Author Topic: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?  (Read 7505 times)

RapmasterD

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High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« on: October 12, 2014, 01:00:15 PM »
Back in the day -- about six months ago -- I subscribed to both the Wall Street Journal Digital Edition (I think it's about $29 per month) AND The New York Times Sunday Paper (about $37 per month), which gives one full digital access.

And then I thought that given how much I READ either paper I should cancel one. So I cancelled the WSJ.

But now here it is and I'm still paying out hundreds of dollars per year for a paper I read and respect, but not much, and not frequently. Case in point: I'm betting I'll read about 10-15% of what's in today's paper...not terribly cost effective.

I don't have cable, and don't care to get up to speed on current events via local or network news or online video shit. I do tune into "PBS Newshour" every now and then.

MY QUESTION: What HIGH QUALITY and FREE online news outlets do you read for analysis and interesting perspectives? I've already 'got it' on BBC and NPR....what else?

Thank you!

freeedom

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2014, 01:52:03 PM »
NYTimes if you use chrome and incognito tab is great. Try http://news.google.com as well.

shitzmagee

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2014, 04:20:09 PM »
Exactly what I was going to say...You can customize Google News to your liking and incognito mode is great for getting around paywalls on a lot of news sites..

RapmasterD

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2014, 04:28:08 PM »
Thanks guys!

I never thought about 'incognito mode' for anything other than

MilStachian

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2014, 07:35:25 PM »
Awesome tip about the incognito mode!  I second Google News.

My wife and I still subscribe to the WSJ.  I know it's a ridiculous expense, but it's one I've made the conscious decision to continue.  Something about a real newspaper and a coffee in my hands...magic.

As with any news outlet, I keep my eyes wide open for the political slant, just as I do when I listen to NPR or read BBC News.  Since I don't invest in single stocks, I also tend to get a kick out of the short pieces that part-time contributors to the WSJ write pushing one stock or another.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2014, 10:58:43 AM »
I used to read the NYT via RSS feed and never had an issue with the paywall. Sure, it would warn me, but it would never actually prevent the page from loading.

I'm personally a huge fan of the low information diet (that article is what got me here in the first place). I dip in and skim front page headlines occasionally, but my life is so much better now that I'm not a news/politics junkie.

Eric

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2014, 11:23:23 AM »
Thanks guys!

I never thought about 'incognito mode' for anything other than

Ummm, you just sort of trailed off there...

Hahahahaha

surfhb

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2014, 11:58:12 AM »
I'm another who's just stopped listening to news. 

There's nothing in the paper which effects ones life unless it's about you.    If it does effect me I'll already know about it.   :)

RapmasterD

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2014, 12:02:05 PM »
I'm another who's just stopped listening to news. 

There's nothing in the paper which effects ones life unless it's about you.    If it does effect me I'll already know about it.   :)

To you and the Goblin I should have put this on an initial disclaimer. My default for the past few years has been "low information diet." And when you DO that you realize how virtually every news service is just a giant link bait machine. Wait...is that too cynical?

Gotta go. Just looked at yesterday's Sunday NYT front page and realized there was not ONE article remotely relevant to/for me. So I'm off to cancel right now.

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RapmasterD

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2014, 12:53:38 PM »
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/10/01/the-low-information-diet/

That is all.

Yeah I've read this one. Thanks for popping it back up.

My solution: I just loaded a few more news sources onto Feedly after canceling the NYT subscription. And yes, they make that cancellation process difficult. The woman on the phone kept dragging it out and asking me questions, then offering me a 50% discount. Pretty sad.

Bob W

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2014, 01:15:25 PM »

To save time,  here will be the top stories for the next 12 months ----  The stock market is up/down, The Economy up/down/  unemployment up/down,   crimes will happen,  the US will continue to be in some war somewhere,  illegal immigration will continue to be talked about,  nonheterosexual people will continue to be in the news, people will protest something,  someone will be running for election,  the weather will be mostly cold in the winter and mostly warm in the summer,  some sports team will be competing for some championship,  someone will die/be killed,  the government will do something or not do something.

Little if any of it will impact you and virtually none of it is within  your sphere of influence. 

