Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 320 posts

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#131

Post by cybrexalpha »

I took out an Economist subscription for the first time this year, and I've found it really mixed. Lots of interesting articles, but I'll agree the analysis isn't as good as many other sources I've seen (in my view).

What's the bigger blocker for me is the anti-LGBT+ lean. For example the most recent article on trans rights: November 19th - 25th 2022 issue, "Transgressions", page 29 in print. It's not even the insidious "see both sides" argument you see often, but just unbalanced rehash of old claims with no analysis, research, or further thought. In the same issue, The Economist jumped to the defence of Qatar (“In defence of Qatar”, page 18 in print) with the argument that while Qatar was terrible for LGBT+ rights, so have been pervious world cup holders. To me that’s not even an argument, that’s just a defeatist “oh well it was bad before so why bother complaining”.

I’m all for accepting viewpoints that are different from my own, but when it comes to “should LGBT+ people have rights” that’s not up for debate.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#132

Post by [deleted] »

nerdawson wrote: post #30
jll29 wrote: post #21

Very timely question, I just purchased an issue of the Economist because I was toying with the idea of re-instating a previously held subscription. I share the disappointment. In the past, even just the book reviews were so good that they "forced" me to buy 2-3 of the reviewed books; that issue didn't intrigue me. I don't have an answer whether it's a general trend or not, as I'm trained not to ascribe too much weigh…

> …would like to see an alternative that is at the same quality level as the Economist (but with more neutral reporting and individual author names given)… More publications should remove the byline. Individual attribution incentivises journalists to try and stand out which typically means making intentionally inflammatory statements.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#133

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #119
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found the opposite. Print media publications seem to be higher quality with better editorial review. There are of course exceptions and outstanding blogs out there. I've seen some reporters go from working at a "big" publisher to Substack and I can tell the difference in their writing. Usually more extreme and alarmist. I chalk it up to less review.

I agree the individual pieces are less polished and tend more towards alarmism or outrage. I still find it overall better, because logical inconsistencies and wrong facts will get called out viciously and without mercy. The result is a more correct worldview, but one needs to keep some distance, otherwise it can get unhealthy. Its the difference between a university debate club and an MMA cage. The MMA filter is much…

> logical inconsistencies and wrong facts will get called out viciously and without mercy

Even here, inaccuracies are promoted as fact regularly. I don't count on the social media herd as a compass.

Other than this site I avoid news that comes with a comment section because internet anons have their own biases and agendas and aren't representative.

You end up with nuance swept aside and extreme unflinching loudmouths getting the most visibility. A lot of this goes hand in hand with quitting social media.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#134

Post by xorcist »

While I too enjoy Der Spiegel, the Economist is fairly unique in that it has a classical liberal and globalist slant. There's much less nationalistic perspective in their reporting which can be a breath of fresh air.

Lately I've enjoyed Politico for at least sometimes sharing this ambition. It's very US-centric, even in the Politico EU variant, but there's far less national exceptionalism than its peers in my opinion.

I completely agree that the Economist has been slowly declining in quality over the last decade, which saddens me. Clickbaiting is a universal problem now, and I don't think there's any direct competitor that's better. I've come to terms with diversifying my reading list and reading much less of each instead.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#135

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

bitlax wrote: post #124
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #68

> It doesn't align exactly with my political values Which values? I find it to be very analytic and dry in a good way.

That's the writing style. The choice of topics, point of view, and conclusions drawn at The Economist all show political bias.

Alright. What's the alternative? Read a multitude of even more biased single point of view blogs?

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#137

Post by msackmann »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #123

You might add https://www.spiegel.de/international/ to your list. It is free and well written. The good thing about Financial Times: It is a UK publisher, not US-based, so the reporting on the US is more skeptical and nuanced. Less screechy. To be fair, I avoid almost all of the opinion pieces except for Martin Wolf, because he is basically writing an economics column. The rest is rather inflammatory (much lower edit…

Wow, thanks for pointing out the international Spiegel. It seems much more substantial than the free German counterpart, at least in my first impression.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#140

Post by bretpiatt »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #81
bretpiatt wrote: post #80

I find Quillette - https://quillette.com/ very solid, all clear bylines so you can understand the background and perspective of the author.

Quoted post unavailable.

Here's the byline for author from top post on the front page, unclear to me how either of your accusations accurately represents him.

https://quillette.com/author/niranjan/

Post reply on HN