OT - a news source without the sensationalism
I haven't consumed news content for years because I can't stand mainstream media and its baggage, lies, political bents, biases, stupid ads, and sensationalism focused on keeping constituents angry, but I recently found a news source called Early Chirp that feels a bit healthier to consume.
Their ads are sponsor based so they integrate one ad with their content as if they're reporting on it, which feels way more natural and less jarring than banner ads and fucking pop ups.
The articles are written in a very classic reporting style - reminds me of local newspapers and is a pleasant read during my morning coffee.
It's free to subscribe, and they'll send you their daily issue every morning. Here's a link to their latest issue.
Any news sources y'all follow that you like and offer a similar experience?
Let me ask Mike Gundy, he tells me he loves his new source.
Lmao, didn't he get flack for wearing an alt-right news t-shirt? 🤣
Yeah, I think that was the joke!
#whoosh!
cringy
yes. but you knew that already.
Yes, because anything that isn't liberal is alt right.
But are they even discussing violence in Chicago?!
/ducks
Has anyone ever taken a vacation to South America? Wonder what the news is like there.
Probably a lot of apparel articles and updates on non-revenue sports.
April 21st, 2023 at 12:10 PM ^
I just got back from a week in Colombia, and the news is... poorly distributed. I found out about 5 days in that I was around 40 miles from a volcano that was actively erupting and predicted to potentially erupt in a more catastrophic fashion (Nevado del Ruiz). After finding that out I shifted some plans to spend the rest of the trip a couple hundred miles further upwind.
So... maybe a little more sensationalism would have helped in that particular case.
Double dip
I was thinking about Bolivia. The OP already has -9 billion MGoPoints. Apparently he's a slow learner
I just read AP and Reuters
AP is much the same as is Reuters but they are closer to center than most. So not all the political tropes but they definitely have them.
April 21st, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
Probably the safest bet. I simply scan multiple sources (CNN, NYTimes, WaPo, MSNBC, NPR, Reddit, WSJ, and yes, even Faux News) because if you're media literate (which sadly seems to be fewer and fewer people these days) you can read between the lines and critically analyze each source for their bias and thus find the truth behind the spin.
But most people want the news regurgitated to say whatever fits their personal bias, rather than challenging themselves to read an opposing viewpoint and see if there's any truth in a source you'd typically ignore.
April 21st, 2023 at 11:52 AM ^
It’s interesting you say “faux news”, yet say nothing about msnbc, which is just as far left as fox is right🤔
April 21st, 2023 at 11:54 AM ^
that's all part of the reading between the lines ....
To be fair, fox just acknowledged a judge's conclusion that it was broadcasting false news and paid 787.5M settlement regarding the "stolen election" claims. Hard to argue with the company itself acknowledging false news by its own team.
"Superior Court Judge Eric Davis had already concluded that Fox News and Fox Business did in fact broadcast false claims about Dominion, voiced by both network hosts and Trump associates. Fox in a statement acknowledged the judge’s findings."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fox-news-dominion-defamation-trial-set-to-begin-d5c7293a
And yes, MSNBC is similar in my opinion. I prefer the Financial Times, Australian Financial Review and non-opinion sections of WSJ (which is owned by FOX).
April 21st, 2023 at 12:33 PM ^
Media literacy is a major problem in this country that is completely overlooked and misunderstood. It's a significant driver of misinformation, disinformation and by extension political division in this country. And it's not just people without college degrees - two of my close friends - really bright guys and very well-educated often fall for biased media sources that produce poorly written and poorly reasoned "news" pieces. I'm amazed at some of the stuff they send around and I'm like 'why do you read this, don't you know it's bogus?'
Like you, I consume a vast range of news and I read a lot of conservative outlets as well and I always try to find the bias and flaws in the argument. It's too bad that many people in this country don't read the news with a more discerning eye (and I think media literacy was a valuable skill I learned at U of M).
