To ask what are your trusted news sources?

[BloominNora]

Mostly posting here for traffic - but AIBU to ask what are your go to news sources?

With all of the madness going on in the world at the moment I'm looking for a handful of news sources which are reliable.

Mainstream media is sort of OK. Obviously has it's biasis but I'm aware of them. My issue is more the lack of detail - I like to know the ins and outs of what is going on.

Social media is obviously a snake pit of echo chambers and AI!

For example, I've been trying to find out more information about what's been happening at Davos this week - especially analysis of Mark Carney's speech and the so called framework for Greenland negotiated by Mark Rutte, and what the implications are. Also the potential consequences of Starmer's pragmatism over ideology speech.

Politically I'm a left leaning centrist, but I am also very evidence based. My current go to news sources are:

Mainstream

BBC / Independant - good for an overview, but not enough indepth analysis.

Guardian - aligns with my political leanings but sometimes a bit too idealogical

Times - for the centre right perspective but access often scuppered by the paywall and I refuse to subscribe!

Independent Sources

Bylinetimes - left leaning, but well researched in depth journalism. Due to detail breadth of analysis available can be limited and can be quite difficult to digest quickly.

Heather Cox-Richardson - US based historian and journalist. My absolute go to source for understanding what is going on in the US in almost real time - her daily letters are brilliantly written, well sourced (with references) and her writing is sharp, clear and coherent.

Ideally I need to find a couple of UK / European based sources similar to Heather Cox-Richardson.

So the questions....

Where do you get your news from and why do you find it a good source of information?

I don't want to get into political arguments about left / right and who is right and wrong (there are plenty of other threads for that) but it would be helpful if people state which way they lean politically to give their views context, if they feel comfortable doing so.

(And before people come at me about the BBC being biased, know that I don't buy arguments. When both the left and right claim something is biased, it tends to highlight its neutrality and objective studies have consistently shown it is mostly neutral)

My most trusted source is the BBC. I also value the Guardian.

I read all sorts. I listen to The Rest is Politics both UK and US. I read BBC, Guardian, Independent, New York Times, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, The Times, The Telegraph, The Economist.

I like to get a rounded view.

Will Hayward is very good for Welsh political news and wider UK politcal news to some extent (but mainly as it relates to Wales). https://willhayward.co.uk/newsletter

I've been told the Financial Times is likely to be the most accurate. Given their whole business model is based on supplying people with information to make decisions about money that seems right. However, it's so expensive I have never taken out a subscription! I use BBC, Telegraph and Guardian so I get to read two different political perspectives ( I feel like the Telegraph has got more and more horrendously right wing over the last few months though, so not keen on giving them more money when my subscription ends.)

Yes - forgot New York Time - I do have a subscription for them and the Washington Post (only a couple of £ a month compared to £15 for the Times and Economist).

I occasionally reads Al Jazeera - their Gaza coverage was excellent and (probably in a display of my own unconcious bias) I was surprised by its seeming neutrality.

I like the Economist stuff I do read, but like The Times, the paywall often gets in the way!

The FT is my favourite newspaper. Obviously it's got a financial leaning, but I find it very straight to the point, and it ranks pretty highly on objectivity and fact-checking.

You can't beat Private Eye.

For TV news I prefer the BBC. The left wing complain it's right wing and the right wing complain it's full of lefties, so since they're pissing everyone off I figure they're probably doing a fair job of sticking in the middle.

I don’t wholeheartedly trust any news source but prefer to get a mix of views from Right and Left and then land somewhere in the middle. For example, I was gripped by the US election and I flipped between coverage on CNN and Fox, both political opposites - it was very eye opening. I think stepping outside a Left or Right echo chamber is good for us.

Yes - I find the Telegraph a bit too tabloidy, hence my preference for the Times for the right wing perspective.

I've heard that about the Financial Times too - but although politically neutral its business focus for me is ideological from a capitalist perspective - I personally feel that its bias leans towards whether something is profitable rather than socially beneficial and for me, the social consequences are more important.

I think the way to deal with this is to read a bit of everything. You'll never get a single source of objective truth from anywhere. The BBC is probably the most trustworthy outlet in terms of fact-checking etc but it has its own biases. As do all newspapers.

My daily go-tos among mainstream news sources are:

Financial Times
New York Times
BBC
Telegraph
Times
CNN
Guardian (although it's become ridiculous and almost like self-parody)

Then lots of podcasts

News Agents
Rest Is Politics
New York Times The Daily

And I dip into specific things if I want to get a contrarian view to understand "how the other half think". (Fox News/Joe Rogan)

The only newspaper I trust for political coverage is the Financial Times. It’s £££ but you can follow their journalists on social media, and some of the news stories are free to read, or low-cost with the FT Edit app. (Some unis also have free subscriptions for students, and you might be able to read it in your local library.) I don’t work for the FT! Just think the news coverage is refreshingly straight. I get fed up with The Guardian and The Times etc thinking it’s the job of news journalists to tell me what to think. I have a brain that does that job already, thanks anyway.

