The Onion is becoming the only reliable source for news
I can relate to this story: Why more and more people are tuning the news out: ‘Now I don’t have that anxiety’. I feel the same way!
“Now that I don’t watch the news, I just don’t have that anxiety. I don’t have dread,” said Mardette Burr, an Arizona retiree who says she stopped watching the news about eight years ago. “There were times that I’d be up at two or three o’clock in the morning upset about something that was going on in the world that I just didn’t have a lot of control over.”
She’s not alone. Globally, news avoidance is at a record high, according to an annual survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published in June. This year, 40% of respondents, surveyed across nearly 50 countries, said they sometimes or often avoid the news, up from 29% in 2017 and the joint highest figure recorded.
The number was even higher in the US, at 42%, and in the UK, at 46%. Across markets, the top reason people gave for actively trying to avoid the news was that it negatively impacted their mood. Respondents also said they were worn out by the amount of news, that there is too much coverage of war and conflict, and that there’s nothing they can do with the information.
I gave up on the NY Times years ago — it was clearly a tool of the oligarchy, and I was constantly irritated with the bothsiderism. I stopped watching CNN during the Iraq war, when it was wallowing in the ‘glory’ of gunning down thousands of people. I thought maybe the Washington Post was a little better, but unsubscribed when Bezos exerted his control over its editorial position. Now I will go for days without looking at the news. I get most of my information from a few trusted online sources, and I worry that that will reinforce my biases, but no worry — I expect the government will squash them all soon, as they would like to do with PBS. ProPublica is still hanging in there!
Where do you get your news? Or do you even bother any more?
Democracy Now!
I start my mornings with Raw Story. Sure it is biased, but it gives me the outrageous doings of the MAGAts I need to know about.
I get my news from NPR, The Guardian, and Ground News. I have paid subscriptions to all three.
For UK news I tend to go with Novara Media and Double Down News. For US news… well, same, but also Some More News, the comedy news show on Youtube. Or sometimes I just don’t bother, imagine some kind of horrific fascistic atrocity and just assume that probably happened to save time.
I don’t pay any attention to the MSN, Mainstream News any more.
All of it is owned by billionaires and they don’t report the news any more.
They’ve failed us big time in our current crisis.
The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, CBS, etc.. aren’t worth wasting time on.
There is a lot of news online from reliable sources such as the Guardian and a lot of newer startups.
I mostly just scroll through Bluesky for those.
Plu,s in between the news, they have comics and cat photos.
AP
Talking Points Memo
Joe My God for the weird
Recently, when I want to browse a news medium, I’ve been opting for AP.
You guys are naming a lot of the same sources I already follow!
I still scan the headlines, but don’t do a deep dive the way I once did. It’s all Trump 24/7 and my BP and sanity can’t take it. I never watch the bellowing, big ego news readers on the MSM. For example, the only articles I read this morning were about divers smashing sea urchins to save the California kelp forests and the latest on that 3I/Atlas comet.
any billionaire media and social media is out for me. There are a few good independent news outlets there, but you have to always scan them for zionism support. Michael West Media and Anthony Klan would be 2 to name from Australia in particular. The Guardian has its ups and downs. More reliable are RollingStone and TeenVogue, and Wired and Techcrunch for tech and internet shenanigans. If you want more info about all the age verification stuff going on, check out Siri Dahl(very much nsfw).
The Postillon.
News about Trump.
I’ve kinda stuck with AP. The app on my iPad isn’t bad, but I miss out on local news. I probably ought to do something about that if I want to consider myself “informed.” [sigh] I’m going to check out ProPublica today though, based on recommendations here. Thanks!
But my real recommendation is a podcast from NPR titled “Up First.” 10-15 minutes of your favorite reporters, covering the three top stories of the day. That seems to be just enough for me.
I follow the news more than ever: sure it wears me down, but I prefer to know what and whom to prepare for. Getting sucker-punched with your hands in your pockets is, among other things, embarrassing.
We’re really short on good news venues any more, but The Infinite Thread here does a good job and often points to worthwhile sources (thanks, Lynna & Co!).
Also recommended: commondreams.org (a soapbox for progressive viewpoints, but often with good reportage on topics ignored elsewhere), tomdispatch.com (deep dives on war/peace, climate, etc issues), theintercept.com (national/international issues), rewirenewsgroup.com (feminist topics), newsfromthestates.com (localized US reportage), and of course digbysblog.net & emptywheel.net.
Call me an optimist or even naive but I continue to subscribe to the Washington Post. I remember the “Pentagon Papers” , the Watergate “Plumbers”, and the Spotlight disclosures of the coverup of child abuses by the Catholic Church.
I believe that an open and free press is essential to hold politicians accountable. Powerful people have always controlled the US press, but better that than a government controlled press.
Joe my God, Wonkette, The Infinite Thread. That’s about it since I’m living with my parents and they are Trunpkins (I think it’s unspoken conflict avoidance). I don’t have much opportunity to catch up on my phone, and I don’t want to put anything on in their house to avoid arguing.
I’ll consider things I see in these comments as suggestions though.
Al-Jazeera TV News is pretty good.
Having an accurate sense of American empire’s genocidal campaigns and other hegemonic goings-on isn’t supposed to be comfortable. I take breaks when I need to, but I catch up on it later.