April 21st, 2023 at 12:53 PM ^
HomieJ, this is an excellent post, and describes well why I consume a variety of news sources. That said, I don't watch much Fox "news", because that's really "news entertainment" at this point. On the other hand, I don't watch much MSNBC either, because they really stretch the boundaries toward the left. But a mix of the others as well as applying critical thinking skills gives a good overall picture about what's going on.
That approach worked for me for a long time, but lately these sources are so biased that they blur the lines you need to read between. Plus, they don't even bother covering something that might result in challenging their narrative.
I'm kind of lost when it comes to the news these days. I have hopes for some Substack contributors, but they can't report at a national or international scale right now.
Hopefully, the Dominion settlement will act as a wake-up call of some sort. We need lots more of those, across the board. The First Amendment carries a huge amount of protection for news organizations, and that's a good thing. To get clobbered like that anyway... that's where we are right now when it comes to the media. They're not even trying to be journalists anymore.
April 21st, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
My wife likes "The Skim" which I think tries to be a non-biased news aggregator. It was originally targeted primarily at young professional women - not sure if it still is.
Like others I tend to avoid all main-stream media..... but tWife loves watching both of the "biggies" and then deciphering the truth in the middle -- she notes that in any given news cycle there is at least one story on each channel/side that you would think is THE issue in the US whereas it is barely mentioned on the other -- weird times we live in.
Mods please delete this post.
I sat next to the CEO of NEWSMAX at the Whitehouse Press Correspondents dinner [10] years ago and had a great time talking with him, despite disagreeing with everything he was about, because we didn’t talk politics.
At least we now know who the publisher of Early Chirp is!
His name is ostensibly Chris Agee and he is an asian man. My name is Bradley, I'm a white guy, and I live in Ypsi. I'm not being paid to promote this. I shared it bc I genuinely liked the site. Probably should have reminded myself that lots of ppl on here are rude and massive haters for no reason. You'd think fellow alums from the greatest university in the world would be happier and self-fulfilled enough to show grace, or even ignore it, fuck, maybe even be *positive.*
April 21st, 2023 at 10:08 AM ^
It was a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek joke. Relax a bit please. I just thought it was a bit over the top on the promotion side. Laugh, and the world laughs with you. We don't need to take ourselves so seriously.
April 21st, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
A bit funny/hypocritical coming from a guy who seems to be fuming over losing imaginary internet points, no?
April 21st, 2023 at 11:31 AM ^
DON’T YOU GO OPPRESSING ME!! (Avatar from one of my favorite movies of all time)
April 21st, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
C'mon, you've been here for over five years—why did you think you were going to get a positive response to your idiosyncratic recommendation of a minor curated news source based in the Cayman Islands when it has literally nothing to do with sports, let alone University of Michigan sports?
"Probably should have reminded myself that lots of ppl on here are rude and massive haters for no reason."
You're true to your avatar—"Help, help I'm being repressed!"
April 21st, 2023 at 11:46 AM ^
Now we see the violence inherent in the system!
April 21st, 2023 at 12:09 PM ^
I thought we were an autonomous collective.
April 21st, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
I hear you man. It's not lost on me that it's a sports blog. I think I just wish ppl (especially men) were a bit more positive on here. I shared it with the intent of it being a benefit to others on here and it kinda sucks to get shit on.
I still get crap for the mgocamping idea when I legitimately just wanted to make some friends on here in a casual setting.
The website’s banner literally says “News that is entertaining to read.”
No doubt, from the editors of The Onion.
The ability to think critically is so undervalued. One would think that with all the information that is available to the populations of the world, certainly our American world, would be better informed. The sources of information consumed do not matter nearly as much as ones ability to determine the significance of the "facts". And here, the fact is that bias naturally exists and in and of itself is not a bad thing.
Life experience matters. Challenge yourself to see, hear and learn from a healthy cross-section of "other". Pathological egocentricity and ethnocentricity are just that-pathological. Check yourself at the door and learn something-because there is a lot to learn.
This is my "self-talk".
