When It Comes To News, Whom Do You Trust?

Sadly, we live in a time of deep polarization in our society.

Most people get their news sources that reflect their views because we just don’t want to be bothered with opinions we don’t like.

As a result, because of the stridency of news coverage today, people no longer believe that the other side is incorrect or misinformed.

Instead, a lot of people believe that those who don’t think the way they do are evil.

Obviously, this does not make for a healthy society.

On top of that, there is the influence of mischief-makers like the Russians, who cleverly exploit, through fake accounts, bots, and other means, differences among Americans on important issues.

So some of the news today is less than legitimate and some of it isn’t even news.

At the same time, journalism, if you can call it that has changed radically in recent years.

Objectivity has taken a backseat to advocacy.

In other words, if I’m a journalist today, my role is to convince you to agree with how my news organization feels, or how I feel.

Again, that’s not ideal.

So in a world of spin, whom can you trust?

I’m going to share with you the sources I follow, rather obsessively I must admit, because you may not be familiar with some of them, and you might enjoy them.

If you like the “inside baseball” of elections, then you must go to Politico.com. You will learn the ins and outs and twists and turns of each of the campaign, what’s going on in the White House, and pretty much everything else related to policy and government in our society. Slightly left of center.

I highly recommend their daily newsletter, Politico Playbook. It’s free, and it digests everything you need to know in the world unparalleled.

Axios.com was founded by one of the people who started Politico. It gives you bite-sized, thoughtful, well-researched articles about what’s happening in the world today, with an emphasis on politics, business, foreign policy and technology. Slightly left of center.

The Spectator, and its U.S. cousin, Spectator.us. A London-based highly opinionated source of news. The Brits just write so well. It’s not fair. Slightly right of center.

The Economist. Another British publication, also dating from the 19th century, which bills itself as a “newspaper” instead of a magazine, even though it looks like a magazine. If you’re going to read The Economist, keep your dictionary handy. Slightly left of center.

TheIntercept.com. A fascinating source for stories about the Progressive movement in politics. Way left of center.

Drudgereport.com. A strange admixture of news stories and the bizarre and grotesque. I tend to read the news stories and skip the rest, but that’s just me. Right of center.

The Wall Street Journal. Even though Rupert Murdoch bought it, its news coverage of politics is remarkably impartial. Its editorials and columnists are conservative, but if you’re going to read The Intercept, have some sorbet between courses, and then dig into the Wall Street Journal.

And if all of these sources are too dry for you, may I suggest that you visit YouTube and search “Laugh-in looks at the news.” Its about as credible as most of the news sources today.

My favorite moment: Dan Rowan asking a body painted Goldie Hawn whether she believes in capital punishment.

“Yes,” she affirms. “I think everybody in the Capitol should be punished.”

Rim shot.

Seriously, it may sound quaint, but each of us has a civic responsibility to stay informed.

This means we cannot rely on our social media feed, which may or may not offer us the variety of views we need so that we can make up our minds for ourselves.

I hope you’ll try some of these sources.

You might just become as obsessive about these matters as I am.

And it’s fun.