Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

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ertyu
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Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by ertyu »

I would like to read good quality news and analysis, preferably impartial and unbiased, in English. I am interested in the economy and the financial markets and in general analysis pieces of the type The Atlantic puts out sometimes - they take a topic and do a piece on it instead of just reporting, "this is what happened." Ideally, the news I subscribe to would include more such pieces about countries other than the US. Which newspapers/services should I subscribe to? Which services do you like? Are you subscribed to any? Do you follow any but stay at the free limit? What is your general policy wrt news?

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

ertyu wrote:
Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:33 pm
What is your general policy wrt news?
Consume as little as possible.

jacob
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by jacob »

Financial Times might have what you're looking for. It has minimal bias and a somewhat global perspective. FT tends to cover less stories but go more in depth doing follow-ups over the next few days.

I've subscribed to FT and NYT once but found myself spending 90+ mins reading through the entire thing every day "to get my money's worth", so I stopped doing that.

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Seppia
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by Seppia »

I love good quality news, the “as little news as possible” policy is something I never understood.
I like to know what is going on in this world, but of course I care about the relevant things only.
“Man murders wife over argument about Take That” is not the kind of stuff that will make me a better person or more knowledgeable in general.
So this means almost zero TV for me, and absolutely no Facebook.
I tend to prefer stuff that goes a bit deeper, with a global and business perspective.

My favorite outlets, by far, are:

Newspaper: Financial Times
Weekly: The Economist
Internet: Bloomberg.com

I get to read FT and the Economist in the lounges/hotels when I travel, while for Bloomberg there was a special offer of 1.99€ per month for 3 months. After that I’m going to probably cancel (regular rate is very expensive, like 39€ per month) and go back to using DuckDuckGo browser to bypass the reading limit.

CS
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by CS »

Washington Post
Guardian
Free articles from
South China Morning Post (surprisingly useful)
The Atlantic, National Geographic, Los Angeles Times, New York Times... whatever apple news aggregator can come up with.

Not three. I didn't follow instructions. I have no idea what value the last ones would have for a subscription. I won't subscribe to the NYT because reasons.

bostonimproper
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by bostonimproper »

+1 all of Seppia's recommendations, though I only bother with digital versions.

For general news, throw in WSJ every once and a while, but avoid their editorial section like the plague. The Atlantic has some excellent long reads when I have the time. I might skim titles on NYT and Washington Post, but with the rare exception I find their reporting to be meh. Vox has okay explainer articles if you have no background in what's trending.

For what it's worth, I think the most interesting analyses are more rapidly obtained via podcasts versus text, nowadays.

The Old Man
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

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AnalyticalEngine
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by AnalyticalEngine »

I subscribe to the NYT only. It's just the digital version. I would love to get the print version but it costs like 10x what the digital version does. I don't mind paying for it because I believe that unless I am the one giving the company money, then I'm the one who's really the product.

Maybe someday I'll get the print version. I read the print version instead of the digital version when I was in grad school and the school got it for free. That was a far superior way to get news because it was less personalized/filtered/full of comments that suck you in reading them. But for $80/month, I just can't justify that expense.

Riggerjack
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by Riggerjack »

Since the 2016 election, I have sharply curtailed all news. When I do get the occasional story, I am impressed by just how simple/slanted it is.

As for the Atlantic, that is journalism at it's finest. Exactly as much information as you need to feel informed, without enough information to be informed; presented in an emotionally satisfying way, so you will remember how to feel the subject, and a few tidbits to talk about later.

When I want to know about something, I just start clicking, but the news very rarely has anything to add.

Podcasts and blogs are very helpful, in that you can find out what the experts are saying. And what they disagree about. Often with links to original sources.

But then, my job isn't very engaging, so I fill the time...

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Alphaville
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by Alphaville »

I like The Economist a lot and kept a subscription for a year. Then I had trouble catching up with every issue. Then they raised the price. Maybe I’ll get it again in the future. I like it a lot.