Personally, my real growing up in this regard happened in my 40s and 50s working in healthcare in Indianapolis. Living with, working with and caring for people with experiences representing every continent-including Antarctica. The richest and the poorest of the world...together...side by side... (Pediatric oncology is one on the greatest "levelers" in the world-a "come to Jesus" reality that offers life lessons that change you to the core.) ...mostly in a cooperation that was stunningly phenomenal. The divides being forged today do not have to be so-do not give in to them.
The ability to think critically is so undervalued.
Thoughtful post. Not sure why it is getting neg voted. People are unable to think critically because most of them know so little. The level of ignorance in the general population is appalling. I used to think the David Letterman man on the street interviews were setups. Then I started discussing things like trauma management with med students and asked them how trauma was treated in the Civil War. Startling to hear the most common answer: "when was the Civil War".
But “when was the Civil War?” is not a question that requires critical thinking to answer. Being skeptical about claims that it was about “State’s Rights” and not slavery is a much better example.
Ask your average 20 year old when the Pearl Harbor attack was or what it was about. Or ask them to describe the function and branches of the government.
Every school in America covers this information. So why is this the case? There is plenty of teaching going on in our schools. I can't make the same claim to the level of learning/retention, however.
It's because people don't take school seriously or don't value it while they're in it. There are some people from my town who post crap online like "how were we never taught about X important topic in school, this is an outrage!!"
And I'm like, I absolutely remember learning about that, you just didn't pay any attention and treated school like a joke
April 21st, 2023 at 12:03 PM ^
I feel this way when people talk about financial literacy. Yeah we learned compound interest in school. Probably should have paid attention instead of saying “when am I ever going to need to know calculus in real life”
April 21st, 2023 at 11:49 PM ^
The evils of credit card debt should be a mandatory class for every high school kid.
Did we take it lying down when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
April 21st, 2023 at 10:22 AM ^
People elected to Congress have no clue about that last sentence.
April 21st, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
I know lots of older folks who don't know "basic" stuff too. It's not just those young kids these days. I had to explain to my father in law the 3 branches of government when he heard something on the news about RBG's passing a few years back. He's 73 (and not cognitively impaired).
"smart" and "dumb" come in all ages.
When President Obama spoke at a Michigan commencement ceremony about 15 years ago, one of his messages to the graduating seniors was to watch/listen to/read both sides of an issue, and then make up your own mind - he said that, painful as it may be, you should listen to both Fox and MSNBC (and other media). Then you can form (and possibly adjust) your opinions, and carry on a rational discussion of issues. Good advice that lets you sift through the media biases.
I had always known how good a speaker the former President was, but his whole speech that day was excellently tailored to his audience (the graduates). Both challenging and uplifting.
This is a great point, but it is worth noting that this was before certain news sources started routinely amplifying and making untrue statements in service of their bias. If we can agree on the facts, then people absolutely should listen to both sides of a discussion about those facts. But no one needs to "both-sides" an issue with any source that isn't telling the truth.
Unfortunately, most people lack the capacity to reliably separate fact from fiction, especially if it's presented as news, and our polarized politics don't help, since people tend to seize on the version of the facts that fits their own biases.
April 21st, 2023 at 12:19 PM ^
TO be fair.......
I think there is plenty of misinformation being purposely spread on BOTH sides of the spectrum - (though not outright lies in most cases)
My 2 cents on that recent case -- I felt initially it was a bit silly since I never took the claims seriously... but now realize I was not the "target market" for those false claims ----- Then again I also have never fallen for those automated messages saying that the IRS is going to send "the cops" to my house unless I pay them $500 in Amazon gift cards......
April 21st, 2023 at 11:56 PM ^
The sad part is it’s almost all 100% agenda driven bias propaganda on both sides. That is undeniable. Which is fine if you can personally try to sift through the crap,
Rare are the days where you get point counterpoint from an unbiased moderator. It seems like investigative journalism now is more about quick headlines to score points than verifying you got it right.