But if you must have news try this link nakednews.com

RapmasterD

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #12 on: October 13, 2014, 07:06:09 PM »

To save time,  here will be the top stories for the next 12 months ----  The stock market is up/down, The Economy up/down/  unemployment up/down,   crimes will happen,  the US will continue to be in some war somewhere,  illegal immigration will continue to be talked about,  nonheterosexual people will continue to be in the news, people will protest something,  someone will be running for election,  the weather will be mostly cold in the winter and mostly warm in the summer,  some sports team will be competing for some championship,  someone will die/be killed,  the government will do something or not do something.

Little if any of it will impact you and virtually none of it is within  your sphere of influence. 

But if you must have news try this link nakednews.com

Dude!

1) You missed two big ones and you should be ashamed of yourself -- health scares (ahem!) and terrorism.

2) From my prior post I thought I made it abundantly clear that I'm a creepy perv, and yes my wife sort of knows. So nakednews.com is familiar to me. It's foolish, but I'm familiar with it!

Bob W

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #13 on: October 15, 2014, 08:24:17 AM »
Sorry to forget terrorism and the relentless US war machine international invading, occupation and bombing of people in poor countries to generate profits for multinational corporations.    (but that's a whole nother post)

I have never watched nakednews personally.   I see from their site there is a subscription service.  So I just have my wife strip down and read the phone book to me.   We can never seem to get past Andrew Abbot.  lol

RapmasterD

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GuitarStv

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #15 on: October 16, 2014, 06:14:28 AM »
I've already 'got it' on BBC and NPR....what else?

http://www.aljazeera.com/

^ It's really not primarily terrorists and beheadings as most North Americans believe.

hybrid

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #16 on: October 16, 2014, 06:37:57 AM »
Ack, not a fan of this thread. I definitely get some of my news for free (advertisers pick up the cost, like on CNNMoney), but some of that free news people are subscribing to ain't free.

NPR / public radio for example. Yeah, I get that most people don't support their public radio station. And if one is just a very casual listener, I'm not suggesting that you do. But if you are a regular listener and simply rely on other regular contributors (like me) to pick up the tab for you, congratulations, you have just crossed the threshold from frugal to cheap.

And as for getting around paywalls in a routine way to circumvent paying for a subscription service, are these the same people that removed the filter to get free HBO back in the day as well? Come on folks, if you are routinely going around the paywall you are in effect stealing cable. Congratulations, you have just crossed the threshold from frugal to cheap. Those good folks at the NYT aren't performing a public service, it's a business. Don't steal from it.

I used to read the WaPo regularly, and then they threw a paywall up (no shock, they have been bleeding money for years). Oh, I know how to get around it easily enough, the question becomes do I respect their right to run a business or do I simply use the easy hacks to get around it. They have recently offered the service for $19/year. I am very close to biting, I miss the quality. I won't steal in the meantime.

I fully realize this isn't such an easy question. When Napster first came out back in the day I was sucking down music left and right, in no small part because I was pissed at the labels for what I saw as price gouging over the years (having to pay $15 for the one song on a CD I actually wanted). I sure wasn't alone there, lots of normally ethical folks my age saw a mixture of opportunity laced with payback for perceived injustice and went nuts. The moment songs became readily available for purchase individually I started supporting that business model. I'm not terribly proud of that looking back.

Media companies have been upended by the Internet. The typical big city paper is struggling, most are losing money year after year (oddly, small town papers are doing well because the Internet hasn't claimed their turf). The NYT and the WaPo and the WSJ are evolving to meet those challenges and paywalls are becoming the new subscription service, just like HBO. Please don't end run them just because it is easy to do (just like removing the cable filter was easy to do in 1989). If you wouldn't steal cable in 2014, don't end run a paywall.   

RapmasterD

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #17 on: October 18, 2014, 08:06:00 PM »
Ack, not a fan of this thread. I definitely get some of my news for free (advertisers pick up the cost, like on CNNMoney), but some of that free news people are subscribing to ain't free.

NPR / public radio for example. Yeah, I get that most people don't support their public radio station. And if one is just a very casual listener, I'm not suggesting that you do. But if you are a regular listener and simply rely on other regular contributors (like me) to pick up the tab for you, congratulations, you have just crossed the threshold from frugal to cheap.

