5 Media Sources

Nowadays the public is overwhelmed with news and a question many people ask themselves is "Where should I be getting my information?".  It can be hard to find non-biased, factual information among many news sources.  Below are 5 of my most used news sources and why I enjoy them.

I enjoy listening to the National Public Radio (Podcasts in particular).  NPR offers a large variety of newscasters and different types of news. Their podcasts range from daily news, to political debates, to commenting on genres of music.  NPR offers something that I think is very important.  They will bring opposing sides of a conversation together to debate live.  I think this is valuable to hear these conversations and learn from them.  They offer insight into what others are thinking, can present holes in arguments, and could cause the listener to think about something they never would have without the podcast.  

The New York Times is another source I like.  They have been around for a long time and have a reputation to protect, therefore their news stories are likely to be vetted many times over to protect the company.  They are very well known and overall trusted by much of the public.  The New York Times covers so many different topics like lifestyle, business, politics, and world news.  They make all of this easily accessible on their website and there is no longer a need for tangible newspapers that they used to make. 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/239749/credibility-of-the-new-york-times-in-the-united-states/ 

I think that NBC does a good job trying to keep their younger audiences informed.  They have a Snapchat show called NBC STAY TUNED.   It offers a brief recap of current events and I think it does a really good job providing just the facts and seldom opinions.  Providing accessibility to the public is very important and by making themselves so easily accessible, they appeal to a larger (and in this case younger) audience.  NBC tends to lean left but I believe they do a good job keeping it light and just discussing new on their morning talk shows. 

Like the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal is a longstanding reliable source.  I can trust that their information is vetted.  It is accessible online and I will once in a while read a hard copy when my grandpa gives me his.  They have a wide variety of topics that they cover, but are most well known for their business and economy sections.  They are another company that offers world news and places a lot of emphasis on the stock market as to stay true to their roots.   

Lastly, although I do not recommend this as the main source to get news, I get a lot of my news from social media. TikTok caters to a users like and watched posts to create more confirmation bias for the user.  The fact that anyone can post and that it caters to the user's point of view makes it an unreliable news source.  I would say the same for Instagram.  The user sees the posts of people that they follow and what content their family and friends share.  Therefore, the user is going to only see the beliefs and facts that this small circle of people is sharing.