On Sources of Information
People have shared with me that they have trouble trusting their media sources and feel as if they are not getting the whole story. Do you feel that way? I do too, and I often become concerned that we are devolving into a country of conspiracy theorists who feel that we know everything while understanding nothing. Sociologists are pointing to this polarization of information as one of the most concerning trends of our time and noting that choking information and education is almost always one of the first signs of a move toward authoritarianism and away from functioning democracy. It’s up to us to fight the trend.
Those of us who use social media for our information are getting information through algorithms designed to keep our attention and reinforce our own opinion. This is the worst source. Most mainstream media channels do the same and if we are only relying on one of them or those that only lean one way on the political spectrum, we’re certainly not getting the whole story – we’re only getting the clips they want us to see coupled with rhetoric that only serves to feed our egos and is, more often than not in my opinion, less than meaningless. For the fewer and fewer of us that read a paper – either digitally or with ink on paper – if we spend more time on the quick and spicy opinion pieces rather than the time demanding “third” page articles (when available), we aren’t actually using them for news.
What are the sources of information you use to know and understand what is going on in the world, our nation, and anything involving politics specifically? I’m specifically interested in sources that provide factual information and analysis rather than commentary, talking heads, etc. Analysis and conjecture is fine as long as it’s clearly stated as such verses being falsely presented as fact.
I subscribe to “All Sides” (I am not in any way affiliated with them). They cover important topics by presenting coverage from sources that tend to lean in multiple different directions so that the reader can get multiple presentations and use them to decide for themselves. This, by the way, is not in an effort to be “neutral” – it’s in an effort to have enough correct and complete information to form an opinion based on fact and reality rather than preconceived ideals, assumption, and comfort. I also think that the fact checker of the Washington Post does a fairly good job of exposing misleading information or clearing up questions on facts coming from leaders on both sides of the political spectrum. I’ve also just recently started using the 1440 daily digest which summarizes major news each day and seems to be doing so in a “just the facts” manner.