And as for getting around paywalls in a routine way to circumvent paying for a subscription service, are these the same people that removed the filter to get free HBO back in the day as well? Come on folks, if you are routinely going around the paywall you are in effect stealing cable. Congratulations, you have just crossed the threshold from frugal to cheap. Those good folks at the NYT aren't performing a public service, it's a business. Don't steal from it.

I used to read the WaPo regularly, and then they threw a paywall up (no shock, they have been bleeding money for years). Oh, I know how to get around it easily enough, the question becomes do I respect their right to run a business or do I simply use the easy hacks to get around it. They have recently offered the service for $19/year. I am very close to biting, I miss the quality. I won't steal in the meantime.

I fully realize this isn't such an easy question. When Napster first came out back in the day I was sucking down music left and right, in no small part because I was pissed at the labels for what I saw as price gouging over the years (having to pay $15 for the one song on a CD I actually wanted). I sure wasn't alone there, lots of normally ethical folks my age saw a mixture of opportunity laced with payback for perceived injustice and went nuts. The moment songs became readily available for purchase individually I started supporting that business model. I'm not terribly proud of that looking back.

Media companies have been upended by the Internet. The typical big city paper is struggling, most are losing money year after year (oddly, small town papers are doing well because the Internet hasn't claimed their turf). The NYT and the WaPo and the WSJ are evolving to meet those challenges and paywalls are becoming the new subscription service, just like HBO. Please don't end run them just because it is easy to do (just like removing the cable filter was easy to do in 1989). If you wouldn't steal cable in 2014, don't end run a paywall.

You are "not a fan of this thread?" That sort of begs the question of why you wrote such a lengthy response on it.

My intent was not to seek counsel on circumventing paywalls and/or cheating. Nope...I was seeking alternate news sources that publish high quality information for low or no cost.

Furthermore, as a subscriber and reader of both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times for the past 35 years, I contend that both of these outlets are no longer worth their subscription price. I have no interest in their plight. This is a free market economy and I'm not here to support buggy whip companies or Rupert Murdoch's empire.

And because I am no longer paying, I will not read their content, other than their free blog content, or the 10 free NYT articles provided each month.

In looking at one of the links to a MMM post in which he suggested there is little to no need to read the news, "Pete" made it clear he still reads The Economist. And a lot of other folks provided legitimate guidance that doesn't skirt any paywalls. I thank them for that.

rocketpj

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #18 on: October 19, 2014, 03:25:25 PM »
I've been using Google news for years.  In my experience any article that is behind a paywall is covered more than once by some other organization.

Unless you have a specific columnist that you must read, there is just no reason to either pay or skirt a paywall.  That model is dead, they just don't know it yet - and I see no reason to help them sustain it.  I just don't read their stuff if they don't want to share it with me.  In not reading it, I also don't get exposed to their advertisers.  That is their choice, and mine.

Zone of influence is important, though (MA in Political Science here) I do like to keep up with the news.  That said, my masters thesis was on the ways that political information is mangled beyond all comprehension through the faulty mechanism of news media, so most news articles (and all tv news) just piss me off nowadays.

RapmasterD

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2014, 12:14:42 PM »
I've been using Google news for years.  In my experience any article that is behind a paywall is covered more than once by some other organization.

Unless you have a specific columnist that you must read, there is just no reason to either pay or skirt a paywall.  That model is dead, they just don't know it yet - and I see no reason to help them sustain it.  I just don't read their stuff if they don't want to share it with me.  In not reading it, I also don't get exposed to their advertisers.  That is their choice, and mine.

Zone of influence is important, though (MA in Political Science here) I do like to keep up with the news.  That said, my masters thesis was on the ways that political information is mangled beyond all comprehension through the faulty mechanism of news media, so most news articles (and all tv news) just piss me off nowadays.

+1 - I will take one to two subscriptions to high quality outlets, that in total will cost about 30% of what I had been paying.

gimp

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Re: High quality online 'news'....for FREE - What say you?
« Reply #20 on: October 20, 2014, 12:39:56 PM »
Google news. For two reasons.

One, articles are automatically curated and correlated. Google news doesn't display what some guy wants you to read, it displays what five thousand guys want you to read, which allows for a much broader perspective. Two, articles are correlated, so the same topic has several articles about it. If you're reading something controversial, you can open the same topic from five points of view, read between the lines, figure out what all the stories agree on, and be left with something close to the truth.

NinetyFour

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Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!