The Semafor family of newsletters has some good stuff - China, Africa, climate, tech etc.

Is it a good idea to read a couple of different sources and perhaps one which may challenge your views rather than validate them?

BBC is my main one for news, especially for live reporting as others can give too much opinion. The local news is great too.

Al Jazeera is great for world news, but you have to assume a bias around anything to do with Qatar where it is based.

I tend to read things on the Guardian a lot but like you I find it very biased so will often look the same issue up elsewhere to cross reference.

I love the Financial Times, I have always found it to be the most straight down the line, and will even read opinion pieces here as they always give factual evidence for the opinion which helps for context. However the subscription is too expensive for me so I am blocked from most content.

Has anyone tried Ground News, the app that analyses stories for bias and shows you the stories your algorithm might not capture? I have been toying with trying this.

Yup, I agree with this - read a wide range of sources and be aware of their bias.

I read the Daily Mail and Telegraph sometimes (mainly for UK political stuff) because I want to see what their take on it is - because that will often be the widespread public view. I'm aware my friends and family are a left wing echo chamber.

For actual reliable content, I like the BBC, Al Jazeera and BylineTimes. I also watch Rest is Politics and News Agents because their opinions generally match mine, and it's nice to be validated 😂

Usually just the BBC for proper news, for stuff like the Beckham saga and injunctions, the Daily Mail.

I don’t trust any of them so I read across many platforms and websites when it comes to following specific events or political moves. Sky News is on it for general reporting of events not their opinion. For politics you would crazy not to read across the board otherwise you end up becoming a cliche (Daily mail / GB News / BBC consumers)

X or Twitter is excellent for broader perspectives and timely updates once you learn how to read through the AI bots and know which accounts are extremely left or right.

I’m finding that C4 news is reasonable. BBC news ok. None of it brilliant. My OH buys the weekend FT which I read.

Telegraph unreadable. Times barely so!

I like The Atlantic but don’t subscribe.

Listen to Rest is Politics and have gone down quite a rabbit hole with The Daily Beast and Inside Trumps Head recently.

Hosted by Joanna Coles with Michael Wolf being a main contributor. Fascinating insight.

I have a friend who works in an industry where accurate news is vital - he told me he reads Reuters and FT.

The Private Eye podcast is very good, they had a great discussion last week on ICE (I didn’t realise some people were making so much money out of it). The magazine also does some great investigative journalism, they are reporting the Post Office Scandal long before ITV got involved.

i read BBC, The Guardian .. also will sometimes check out the Mail, see what the Right Wing take is on things.

Most of these and agree Reuters seems good. I wish I could afford The Economist! I treat myself occasionally 😅

Don’t ever click on GB News, you’ll get mobbed for ever!

All of this sounds exhausting!

I would love to be more like you folk on this thread here, but between working full time, teaching my hobby on the side, caring for my mum, keeping the house clean and meeting the needs of my dog, I barely have time to read my whatsapps let alone check multiple different news sources on multiple stories 😂 I used to read The Week, but subscription became too expensive in my monthly budget.

I opted out of news for a whole year last year, I know many are soing the same...now I'm seeing even very switched on cookies who were the type to be really plugged into it all are doing the same. That is worrying.

I don’t really watch much TV news, especially the dire S(NP)TV News here in Scotland. I don’t trust the BBC any more, either.

Online, I read the Telegraph, Mail and Times, but this is alongside lots of other sources, to give me a broad view. I like Reuters UK and Associated Press.

Me too.
I don’t loveThe Guardian these days like I used to. It’s been captured by some crazy word police in the last few years and some really great columnists have been sacked, but it is still the best. Have read it for 30 years.
I like writing in the New York Times and Washington Post also The Atlantic.
I watch Al Jazeera, but that too is understandably skewed.

I've become more and more suspicious of BBC over the last seven years. Their coverage of women's issues pertaining to gender ideology has been woeful and embarrassing. Same for The Guardian.

I like to follow a range of news sources so I don't stay inside a bubble. There are problems around the country and world which would have no coverage were it not for news sources like X and conversations with guests on Triggernometry, Tousi TV, Andrew Gold, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and publications like Spiked Online and The Critic.

Al Jazeera English. They do really good investigative stuff and cover things that you think should make major headlines but don't. I use the app. Other than that I only really read the Guardian and I like Double Down News on YouTube as I can't get enough of George Monbiot.

Do you remember the time Al Jazeera filmed terrorists in Gaza firing rockets that then landed inside Gaza, only to then delete the footage and claimed it was an Israeli strike?

In other words, they're incredibly biased and the fact you find their reporting neutral is genuinely incredibly worrying.