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Yup, that’s the question here, pretty simple right? Where do you get your news from and why? I have always had a problem trying to find a legitimate news outlet that wasn’t filled with bias (whether its left or right), fear tactics, ignoring international news, trivial local news, or informing us on whatever the hell Justin Bieber ate last Wednesday for dinner (thank god someone found out because I’ve been up all night wondering what it was).
Now before I go any further, I know asking for completely unbiased news is like asking for Justin Bieber to just go away (so much Bieber hate today apparently), but when the Tea Party movement is cited by a certain national news corporation (*cough* FOX News cough*) as a legitimate political entity that isn’t based on hate, while they declare Obama to be a communist and the reincarnation of Hitler himself at the same time (don’t try and make sense of that, you’ll just hurt yourself trying), something isn’t right. Anyways, here is my run down of the news outlets I deem useless or just straight up bad.
- Local News – This also includes CTV and CBC and most other Canadian news outlets. This typically involves trivial local news that is only important to those over 60 and really much of this information you can really use without. Now I’m not saying that problems and events in our local areas are completely trivial, but as a whole I don’t need to watch a 60-minute news show to learn about what is what is happening soon at a convention center near me. Also there are exceptions to this rule, like the National and the Hour, which offers fairly unbiased Canadian news, and some entertainment as well. And lets be serious, Peter Mansbridge is a boss.
- CNN – What have you done with CNN? They use to be a legitimate powerhouse of a news station with their 24-hour coverage of all things important. What the hell happened? They have gone so far left they have fallen off the edge and are racing FOX to see who can hit the bottom first. Not only that but quality has gone downhill as well with their most recent blunder by publicly announcing that Obama’s Health Care Reform Act was decline by the supreme court as being unconstitutional by a vote of 5-4 when in fact the opposite occurred. Numbers are hard I guess. Yes, FOX News did the same but that is to be expected from them at this point, we assume more from CNN.
- FOX News – Do I really need to even say anything here? When Bill O’Reilly and Glen Beck are your ‘newscasters’ you’re in trouble. Yes, both have recently been fired from FOX, but to have hired these clowns in the first place and disguise them as newscasters when they are TV personalities (yes that is what their job description actually was) is just sad.
- MSNBC – They just really don’t know which way is up half the time. They bounce back and forth from left and right so much it makes me dizzy.
- Print – I’m sorry to inform you all but printed news is dead. They simply can’t keep up with the refresh button on your browser to give you up to date news, and their websites just can’t compete. Also they suffer from the same biased teeter-totter as CNN and FOX. Yes, this even includes Time magazine. A good example of this is while protests were occurring in the Middle East, it was on the front page of Time magazine worldwide. But in the US, the question of why anxiety is good for you is apparently more important.
Seems like I’ve eliminated the most well known sources. Well then, where do I get my news?
- BBC – One of if not the largest international news corporation around, is always up to date and suffers from little bias. It was one of the few real sources that actually provided coverage of the numerous uprisings and protests occurring in the Middle East last summer.
- Al Jazeera – Not always an unbiased sources but offers great coverage into what is happening in the Middle East that most news outlets ignore.
- The Daily Show – Yes John Stewart is a comedian, but he is possibly the most intelligent and well inform newscaster around. And yes he deserves the title of newscaster over anyone at FOX.
- Youtube – Youtube is much more then videos of cats and people failing at life. Search carefully enough and you can find some great daily or weekly news shows. Because these Youtubers have no one to answer to but themselves you can get a wider variety of news and a legitimate opinion on the matter as well. The two I watch and would suggest to anyone is the Philip Defranco Show and Sourcefed.
Well those are my choices, and non-choices, so what are yours?
Question of the Day: Did you miss it in the title? Where do you get your news from and tell me why.
Edit (July 16, 2012, 8:42pm): This is almost too funny not to mention. An article from the Globe and Mail was release today (July 16th) less then 24 hours after this blog post about how Youtube is becoming a legitimate source for news. The title of the article is really the best part - More than just cat videos: viewers now turning to Youtube for news. Well not only was I right about Youtube as a news source, but print really is too slow to keep up with current news sources. Not that I am a legitimate news source, but its pretty obvious they must have copied me for a reason. Also here is the article in question: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/more-than-just-cat-videos-viewers-now-turning-to-youtube-for-news/article4420112/
Articles:
http://sfist.com/2011/11/26/time_doesnt_think_the_revolution_is.php
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stephaniehiggs answered:
I personally try to read a mix of everything and try to find my own middle ground.
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brandenbouchard posted this
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