many others ), didn't view Ukraine fighting back and Western help as a good thing, Ukraine capitulation was "the right thing to happen"

Nearly every issue since February this year has contained calls to support Ukraine, titles like "Why Ukraine must win" and so on. They're very hawkish pro a Ukraine all-out victory, often describing Ukraine as fighting for all of Europe's (or even the entire West's) freedom.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#56

Post by noduerme »

I feel like I asked HN the same question about the Economist a couple years ago. I still really appreciate its broad approach to world news and its slanted-but-two-sided view of politics. Honestly the replacement you're looking for to understand international reality is probably some mix of very costly Stratfor briefings and France24 and DW. (Jacobin? seriously? is al Jazeera too well sourced for you?) Internal US politics aren't covered very well by the Economist so you won't be missing to much by switching to this blend, and most US politics can unfortunately be inferred six months in the future by watching other nascent authoritarian states anyway.

Wait for it... Dang is gonna ban me again. BUT I'M DRUNK! Damn it.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#57

Post by bifftastic »

abm53 wrote: post #43
corbet wrote: post #31

I bailed on the Economist a couple of years ago after at least a couple decades...thought I was the only one who felt it had declined. I haven't really found a good replacement still. If nothing else, the pain they put me through to end the subscription was enough to prevent me from ever signing up again.

Their “customer retention” process is extremely aggressive, even by most traditional print publications’ standards.

I have recently bailed too - I was subjected to multiple exit interviews when cancelling my subscription (two online and one over the phone). This certainly put me right off resubscribing at any point in the future.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#58

Post by Aromasin »

williamcotton wrote: post #8

What narrative manipulation have you seen from The Economist? I haven’t noticed it so perhaps I am being manipulated! I’d love to hear your insight!

The way they discuss the UK/EU dynamic rankles me. They spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about Europe, while talking about the UK as if it's on the cusp of a new age.

I also loathe their coverage of the UK budget. It's a personally belief that George Osbourne's tenure in government has single-handedly sent the UK in a seemingly bottomless downward spiral back into 1970's Britain. He delivered his budget based on short-term fixes and populist gambits. The Economist talk about him and his policies as if he were some misunderstood hero of the age, and laud the absurd austerity measures of that government. Liz Truss recycles those same policies of tax cuts to the those who need it least, and the Economist does the same; that is, until the whole market finally comes crashing down. They back track as fast as they can, trying to distance themselves from her, talking about "how they would have done differently". It just seems so two-faced.

These are just a couple of examples but in summary, when their own fundamental beliefs are shown to fail, be it social or economic, they change tact so as to appear in the right instead of owning up and admitting any fault.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#59

Post by skrebbel »

izacus wrote: post #40
jakozaur wrote: post #22

I am long-time fun of Economist, but unfortunately the quality decreases. E.g. last issue EU is frozen and claim so many people will die in Europe due to high energy prices. First, I find they did not explain their model well. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Second, the correlation does not imply causation or whether extrapolations are solid. It looks like there might be mistakes on that front an…

Economist usually has some seriously bizarre articles about EU with a massive pro-USA bias when attempting any analysis. That ultimately made me stop reading it since it's not a very useful viewpoint if you actually live in Europe.

Any examples? I'm a European with a pretty chauvinistic pro-EU meh-USA attitude and I've never found the Economist's Europe section to be "bizarre" (been reading for about a year)

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#60

Post by uncletammy »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #51
mellosouls wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Private Eye pretty much the only essential publication in the UK for me.

Satire and comedy panel shows (HIGNFY, Mock the Week, Daily Mash, etc.) have been a major source of news and debate for me over the last decade or so. The BBC appear to be reflecting this by cancelling all news related comedy shows on TV -- presumably following pressure from the Tory government? The BBC also appear to have put a month-delay on podcasts which prevents them from helping u inform opinions on recent news…

> The BBC also appear to have put a month-delay on podcasts which prevents them from helping u inform opinions on recent news.

Through what mechanism is the BBC able to delay podcasts?

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