However, to say it’s “balanced and impartial” is a bit... naive? They’re liberals. English-style not American-style liberals. So, classical liberal, sorta (because that has also come to mean different things.)They even published a manifesto about it, not long ago. I happen to agree with a lot of their perspective and therefore it appears, to me, rational and balanced.

If I were a bolshevik or a paranoid nationalist wingnut, however, I’d perceive it as unreasonable and dangerous.

[ETA: manifesto here: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/ ... liberalism ]

The Economist really strives to provide a global perspective. Yes, they can’t help being based in Westminster, which is its own kind of bias, but they do have sections on every continent, and tend look at major trends, regardless. They’re also really accessible, and educational in that they explain concepts the public might not be familiar with, whereas something like the Financial Times is more specialized and targeted at experts and steeped in jargon I cannot comprehend.

Please note that The Economist calls itself as a newspaper, not a magazine. And their phone and tablet apps provide daily updates that break the weekly mold.

I used to wake up to their Espresso app which gives you a quick summary of... 7? main global developments of the day plus a static page with the markets. It was quite exciting, hahaha. I’d do it again but have other priorities at the moment.

Anyway, the subscription that has me more interested right now is New Scientist. But before I fork out any money I’m going to look for it in the library.

nomadscientist
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by nomadscientist »

I think news has negative real information value. It's useful to know what others are thinking though. So the most milquetoast ones: BBC, CNN, etc.

To understand things, read books. Once one has enough general understanding, it's pretty clear to see how the journalists are piecing evidence together by design to push a narrative, or are just flat out wrong due to misunderstanding the situation. That doesn't necessarily get you closer to the real truth though!

One problem is it's almost impossible to get out of the trap of thinking something is important because others think it is important. Humans are just wired that way. People will often take different stances on news stories to that of the journalists, sometimes even when essentially all journalists take the same stance, but people will very rarely substitute entirely different topics of thought and discussion to the ones they're served up. It's even practically hard since who are you going to talk to? This is the biggest harm caused by consuming news media.

_bb_
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by _bb_ »

FWIW, I agree with the sources shared - FT & Economist - I enjoy them because of the global coverage. During the week, I generally look at their headlines and on the weekends I will read the actual stories. I find this is enough to keep me informed of whats top of mind and prevents me from getting sucked into the "doom and gloom" of the stories. My personal goal is to keep my portfolio from melting and typically I do not find my investment ideas from the papers - so I am fine with the broad strokes of the headlines.

@Nomad - well said! I often wonder if FT and the Economist are being written by the exact same journalists (maybe they are just really close next-door neighbors! :lol: ). This goes for the other sources as well, but those two present a funny example both being UK sources.

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Alphaville
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by Alphaville »

i resubscribed to “the economist” since i last posted here, precisely due to its generalist, global approach. it was helpful during peak coviditis.

and i just found out that nassim taleb, who hates journalists and the news, wrote this in “fooled by randomness”:

(I confess that the only news items I currently read are the far more interesting upscale social gossip stories found in Tatler, Paris Match, and Vanity Fair—in addition to The Economist)

lol.

maybe by the end of the book he’ll repudiate or ridicule that choice, cuz it ain’t over till it’s over, but for the moment i feel slightly vindicated in this choice.

xmj
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by xmj »

Alphaville wrote:
Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:31 pm

I confess that the only news items I currently read are the far more interesting upscale social gossip stories found in Tatler, Paris Match, and Vanity Fair—in addition to The Economist
Good quote! If you like these, consider TakiMag as well.

I get my daily news fill from a number of curated Twitter lists; chances are if it's important I'll hear about it there. Also FAZ + NZZ newspapers, that is, their websites' free editions. I pay enough in public broadcasting taxes to not want to subscribe to anything.

