404media, The Intercept, Status Coup News, Where’s Your Ed At, Andrew Callahan’s Channel 5, Defector, the smattering of True Crime podcasts and journals… increasingly, it feels like if you want to know what the hell is going on in the world, you have to go to some indie website or YouTube channel with six substack reporters in a trench coat.
As a consequence of the mainstream NYT / CBS / BBC going to shit, they’re the only outlets that stay current and do in depth coverage anymore. Everything else is either reactionary propaganda or AI slop.
Just being the last credible news sources standing seems to have an impact, as more people crowd in on the reliable venues for news in the void created by professionalized for-profit corporate media.
You have to follow many.
- The Guardian
- The AP
- Reuters
- Big city papers (not NYT obviously)
I would check your local papers as well, sometimes they have national things that are better.
YMMV for a lot of these. The Guardian is notoriously transphobic. The AP and Reuters are a grab bag of real news coverage and naked propaganda pieces. Big City Papers are inevitably mouthpieces of the local reactionary billionaire, leaning heavily on the “If It Bleeds It Leads” rule of thumb.
My own local paper - the Houston Chronicle - is lousy with native advertising and reactionary hot takes.
Not the worst paper in the world, but this town used to have no less than six major periodicals of record. They were all strangled by media consolidation. And the last paper standing is barely more than a coupon book for the real estate industry, with a conservative newsletter spliced in.
Oh no, I agree with everything you just said. You definitely have to pick and choose the articles. I have the Houston Chronicle on my feed and it’s one of the worst that’s still in my feed. It barely squeaks by, but it’s better than the rest of TX that I can find. I’m open to suggestions.
Also, most of the headlines are total shit on all of them. The AP is especially bad.
Edit: I forgot Propublica. They do the best work that I can find. Sometimes their headlines aren’t great, but the articles are always good.
it’s better than the rest of TX that I can find. I’m open to suggestions.
Texas Tribune is still good, even if they’ve been on the downswing due to budget cuts. Houston Landing might have been good, but it flamed out when they couldn’t find enough advertisers or build a subscription base fast enough. I enjoyed City Cast Houston from time to time, but they’re gone now.
sigh
I forgot Propublica
They’re definitely good.
In addition to their long and ongoing history of being shit, NYT does a lot of good reporting and is also useful for understanding a specific kind of perspective. I think if you’re reading diverse sources you will inevitably have to read the NYT if for no other reason than they are breaking news regularly and occasionally covering things that aren’t really being covered elsewhere.
Oh for sure, they have some great reporters. They’ll never again be in my feed though. If something good comes out, someone else posts it or another pub talks about it. Not worth the anger of it all.
