Reputable sources for news in the US.

[Kujako]

It seems more and more these days that there are no good news sources in the US. Of the major networks, there seems to be blatant political leanings (Fox & MSNBC) or simply a mess of Twitter and Facebook posts (CNN). As such I find myself turning to the BBC and Al Jazeera to find out what is actually happening not only in the rest of the world but in the US as well.

The purpose of this conversation is not to get into which of the US networks lies more, is more politicized, etc. But to determine if there is an alternative to the big networks that I am not familiar with.

[starlord]

depends on what you're looking for. i assume political news?
politico is supposed to be pretty good.
pbs as well, if you want something more traditional.

[Spectral]

I'd recommend PBS and NPR.

I don't find Al-Jazeera to be an unbiased source. I like their coverage and think it's worthwhile, but I don't think it's unbiased.

[Kasierith]

Cross referencing your news sources and recognizing the biases that each news source has so that you can circumvent their biases when you use them. For example, I'm fine with using Fox News when the topic is not related to politics, or BBC news if the news story doesn't relate directly to the UK.

[Reeve]

The New York Times is generally considered to be a reputable paper. NPR is also quite good. I like Planet Money in particular. They tend to take a fact and economist based slant, rather than the position of any political party.

[Simca]

The reputable sources for US news are the ones that aren't based in the US, lol. My personal favorites are Al-Jazeera (which has its own biases but it is still a very interesting read to see the foreign perspective) and BBC, which are the ones you mentioned.

There aren't many others. PBS is reasonable. I like NPR because it has very interesting coverage of issues in third-world countries, but it is fairly obvious that it has a slight to moderate slant towards liberals. They still are easily the best radio source for news though. CNN is probably the least biased channel of the major US news stations, but it still has a noticeable slant towards Democrats on political issues.

Fox and MSNBC are trash channels to the point of being completely unusable, even for non-political stories. It's sad, really.

[Deleted]

This is because freedom of speech seems a little bit too popular in the US, well in the news that is. People give their opinion on matters instead of just reading the facts from a cue. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against freedom of speech but I don't think it deserves to be part of the news. How can you separate fact from opinion? You'll get influenced and manipulated too easily.

I'm happy that over here the news is just the facts, and it's your own decision what to make of it. Anyway, I don't know any US alternatives to go for if you want a better credible source.

[Cthulhu 2020]

This is because freedom of speech seems a little bit too popular in the US, well in the news that is. People give their opinion on matters instead of just reading the facts from a cue. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against freedom of speech but I don't think it deserves to be part of the news. How can you separate fact from opinion? You'll get influenced and manipulated too easily.

I'm happy that over here the news is just the facts, and it's your own decision what to make of it. Anyway, I don't know any US alternatives to go for if you want a better credible source.

It should be a law that if you proclaim to be a News station (either in title or some other decree) that your primary broadcasts are required to have unbias, factual reports, and if you wish to exercise your "freedom of speech" and tell lies and spread political propaganda it needs to be in a clearly defined "opinion" section. Of course I'll get a bunch of responses about this going against free market, freedom of speech, etc. but it seriously doesn't make sense that you can claim to be a news station and report lies.

[Vyxn]

I'd recommend PBS and NPR.

are you going to try to claim that two news agencies that get majority of their funding from the government is not going to be biased in favor to the party that wants big government
I'm sure they want to keep the party that feeds them in power

[Reeve]

There aren't many others. PBS is reasonable. I like NPR because it has very interesting coverage of issues in third-world countries, but it is fairly obvious that it has a slight to moderate slant towards liberals.

NPR, it totally depends on what show you're listening to. Planet Money is pretty well straight down the middle, often getting input from multiple economists on stuff, and having the economists declare their leanings ahead of time. If anything, I'd say the reporters themselves may lean slightly to the right, but most of the time don't show it.

[Wells]

are you going to try to claim that two news agencies that get majority of their funding from the government is not going to be biased in favor to the party that wants big government
I'm sure they want to keep the party that feeds them in power

PBS and NPR derive most of their funding through private donations.

In fact PBS gets more of their money from businesses than they do from state and federal government. So by your own argument that should mean they're more biased in favor of business interests.

[Spectral]

are you going to try to claim that two news agencies that get majority of their funding from the government is not going to be biased in favor to the party that wants big government
I'm sure they want to keep the party that feeds them in power

I have seen no evidence that PBS is systemically biased; there's ample data showing that people who get their news primarily from PBS/NPR are better informed as a group than any other station's viewers.

Also, PBS doesn't get the majority of its funding from the government. Perhaps you should rethink whether the sources you're listening to are credible?

[Vyxn]

best place to go for political news is Real Clear Politics because they post articles from all the leading news souses so you can read them all and come to your own conclusion
because there is no such thing as an unbiased news source

[jreg]

I don't find Al-Jazeera to be an unbiased source. I like their coverage and think it's worthwhile, but I don't think it's unbiased.

I think it is impossible to find a perfectly unbiased news source.

[Reeve]

One of the first posts I made on these forums many years ago was that I thought Al-Jazeera to be a quality news channel, and I was immediately shouted down by people afraid of anything with an Arabic name.

[Spectral]

best place to go for political news is Real Clear Politics because they post articles from all the leading news souses so you can read them all and come to your own conclusion
because there is no such thing as an unbiased news source

They post opinion columns from all over the place, I suppose. It's a useful aggregator of political opinions, but not really a great way to understand what's actually going on.

---------- Post added 2013-02-18 at 02:41 PM ----------

One of the first posts I made on these forums many years ago was that I thought Al-Jazeera to be a quality news channel, and I was immediately shouted down by people afraid of anything with an Arabic name.

I wouldn't say I'm automatically suspicious of all things Arab, but I am suspicious of an organization that received its startup funds from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Like I said, I think they do some good work and are worth viewing, I'm just not buying them as "unbiased".

[chadwix]

PBS and NPR derive most of their funding through private donations.

In fact PBS gets more of their money from businesses than they do from state and federal government. So by your own argument that should mean they're more biased in favor of business interests.

Aside from the words you type is there any proof of this?

Back on topic, you wont find an unbias source. Even in the uk where its illegal for them to run unfactual stories, they simply choose not to run stories that go against the editors views.

The best thing you can do is read the facts, i see articles at the huffington post that are two pages with only one factual statement in quotes, the rest is a blog. This is what our media has become, they arent reporting facts they are giving us their opinion.

[Harry Botter]

There is no unbiased news almost anywhere. Unbiased news is boring and bland to the masses at large. Check several different sources and decide for yourself. you are your own best news source.

[Zeth Hawkins]

The Young Turks is where I get my political news from.

[Reeve]

Aside from the words you type is there any proof of this?

Back on topic, you wont find an unbias source. Even in the uk where its illegal for them to run unfactual stories, they simply choose not to run stories that go against the editors views.

The best thing you can do is read the facts, i see articles at the huffington post that are two pages with only one factual statement in quotes, the rest is a blog. This is what our media has become, they arent reporting facts they are giving us their opinion.

According to CPB, in 2009 11.3% of the aggregate revenues of all public radio broadcasting stations were funded from federal sources, principally through CPB.[27]

http://www.cpb.org/stations/reports/...ingRevenue.pdf