I have used YouTube, Reddit and Mastodon for news related to certain topics. Now I want to be more independent in finding my own news sources. However, there are so many sources on the internet I wouldn’t know where to begin to find them by myself.
Have you conserved going to… their websites? News outlets usually have websites. Some even still offer print.
Another option I use is NPR One- it’s basically a streaming service for the NPR network, including their podcasts. I use it during my commutes into work. (It’s also not just for news. Shortwave is a usually-interesting science podcast.)
I’ve been getting back into RSS lately, after following some advice from somebody elsewhere on Lemmy. I’ve been using Inoreader, which has a pretty decent interface. They also have mobile apps which sync with each other so you can keep your reading progress across devices.
Yes, but what sources? I feel like finding a way to consume things is less difficult than actually choosing sources. It’s so much easier when you are using a link aggregation service that simply feeds you things selected by other users.
Inoreader has a bunch of preconfigured news sources you can subscribe to, and it also lets you add direct RSS feeds for and other sites you want.
Most of mine is gaming, tech, and world news. So things like IGN, Ars Technica, Wired, Verge, Polygon, Rock Paper Shotgun, Slashdot, and feeds to a few subreddits I still keep track of.
For interesting, well-written, and in-depth articles I recommend:
The New Yorker Harper’s (not Harper’s Bazaar) The Atlantic New York Times Magazine
Just roll your own lists, that way you know where exactly the info is coming from, less risk of fake news. Kinda like making your own food at home vs eating out!
I like Axios for news, and News Minimalist which uses LLM to de-sensationalize news articles. Ars Technica for tech stuff.
Feeder is a nice RSS reader that works well for me.
I’ll check out Axios and News Minimalist.
I’ve used RSS a lot in the past, but what I’ve found is nowadays RSS feeds deliver way, way too much content for me to consume. I do subscribe to the New York Times, which at least gets me major headlines.
I use Google news but i know it’s feeding me what it thinks i want. For real news i use AP. I like Axios because they give “Go Deeper” or “Why it Matters”.
Can’t rely on who publishes the article, usually. And cannot read just one thing. Have to rely on the sources cited in the article.
Are they nobodies or are they learned professionals? If they are anonymous, is the author a serious, professional journalist?
Another good place to dig into stories is in court records and legal filings. Cuts through the bullshit.
Now, you’d be out of time if you tried to dig into every story. There is too much going on. Pick a thing you know and care about. Filter not by source but by subject.
Do you want information or rage bait?
For information, go to AP and Reuters. Maybe the BBC. That’s what’s left. Everything else is “entertainment “.
CBC NEWS is pretty unbiased IMO.
I almost listed CBC, but most USians would consider CBC to have a liberal bias. Then again, many USians think math has a liberal bias.
What’s USians?
People of the United States. Some take exception to calling them Americans when the entire continent is named “North America”
ABC news Australia abc.net.au
Your information must be my rage bait.
BBC and AP are great sources. Newsnation is a newer organization, but they have really good unbiased reporting compared to most stations nowadays.
Here’s some handy charts regarding reporting bias and factual reporting reliability. It’s a very handy site.
I used to use the chart from AdFontes - I preferred its granularity, but they have gone to a login wall. I don’t need more accounts and tracking.
RSS. I use Feeder which provides me with a social media like feed of the RSS I subscribe to. So find news sources you like and try to add the rss link if there is one.
You can also use Google news to get rss of sites that don’t have a rss link https://www.aakashweb.com/articles/google-news-rss-feed-url/
in word: RSS
explanation: I looked into some RSS apps time ago and some apps (found a lot open source in F-droid) just need to search what your interest or keywords and it will find you source of news
I use feedly pretty much every day. The Times for reasonable news. Bloomberg because it’s the closest thing to right-wing news that isn’t batshit crazy. Lots of international sources for other perspectives… BBC, Al Jazeera, Japan Times, etc… Then lots of tech industry news just because that’s my field.
The subscriptions are going to seem high when you first look but this is the reality of the current news landscape… If you want legitimate news it’s going to cost money. If you want legitimate news that isn’t completely dependent on advertising, it’s going to cost more money.
I’m a fan of associated press personally. They seem to do a decent job at sticking to the facts and not telling you what to think.
I typically have to stick with actual articles because I just can’t stand hearing anchors randomly speculate and interject their opinions. I want facts reported, not to hear your free flow of thoughts I don’t care about…
Watching some of The Hill Rising coverage of UAP stuff just about gave me an aneurysm… Just idiots baselessly blabbering on…
An RSS reader. Most of the popular ones will suggest news for you.
Check out the Ground News app. I’ve been giving it a try on recommendation from a friend, otherwise I just use the same rss feeds I’ve always used.
If you’re new to news, start with AP, Reuters, and Ars Technica, then add local stuff if you have it (BBC, CBC, Indigenous outlets as applicable, etc) and carry on with sources you like.
When you say you’re getting your news from social media, you’re really getting your news via social media. It’s still published somewhere, ideally after having been written by a human journalist. What are the sites whose links you like to follow from reddit or mastodon? Subscribe to those.
And you’ve got yourself a news app!
Consult one of these two media bias charts and this fact check bias chart. Decide for yourself which of those sources you want to follow.
One of the media bias charts is put together by AllSides, I donate a yearly subscription to them for their website which is great.
Shows all the important news stuff from left, center, and right sources so you can see the headlines and how things are spun, make up your own mind.
I’d also discourage just picking news from the center. You’ll miss a lot, as understanding the left viewpoint and right viewpoint are important for a holistic picture.
Which sources on the right are not just heavily biased and full of hyperbole?
This website selects the most significant news with AI https://www.newsminimalist.com/
I subscribe to different news websites using a RSS app, or follow their Mastodon accounts, or get newsletters to my email. I like the news coverage from The NY Times, WaPo, Axios, NPR, The Guardian and The BBC. I don’t check all the time, just when I feel like checking the news. I more frequently find news on link aggregator sites or forum type sites. You have to look around and build your sources.
RSS
Literally just got into rss this week and realized what I had been missing- news, podcasts, DJ mixes all delivered straight to you with no bs
where do you find good sources to follow, then?
Man I feel like I’m spamming this in this thread… but this is a really helpful website for finding reliable, unbiased sources.
How did you start?? I’ve wanted to try it out for a while now but have no idea where to begin
I started because I was tired of using Spotify for podcasts. I just searched for the most simplest podcast app I could find for Linux and chose gPodder, then I just subscribed to the podcasts I listen to via rss url. There’s some sites that will give you the rss url for podcasts based on name search
Here is a site that rates news sites that may help you pick what sites to follow via RSS. I am sure there are other pages like this if this one doesn’t seem accurate to you. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/
Awesome, I’m not the only one sharing this! Such a useful site.
Get an RSS reader! I use NetNewsWire on iOS and Mac but there’s a huge variety out there to choose from. Once you’ve made your choice, you can add RSS feeds from different websites (Reuters, NPR, etc.), so you can have one feed that aggregates articles from all the news sources you’ve selected, or customise different feeds focusing on politics, economics, cars, whatever you want. I can even add in different substacks I’m subscribed to. Once upon a time you could also add your Twitter and Reddit feeds, but with the API shenanigans that’s not available anymore sadly
