- A lot of attention in MSM is paid to irrelevant topics (e.g. personal interest, odd crimes, etc).
- Heavy Biases present
Solution(s):
- Postpone / let it soak: If you see a news article you're interested in, withstand the dopamine - send the article to Pocket. Set aside regular time (end of day, or once a week) to review all postponed news. With any luck, the news story has developed more accurate info
- Use non commercial news sources. Example: At the beginning of month, review the WIKIPEDIA current events portal. The assumption is that the news articles & topics there are likely "aged" slightly, and more factual. Examples:
If you spot-check the above links, you can see that it really does "cover" most of the news that's front of mind in the major news outlets. The difference is, you can click in - read to the depth you prefer - and generally avoid some of the major editorializing / narrative building.
- Stay informed about important world events (for yourself AND for social reasons)
- Reduce time & attention spent on "waste" news
Challenges:
- Most news "as it happens" is inaccurate
- Much of the news is colored with story-like "narrative", rather than "just the facts, Jack".
- News websites have perverse incentives (attract eyeballs, provoke outrage, etc)
- A lot of attention in MSM is paid to irrelevant topics (e.g. personal interest, odd crimes, etc).
- Heavy Biases present
Solution(s):
- Postpone / let it soak: If you see a news article you're interested in, withstand the dopamine - send the article to Pocket. Set aside regular time (end of day, or once a week) to review all postponed news. With any luck, the news story has developed more accurate info
- Use non commercial news sources. Example: At the beginning of month, review the WIKIPEDIA current events portal. The assumption is that the news articles & topics there are likely "aged" slightly, and more factual. Examples:
News LAST month (Likely fairly relevant & accurate): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events/March_20....
News THIS month (reasonably relevant "breaking news"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events/April_20...
"Aggregated" news for the YEAR (read the sections by month): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018#March
If you spot-check the above links, you can see that it really does "cover" most of the news that's front of mind in the major news outlets. The difference is, you can click in - read to the depth you prefer - and generally avoid some of the major editorializing / narrative building.