Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The New News
Calling them alternative news is a misnomer. Better that we label TV "news" as infotainment than as news.
A recent report from the Pew Research Center identified several trends in American news access.
Ranging from time-wasters such as Paris Hilton, to blatant corporate propaganda, TV "news" is still the major source of "news" for Americans, with trends in certain demographic groups as they move toward Internet news sources. The most interesting shift, to my way of thinking, is the decrease in news access of any kind by those under 25 years of age. This group is bowing out of news entirely.
Recognizing that CNN, NBC, and the other corporate news offerings are junk food for the mind is easy enough. Finding meaningful alternatives is not easy. I've listed the news sources I frequently find enlightening:
One note: We get what we pay for when it comes to news. "Free" TV news is worth exactly what we pay for it: Nothing. Consider making a donation to an online news source when you discover one of value to you. I completely stopped watching TV news years ago. Never regretted it. (no, I don't think much of PBS News Hour or of NPR, either).
My News Sources
A recent report from the Pew Research Center identified several trends in American news access.
Ranging from time-wasters such as Paris Hilton, to blatant corporate propaganda, TV "news" is still the major source of "news" for Americans, with trends in certain demographic groups as they move toward Internet news sources. The most interesting shift, to my way of thinking, is the decrease in news access of any kind by those under 25 years of age. This group is bowing out of news entirely.
Recognizing that CNN, NBC, and the other corporate news offerings are junk food for the mind is easy enough. Finding meaningful alternatives is not easy. I've listed the news sources I frequently find enlightening:
One note: We get what we pay for when it comes to news. "Free" TV news is worth exactly what we pay for it: Nothing. Consider making a donation to an online news source when you discover one of value to you. I completely stopped watching TV news years ago. Never regretted it. (no, I don't think much of PBS News Hour or of NPR, either).
My News Sources
- The Real News
- Democracy Now
- Huffington Post
- CBC Dispatches
- This American Life
- The Radio Lab
- Moyers Journal
- World Socialist
- Guerrilla News Network
- Multinational Monitor
- Znet