UK-with-kids
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by UK-with-kids »

I get a UK weekly news magazine called "The Week". It's quite international in content and it quotes from multiple news stories from Left to Right, so you tend to get all sides of the arguments. It also has a regular page called "The Briefing" which goes into a subject that's been in the news recently in a bit more detail.
I find getting the news on a weekly cycle is more efficient than a more regular newsflow and it also means that if I exercise self control and I can enjoy not reading any news at all for 6 days out of the week. Then on the 7th day I spend around 1-2 hours reading up on everything that interests me. You could probably read every single word of it in under 2 hours as it's pretty slim, which is just how I like it.
You can try it free for 6 weeks here: https://subscription.theweek.co.uk/subscribe

Hristo Botev
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by Hristo Botev »

We subscribe to our local newspaper, in print delivered daily. We may be the only print subscribers the paper has under the age of 45, but it meets our needs perfectly. It’s the right mix of local, national, world, and sports coverage for us, and I especially appreciate the local business coverage, as many of my clients are HQd in my city. On a good day the morning paper is my only news exposure; on a bad day I also consume news via online aggregators, YouTube, blogs, podcasts, social media, the radio, and even this forum. You could (and too often I do) spend your entire day doing nothing but consuming and fretting over the “news.”

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by Western Red Cedar »

nomadscientist wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 7:32 pm
To understand things, read books. Once one has enough general understanding, it's pretty clear to see how the journalists are piecing evidence together by design to push a narrative, or are just flat out wrong due to misunderstanding the situation. That doesn't necessarily get you closer to the real truth though!
^^This. I read sources like NY Times, Bloomberg, Atlantic, WA Post, NPR, Reuters, and others that come up in my newsfeed or stock app but I don't pay for any of them. There are a few non-profit regional sources that do some really good work, and I've been impressed with some of the investigative journalism by ProPublica.

In general, I just look at these sources for entertainment or to see how they are framing a particular issue. Based on my professional experience and areas of technical expertise, I realize that media don't really understand most issues, or at least don't take the time to adequately address them. You'd be much better off reading actual books. I've found podcasts as a good option to hear from experts or authors without fully committing to reading a book by them. Podcasts or longer interviews (at least 20-30 minutes) allow for addressing issues and ideas in more depth. If I'm particularly interested, I'll add their book or recommended reading to my "to read" list.

ThriftyRob
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by ThriftyRob »

I subscribed to The Economist but let it lapse after the 12 months was up. With lockdown here in the UK, Saturday mail deliveries were suspended so my print copy didn't arrive until Monday. I struggled to read each edition before the next one arrived. I appreciated their perspectives and writing style.

I refer to the BBC website for global and local big stories.

I visit The Guardian website for news/comment although I find it too biased and woke.

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Alphaville
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by Alphaville »

the trick with the economist is to get the digital version and start reading by thursday night or friday morning, and be done by sunday.

otherwise it’s like one missed the train and has to wait for the next one, yeah.

then there’s their espresso app/email for essential highlights each morning

borisborisboris
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Re: Which 3 news services are worth subscribing to, in order?

Post by borisborisboris »

Ideas:
* Stratechery, Sinocism, or any other analytical blog-type publication written by an expert (not a journalist) who can think quickly and deeply about the topic you care about.

* Twitter, which is free and terrible, EXCEPT if you "pay" by spending a lot of effort on curating your feed. Which is really hard to do. But, done well, it gets you a very high level of signal directly from people with the most expertise on any given topic. (Again, these are rarely journalists). As an example, @bob_wachter's coverage of covid, or @trvrb's coverage of the virus spread in early march. When things are moving quickly, and you do need info, twitter is not just underrated, it's amazing. (Despite huge huge shortcomings as a platform in general). Added benefit if you can make good tweets, will get you personal connections also, a surprising source of serendipity.

What I don't do much of is scroll through headlines from any paper on a daily basis. It's twitter for fast events and expert takes, or blogs for slow analytical or argumentative discourse, nothing in between, kind of a barbell-type thing

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