I had already posted this in the political theory forum, and i figured that this question belongs in the current events question. And the inquiriy involves…just how to stay informed. I’ve always felt bad about not keeping up more like my parents do. When I ask fellow college students what is going on in the world, they give me this glazed look.
I guess that the news is a source of discomfort and depression for all. Watching political punditsyell and make mainstream media seem like a faux-pas reality show is downright enraging to observe sometimes. And when hearing the same Keynes/Marxian ideology over and over, mainstream media doesn’t seem like a way to keep up. Headlines I’ll trust, but analysis and commentary not so much. The only reason I go to them is to get the main gist of happenings which I then try to find more about online. And I assume it’s also intelligent to hear what dissenters of Austrian and Capitalist opinion say.
So again with this question, what news sources/blogs/sites/radio/magazine/newspaper do you consult? And for what areas?
My morning routine consists of Lew Rockwell and Washington Post (particularly Charles Krauthammer, although he’s a neo-con in many aspects) for op-ed pieces, and then Anti-War and Al Jazeera for foreign policy. Ron Paul also does a weekly update, and I believe whoever runs his Facebook account posts them there, too. Glenn Greenwald is a progressive, but he’s a great journalist and writer.
That covers almost everything, but if there’s something on TDB or Al Jazeera that I want more info on, I punch it into Google News. After that I surf a few blogs by various economists and international aid experts (as that is my focus), but then it’s time for oatmeal, 15 minutes of whatever book I’m reading, and to get ready for work. I make sure to catch the headlines on a News Talk station on the way to work, and once I get there, I manage to be “that guy” who knows everything that is going on in the world all day long. I have a similar routine once I get home from work, but it’s much less rigid and more prone to the invasion of LOLcats or YouTube.
I agree with you about that. i just think it is important for most people, especially young college students, to at least show concern about affairs here and abroad as what happens typically is governments use any excuse to create a law or expand its sphere of influence.
The problem is sorting through all the news sources online and finding ones that are most credible and don’t resort to name games and overly emotional notions.
Lewrockwell is a good site (although the health ones tend to get tedious). Humble Libertarian’s 100 top sites I also try to stay in tune to. Even sites that don’t mesh with me in terms of method or philosophy at least provide some reports on matters not sought on mainstream media (like the privacy/free speech/national security divisions of the ACLU, although I don’t agree with their disconnect of property rights to free speech rights).
But it is still good to get recommendations (as many as possible) to broaden my mind a little.
I scan the DrudgeReport for current “shallow” day-to-day news. Just a general heads-up on what’s in the headlines. I also frequent a few economics blogs, and the stories that come across on various internet forums. I also usually listen to NPR and the BBC World News Hour when/if I’m driving. I’ll occasionally watch network news at night and read newspapers for local news.
Probably the best thing I ever did news-wise was to stop watching the 24-hour cable news. Going back to it now it’s amazingly editorialized, shallow, and worthless it is. I mean, I was recently watching the live stream of the protests in Egypt on Al Jazeera English. They were doing a fairly good job of describing what was going on, what HAD gone on, and showing live shots of the crowds in action. I turned on CNN, and they were freaking interviewing the CEO of Twitter or whatever and a google exec (not the relevent one) about how SOCIAL NETORKING SOFTWARE!!! was respsonsible for all of this. Worthless.
Well, thanks guys. Anybody else? I guess most shows most akin to austrian economics/libertarian are conservative outlets that one must tone down and correct.
They are basically news aggregators that have been around for a few years, they take news from mainsteam and alternative news sites and blogs etc.
other more mainstream are reddit.com and fark.com there are more sites as well that i could post, but those are ok for now.
If anything is happening in the world, you will find it on these websites usually before the mainstream news reports on it.
I also like news.google.co.uk realy great for searching and finding a news story and comparing 30 different news sites on the same article. You can also see how patheticly centralised the msm is because they all run with the same press releases, the government tells them to publish a specific story and all the msm picks up on it and they even go as far as having the same spelling mistakes. pfft… But i have always taken the msm with a pinch of salt, as the saying goes. Take it from where it comes, learn to read through the lines.
I would read LRC and Mises articles daily, but not in the past two months. I’ve been occupied with other things. Most (or all) of which have been outside the political and economic realm.