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Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

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Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, has he always been a cheerleader for Trump? There are some things he is doing now that I don't remember him doing before that suggest his political stance has changed.

He believes that Trump should have the same broadcast rights that other political figures do, but he prefers DeSantis to Trump: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/elon-musk-ron...

But there's almost no difference between the two, politically speaking, so that doesn't mean much.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, I find they did not explain their model well. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. It's not an extraordinary claim tho. Literally, every year old people die because of cold weather and not being able to afford the proper heating. This is basically old news. The cost of living "crisis" means that the price of energy is not becoming a matter for the average working person. This isn't really ext…

> Literally, every year old people die because of cold weather and not being able to afford the proper heating. Yes, but the problem is not explaining that people aren't dying because of the cold itself. The way you wrote this and the way the media portrays the problem makes it sound like people will die from freezing to death, which is just not true. Pretty much all reporting forgets to add the nuance that deaths in…

> makes it sound like people will die from freezing to death, which is just not true.

It's 100% true in my part of the US.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#303
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jacobin isn't just biased, it's agenda-driven. They're cheering specific outcomes and jeering others. To the parent comments' point, Jacobin is just an echo chamber for Socialists who want to hear Socialist opinions from other Socialists. That's different from wanting to read factual news and rational analysis from sources who believe climate change is real.

Every publication is agenda-driven, and nothing is more echo chambery than believing only your favorites are presenting “factual news and rational analysis.”

Having a bias (inevitable for humans) and having an agenda are two entirely different things.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#304

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!

This guy over on https://indica.medium.com/how-the-economist-is-just-propagan... comes up with a healthy analysis of exactly that.

The writing here is so pathetically dramatic I suggest you wait a decade or so before recommending an article again.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#305
post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every publication is agenda-driven, and nothing is more echo chambery than believing only your favorites are presenting “factual news and rational analysis.”

No they aren't. That's cynical. Jacobin puts it right on their About Us page that they're Socialist news. I've been around a few newsrooms and most of them would riot if they were ever directed to represent an agenda. Even when there was a predominant political leaning.

How many of those newsrooms rioted during the decision to invade Iraq? One doesn’t need to be “directed to represent an agenda” in a competitive news environment, you don’t make it through the door without being a certain type of journalist to begin with.

One of the most frustrating obstacles in this conversation is people believing that being in the middle of the Overton Window makes you non-ideological. The idea of being ideological is offensive to people who believe that their view isn’t, which ironically is the hallmark of successful ideology. I’d point to Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher for further elaboration.

This reminds me of the David Foster Wallace joke of the fish who reply to “How’s the water?” with “What the hell is water?”

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#306
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal of Russia's bombardments is to flood Europe with refugees, provoke civil unrests there and then bring to power Russia's puppets like AfD in Germany and the like. The end goal is to undermine international support for Ukraine.

Hasn't EU immigration policy already flooded the EU with refugees..?

Not at the rate of several millions per month which is very likely to happen this winter. FYI, there are estimated 6.9 millions of internally displaced people in Ukraine already.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#307

I see this claim in nearly every HN thread about the Economist -- that it's declined in quality. And it baffles me because, having read it for 20+ years and gone back for research to read plenty of articles from further back... I just don't see it at all. It's the same market-based, socially progressive, pragmatic international strongly opinionated journalism it's always been. Sometimes I think the way it characteriz…

Its quality increased dramatically the mid-2000s. Before that it was much more conversational and opinionated.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#308
We are living in a golden age of high quality journalism - it just coexists with lots of crap.

For example, on the Left you have N+1 and Progressive. On the Center you have Atlantic and Foreign Affairs. Conservatives have National Affair, American Affairs, and National Review.

But none of them is a biweekly paper/magazine intended to keep you informed of all major current events from an international perspective.

Realistically, you have to go with a daily: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post.

We don’t have weekly or biweekly papers in the US.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#309

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…

I thought of one more: How about The New Yorker? Yes, about 25-50% is dedicated to NYC, but the rest is incredibly varied and insanely well fact-checked. You won't find as much economic news, but you will find more science, arts, and long form profiles.

Re: Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?

#310
post #90

Try the Spectator: https://www.spectator.co.uk/

It’s as right wing as they come full of writers who somehow feel Brexit was a good idea!

You say that like it's a bad thing.

But I would point you to the fact that they have Rod Liddle (lefty/Social Democrat) and Matthew Parris (Tory who hates Brexit) as regular columnists.

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