I go out of my way to limit my exposure to corporate-owned mainstream media outlets. I’ve come to rely more on progressive news sources and independent journalists who a) frame stories from a point of view I can relate to and b) have a solid track record for accuracy and journalistic integrity.
Those criteria rule out everything from MSNBC and the New stork Times, not to mention all the transparently right wing propaganda media outlets.
As someone who tries to find good sources news, I loathe Fox, CNN, and MSNBC. I find NPR, Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Intercept and various independent localized publications (e.g. LA Times, Voice of San Diego) much better.
Some of those are left leaning (esp. The Intercept), but NPR is somewhat center right so I think it is a fair balance.
The problem with mass media organizations, particularly those that are geared toward television, is that they prioritize entertainment over actual investigative journalism. In doing so they become nearly useless, often offering only a knee jerk response to a carefully curated subset of current events. They do not offer any unique or engaging perspective on the issues they cover, and they fail to report on important details and stories.
I used to read WSJ more often but their Op-Ed page has really gone off the deep end into Trump cheerleading which is not what I expected. My primaries are probably NY Times and NPR really, but I like Axios and am watching Semafor with interest. Otherwise, I have a slate of indies I check in on (Marcy Wheeler and Claudia Sahm are always interesting), but I've genuinely lost some of that when I quit twitter. I like the CNN homepage just because it's so broad. Like I'll never seek out celebrity news, but it's good to see whatever has bubbled up to the top of the national consciousness.
I don't think the left can really support a true maniac on par with Tucker Carlson. They tried Air America with Al Franken years ago and it was not bad, but didn't resonate. I remember a host trying to say the 2004 election was stolen by Republicans and I just turned it off. Don't remember who it was, but she didn't get any traction reading from the right-wing play book.
MSNBC, nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com, politico.com, thedailybeast.com, and fox news. I check out Fox because they will have the GOP and rightwing viewpoints featured prominently. Sometimes Fox has some things you won't see elsewhere, but usually I marvel at how one-sided, misleading and prejudiced the "conservatives" are. By prejudiced, I mean: how much they distort and throw hate at Democrats and the left.
I honestly find CNN to be fairly in the middle. Sure it's a little left leaning- but it's minimal.
If it looks very "left leaning" now that's because of the reality of how terrible Trump is for the world. But they still give him credit when credit is due. They aren't taking democrats sides all the time by any means. They don't tack up headlines right away that aren't substantiated. There is a minimal of sensationalized headlines. They will clearly have links to opinion pieces which lean way right.
What I actually like to do is if I see something that is supposed to be "big news" on reddit or such, I'll go to cnn. Lots of times, I would see nothing for hours about this "massive breaking news". And sometimes I will see it right away. It's a pretty good barometer to see how important something really is.
Anyway, I don't actually watch cnn much but from their website and clips I see, I think it's pretty fair. Especially compared to something like foxnews which is ludicrously biased.
Honestly, I try to read both sides and triangulate. Wall Street Journal is good, though editorials are right-leaning. I like reason too; libertarian bias. Daily Wire isn't bad. Tim Pool has a podcast that includes decent commentary. I balance with Jacobin and Mother Jones, though I disagree with almost every thing they say. CNBC has good business content. Reuters isn't bad for breaking news. Over all, I'd say CNBC and WSJ are best for current events.
If you've got any recommendations for good outlets, I'd appreciate it. Always looking for more.
I concur with your assessment of MSNBC, etc. I still think your original statement wasn't quite right, but not enough to warrant argument.
I stopped even following HuffPo links many years ago. It felt like too many opinions pieces dressed up as news, and with a business model based on getting people to write for free. (Could have changed in the last 5 years.)
Democracy Now is viewer/listener funded. They use the phrase "corporate media" instead of "{main,lame}stream media", and (in that respect) are aligned with Zinn and Chomsky.
It's just that I rotate between all these organizations (e.g., reuters, cnn, foxnews, msnbc) and I legit don't know where to actually find unpartisan material anymore.
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