For some time, there's been lots of news in the media about the pending demise of printed newspapers and news magazines. I say codswallop! Well some lousy ones will go away, but the main ones will likely remain an entity for at least another 10 minutes. I mean 10 years. I think anyway (darn it, where did I put my crystal ball?). I for one still enjoy the ritual of thumbing through a newspaper, particularly while traveling on business or on vacation. But is that enough to keep the newspaper industry alive? The reality is the population of people who regularly read newspapers is aging, while younger generations are growing up getting their news from the World Wide Web- the Internets, as it were. We stopped subscribing to the newspaper at home because much of it was old news by the time I received it. I had already seen everything they had to say online. Except for that mattress sale at Macy's, or the special the air conditioning repair man is running. So despite the fact that I enjoy reading newspapers, I just don't do it often enough. I tend to get 95% of my news online, from a very narrow range of websites. I rarely watch TV for news, so these are all websites. This was the inspiration for another scintillating edition of The Saturday Seven: Places I Get My News.
#1 CNN.com: I trust about 75% of what they say. The rest is political spin
#2 GoogleNews: I read it all as fact. I naively assume there is no hidden agenda to what they cover, and I'm happy with thinking that.
#3 MSNBC.Com: News that entertains me. Its colorful, lots of photos and makes me happy for some reason. I'm sure they planned it that way.
#4 FoxNews.Com: "Fair and Balanced" news, right? Or is it? Well I guess it is when you compare it to everything else out there. I trust about 65% of what these guys say.
#5 City Newspaper Websites: Chicago Tribune and the New York Times: I lived in both Chicago and Manhattan way back, and I still consider these both reputable newspapers.
#6 YahooNews: Actually quite comprehensive, fairly objective collection from AP and PRnewswire sources. Trouble is, it just ain't pretty. You need to be in a utilitarian mood to read their news.
#7 BBC News.Com: Probably the most trustworthy, highest quality news out there. I seem to believe everything they report as true and factual. Or at least what The Queen wants us to believe. But that's good enough for me.
Bonus entry:
Bonus entry: Wall Street Journal.Com: My trusted source for business news. It helps for small talk in the Board Room too.
So where do YOU get your news from? Go ahead, weigh in and leave an opinion.
-Rick Rockhill
I am a BBC girl but I also follow the Finnish media like YLE as they tend to report more news Europe and world wide.
ReplyDeleteI confess, I am a news junkie and check the news websites few times an hour. But I believe knowledge is power ;)
But on Sundays with my flat mates we get the Sunday Times and The Mail on Sunday with all the magzines and spend time with ink on our fingers and judging the opinions of columnists and commentators. Democracy rules!!!
I'm a news junkie as well, so I agree with karlian. In our house, we probably get most of the news from cbs and espn I'm afraid!
ReplyDeleteFox news online and on TV... The Nashville paper is useless, and the website is even MORE useless!
ReplyDelete"Codswallop????" :)
ReplyDeleteGot to disagree with you on FOX. I usually don't agree with ANYTHING they say -- I think their so horribly biased. The rest of them are still biased, but not as bad.
There are three papers I still respect: The Wall Street Journal. The NY Times, and The Washington Post.
I get The New York Times every day--On Line. It is a special email covering the subjects I am interested in. I grew up with THE NYT and The Herald Tribune, which came to our house every day, Seven days a week, from the time I was a little tiny girl....I kept getting the NYT delivered here, till about 8 years ago.....I watch MSNBC and sometimes McNeil/Lehere...and sometimes BBC America or on PBS. The Wall Street Journal is no longer a reliable "balanced" Newspaper...And Fox is a Horror Show! I wouldn't trust anything they say as far as I could throw my house! Just my opinion.
ReplyDeletethe local paper, print and online versions, npr, yahoo (even though the homepage drives me batty with what they consider newsworthy...i truly do not care one whit that jenna elfman had a fashion bomb. i think the world can easily absorb that shock. give me something that actually matters.), bbc on radio sometimes.
ReplyDeleteMy in-laws still read hard copy papers, but I strictly peruse news web sites, and just a handful of those. My SIL works for the NYT producing slide shows and videos for their site; she used to work for ABC.com. She says even the NYT is hurting; paper sales are waaaaaaay down. Heck, if the Boston Globe can fold, then it's not so much codswallop, you know?
ReplyDeleteConservative and a bit right-wing, but excellent news source: DRUDGE REPORT! TIME TO GET WITH IT ROCKHILL!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, let me say that I'm opposed to codswalloping. I would NEVER dream of walloping a cod(s).
ReplyDeleteMy fave news sources are the New York Times, NPR, PBS, and the Wall Street Journal. I find that what I crave most of all these days is perspective on the news, and perspective is in short supply on most television news programs.
Merrie- that's a great point on the perspective. Indeed it is rare to find these days.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what Dr.Sidney 's favorite news sources are. My father was named Sidney. Do you suppose they are related? My father was a professional pianist. Does Dr. Sidney like to tickle the ivories? And what about Sheldon and Duncan? I'm sure they have excellent taste in journalism and in music. Please give us a full report.
ReplyDelete