Where do you get your news?

I have many friends who get their news from American broadcast television, the network channels of NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox News. And then there is CNN and the BBC, and the New York Times and the Guardian newspapers. These are , what I consider, the regular go-to news sources of English speakers in North America and Europe.

I am perplexed by a few friends who say they get their news from Facebook, and from X. Please, people, Facebook and X are not reliable news sources...they do not do independent factchecking, they employ no journalists, and they deny all accountability; they are platforms for any and all to share whatever we would like. I enjoy and even use these platforms to share information quite often, but I don't depend on them for news!

For trustworthy news sources, I go to organizations that 1) employ journalists, 2) that have an editorial review board, and 3) that are accountable for what is published, news sources that can be deemed liable for their actions, their words, in a court of law. I have my favorite regular sources of news (some of which I mentioned above in the first paragraph). But I do not want to live in a silo of like-mindedness, and so I try to cast a wider net, and tap into news sources that are perhaps not the first ones we think of.

Many of these sources I share below have been introduced to me by other people who care about reliable reporting. I invite you to share your suggestions here, as well, so please do comment.

PBS News Hour is broadcast on the public television network in the US, Public Broadcasting System. (I watch it online when I wake up in the morning in Berlin, about six hours after it has aired). Not affiliated with the commercial broadcast networks, PBS News Hour takes a deeper dive into its stories (not subject to commercial considerations). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/

Lately, I have discovered 1440, a news aggregator that claims "we scour 100+ sources so you don't have to. Culture, science, sports, politics, business, and more." As a news agregator, they summarize and then link you to the original articles. I enjoy the daily short newsletter 1440 sends to me (it's free).

https://join1440.com

The Christian Science Monitor offers indepth coverage and has won many awards for its insightful and balanced perspective. It describes itself tackling "difficult conversations and divisive issues–we don’t shy away from hard problems. But you’ll find in each Monitor news story qualities that can lead to solutions and unite us–qualities such as respect, resilience, hope, and fairness."

https://www.csmonitor.com

DW (pronounced Day-Vay) or Deutsche Welle, a German public newsservice funded by the federal government of Germany, was launched 71 years ago.

https://www.dw.com/en/

It is available in all these languages!

German, English, Spanish, Hindi, Tamil, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Dari, Pashto, Urdu, Albanian, Amharic, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Mandarin Chinese, French, Greek, Hausa, Indonesian, Kiswahili, Turkish, Macedonian, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Ukrainian

And lastly, because Facebook, TikTok, and X offer rich bouquets that entice but might not be trustworthy, I often turn to Factcheck.org and Snopes.com for verification. Both are websites devoted to investigating the veracity of claims made online. I, myself, have unkowingly shared stories of dubious origin and veracity online, and have learned to check things out using Factcheck and Snopes. When I discover I have shared something that is not verifiable, I post an apology, and remove the original post. I am getting better at checking things out before I pass them on. Becoming aware of my own mistakes has taught me to be careful about sharing information. First investigating with Factcheck and Snopes are steps I take; but I am fallible still.

And everyone has a standpoint that colors perspective. Omniscience is not a human trait.

I am eager to hear where you get your news. Comments invited!

© Sarah Knightwriter