Re: [Trisquel-users] News Media
I fully agree with what Fbit wrote in their reply, especially the bit about being properly informed about *everything* being a fulltime job, and seldom worth your time. But I hope you don't mind if I add my 2 cents. Firstly, as a general rule-of-thumb, the further news is published from where you live, the more it's contents are likely to be subject to propaganda (and the less likely they are to be directly useful to you). A neighbourhood newsletter produced by people in that neighbourhood will tend to be pretty reliable, because they are writing about things they have direct knowledge of. Traditional news conglomerates, whose audience is the population of a whole country or everyone in the world in a language group (eg all English speakers), are only as reliable as their sources. Also, they are a high priority target for propagandists of all kinds. Secondly, as FBit says, when deciding how seriously to take the contents of an article, it's worth considering the motives of the writer and the publisher. In Aotearoa (NZ) where I come from, many of the so-called "community newspapers" are actually owned by the same company that owns and operates many of the daily newspapers in the major cities (Fairfax). The articles in these "local" newspapers are often slanted towards the interests of the corporations that advertise in the major dailies, and I treat them with much more scepticism than I would articles in a genuinely community-run newspaper. With print publications and broadcast media, finding out who actually owns and operates them can require a bit of research. On the internet, finding the publisher of an article is often as easy as stripping the URL back to the domain name (eg stripping the URL of this page back to "trisquel.info"), and sometimes removing any subdomains (eg stripping layers.openembedded.org back to openembedded.org). Usually, an "about" page will give you some information about the publisher, and looking them up on sites like SourceWatch.org and PowerBase.info can reveal information they don't want you to know about their ownership and funding. More online research aids can be found here: https://www.coactivate.org/projects/drillingfortruth/online-research-aids Hope some of that is useful.
Re: [Trisquel-users] News Media
What MD is asking for is nearly impossible. Alas... Although, most of the population is liberal if you think about it. So... that to me says go for something that is liberal leaning. Ignore anything though related to fox news or the sinclair broadcast group. That's my stance. I say this because, extremism leads to the wide door. Moderation leads to the narrow door. In usa, everything is so political that shouldn't be... such as the NRA and their crazy ass stance on guns... war being honorable is a conserative idea I get the feeling... lying. stealing, scandals, those last three used to apply to both sides equally... But if you want my opinion listen to what people say, how they say it, and how often they are challenged. This is always a good way to find the truth. and last but not least, if you think both sides of the fence are equally bad in your country... look for what other countries say about the country your in. Those are my thoughts. ps, this last option may take longer then you think.
Re: [Trisquel-users] News Media
I've sent you a private message with some suggestions. I am reluctant to share my political views in this forum as I might share technical interests with some yet live on disparate ends of the political spectrum. Best to keep things somewhat separate where possible. I would rather focus on free software (and the eventual off-topic discussion) Publicly I will say that staying informed in a wide sense of the word can quickly become a full-time pursuit which I would advise against. Further, the news media is full of dirty practices. Perhaps it is wiser to stick to some narrow subjects than to try to get an overall picture of what's happening in the world. Dunno. Tough call. I do think that an informed multitude is essential. Difficult to say how exactly we should stay informed in an age of overinformation and dissinformation. I would say -- if you want to keep on the side of the disenfranchised -- listen to those who are most persecuted by the powerful, but even then, be skeptical and remember we all have personal interests, power corrupts, et cetera.
Re: [Trisquel-users] News Media
I fully agree with you, fbit. May I ask you, where you harvest your news? My knowledge and imagination limit me to the guardian and the intercept, so I would be happy to expand my sources. By the way, both the guardian and the intercept are apparently fairly ok when it comes to internet privacy.
Re: [Trisquel-users] News Media
I'm not aware of GPL news media. Maybe Creative Commons works for you? If so, here is a list: https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Journalism As to "neutral news," I think that doesn't exist. What is neutral? Who decides? In my opinion, it is not possible to be free from ideology and remain functional. Perhaps it is precisely when we feel we are free from ideology that we are most deeply in it. Much better to try to gain consciousness of ideology, remember everyone perceives the world through their own. I would advise that it is better to understand the context, motivations, funding, goals, management and writers and pick a healthy mix of different view points. Read a news article and ask why _it_ was published as opposed to hundreds of other newsworthy happenings. Try to zoom out and understand the ecosystem under which it came about. Pick a media outlet and read about a topic you are knowledgeable about. Most of the time what you read will be disappoiting. Don't forget that and assume it is the same for subjects your are less knowledgeable about. Read Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky's take on media. Understand how the mass media manufactures consent. Sorry if it does not really answer your question.
Re: [Trisquel-users] News Media
Wikinews is not licensed under the GPL though, which was one of their requirements.
Re: [Trisquel-users] News Media
Wikinews https://en.m.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page