Props to Antiwar(dot)com for their volume of relevant output and for updating regularly. Also the World Socialist Web Site, Scheerpost, and a smattering of individual journalists’ blogs: Caitlin Johnstone, Jonathan Cook, Chris Hedges, etc.
Propublica
The Guardian (have to watch out for transphobia)
The Nation
New Republic
Mother Jones
DAME Magazine
The 19th
Lots of small sites and individual newsletters and blogs, too numerous to list
“Having an accurate sense of American empire’s genocidal campaigns and other hegemonic goings-on isn’t supposed to be comfortable.”
The article is about the news, and not all the news is about the USA’s goings on.
That is to say, the world is much bigger than the USA and its goings-on.
As an example, I asked BB about current conflicts:
Here is a plain text list of current active war zones (2025), based on recent casualty data and conflict classifications:
Ukraine – Russo-Ukrainian War
Palestine/Israel – Israel–Palestine War
Myanmar – Civil War
Sudan – Civil War
Ethiopia – Civil War
Nigeria – Terrorist Insurgency
Burkina Faso – Terrorist Insurgency
Mexico – Drug War
Syria – Civil War
Mali – Terrorist Insurgency
Democratic Republic of the Congo – Terrorist Insurgency
Yemen – Civil War
Pakistan/Afghanistan – Border Conflict / Insurgency
Haiti – Gang War / Civil War
Iraq – Terrorist Insurgency / Civil Unrest
Cameroon – Insurgency
Niger – Terrorist Insurgency
Chad – Armed Conflict
Mozambique – Insurgency
Libya – Civil War
Colombia – Armed Conflict
South Sudan – Civil War
Central African Republic – Civil War
Bangladesh – Political Unrest
Ecuador – Gang Violence
Uganda – Insurgency
Benin – Terrorist Activity
Algeria – Insurgency
Morocco – Border Tensions
Ghana – Terrorist Activity
Tunisia – Political Unrest
This list reflects regions with sustained armed violence, not isolated incidents. Classification varies by source and reporting standards.
—
Me, I follow Reuters, Guardian, El Pais, BBC, ABC (aus) as my baseline. No USAnian news sources, but I do follow Vox and Slate and David Brin and other opinion-heavy news items. And of course economics channels on YouTube.
Plenty to choose from, but one needs a bit of parallax, so very easy to get into a bubble. (Media bubble, not bubblebot)
The Guardian, Stephen Colbert, and John Oliver. It’s sad that 2 of 3 are supposed to be comedies, and they’re still my best sources of info, but there we are.
Here in OZ I watch the Australian Broadcasting Corporation news, which is bland, a bit lightweight but generally factual. Also the ABC’s 4 Corners for investigative journalism. I watch Al Jezeera for good international news and read The Guardian. I catch up with blogs like this and vlogs like BTC and Meidas Touch. I subscribe to Ground News to check the biases and find new stories.
Yes I bother! My news sources mainly are Aussie ABC including its News 24 channel, SBS, NITV including their world news channel which offers France24 news, DW News, BBC & Al Jazeera.
Newspapers~wise, The Guardian & the Saturday Paper plus the Green Left Weekly – a paper a couple of my friends sell. Plus I will occasionally get the Murdoch papers – the aptly-named Advertiser and the the unAustralian if there’s something big on or read it for free in places that offer it just to see what they are saying.
Scientifically, I get a number of poplar science magazines – Astronomy, Astronomy Now, Sky at Night and New Scientist plus a few others and use Space Dot Com and the NASA website. Oh & Phys dot org and LiveScience as websites as well.
Obvs I’ll google and use their results for particular stories or questions too.
Oh and ofc I regularly watch Colbert both on telly and YT and Planet America, sometimes Four Corners and Foreign Correspondent plus other news programs more rarely. Used to watch Q&A before they scrapped it. Likewise though from much longer ago, the excellent Lateline and, I almost forgot, sometimes The Project as well before that got cancelled recently.
Guess you could say I’m a news junkie although yes, my desire to be well informed does often clash with my desire to stay relatively sane.
PS. Plus various blogs including natch FTB ones! Also on fb Jim Wright’sStonekettle Station plus Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson aand others. Also listen to ABC news on the radio and follow the cricket through that too!
Like you, I get news from trusted online sources like the Guardian, select Bluesky accounts including yours, Seattle Times, a local online paper, trusted blog writers.
@ StevoR
Holy fuck man! How many hours do you have in your day? Most of us only have 24.
P.S. How I was going to ask how one watches Colbert on telly in Adelaide, but did a search and it’s on channel 10 after midnight, which if that’s your source is true dedication. X-D
For standard news, I read the NRC (on real paper, but also at https://www.nrc.nl/), which I find very useful – although admittedly not very helpful for non-Dutch speakers.
For background mostly various “blogs”. I would particularly recomment Brad DeLong (https://braddelong.substack.com/), Paul Krugman (https://paulkrugman.substack.com/) and Matt Stoller (https://www.thebignewsletter.com/).
The Grauniad, also spiegel.de finally got to the point where they can criticize Israel without reflexively screaming antisemitism.
@ John Morales, # 19: Someone should pass that on to Steven Pinker. He seems to think that everything’s fine and more peaceful than it’s ever been.
“He seems to think that everything’s fine and more peaceful than it’s ever been.”
He might well be right. World is a big place, and times were never peaceful.
(That there’s a lot of strife about doesn’t mean there was less before now)