How does one resist getting into protracted arguments while still staying informed?
How does one resist getting into protracted arguments while still staying informed?
Getting heated is bad for the heart, after all. But I've always had the belief that the worst thing you can be in this world is consciously uninformed, so I wanna stay in the loop.
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I'm a news junkie too, and I also used to have a problem with online conflict. I got so worked up posting on Twitter in 2016 that I broke into hives. No joke...
I took several years off from the news, but I reestablished a healthy relationship with it 3 years ago. What revelation did I have?
Comment sections aren't informative. Just stick to factual reporting and if you need to hear some opinions to help you contextualize things you learn, stick to centrist sources and try to read at least two differing opinions per topic.
I only get news from AP News, Reuters and Five Thirty Eight.
If I desperately want to hear an opinion, I'll read an editorial in The Economist or I'll look at polling numbers.
You’d probably like this site:
https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news
They rate news articles based on their bias, and source related articles on the same topic. It’s not always 100% accurate, but it is helpful in ensuring you are reading both sides of the story and can try to get an informed take
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The main issue I find with strict factual reporting like Reuters or the AP is that most of us simply don't understand the context on every single issue to think critically about every story we read. Like, I know I have certain topics I do know a lot about, but the world is just too complex for me to know a lot about every topic.
This is where good explanatory journalism can come in, like Vox does. If you can find a good explanatory journalism outlet that you can trust (for me Vox is one of them), it can do a lot for your understanding of the news. There are also solo journalists doing this, scientists doing science communication, and so forth. Explanations by experts are worth their weight in gold.
I feel like this and the previous comment are what I seek most.
To you and @reversebananimals@lemmy.world, I don't suppose you would mind providing any more sources that you recommend?
For science news/communication, Sabine Hossenfelder is really good. She's an actual physicist and does a great job at presenting science news in a no-bs way. Also a good sense of humor.
For climate-related stuff, Climate Town is very good. He has a master's degree in climate policy, and he cites a ton of sources. His videos have a lot of humor and sarcasm, but they're very strongly fact-based and in-depth. He's not strictly news, but he does more mini-documentaries of topical topics relating to climate science and especially climate policy.
For general journalism and analysis, The Atlantic and The Economist are very good in my experience. They're both subscription-based (which honestly might be why they're so good; they don't have to chase clicks for ad revenue), but you can just browse their website for articles, then copy-paste the article links into archive.is to bypass the paywall. Both have a lot of excellent explanatory journalism and analysis.
I also find public broadcasters produce a lot of good content, as they likewise don't have to chase clicks for ad dollars. PBS and NPR (American), CBC (Canadian), DW (German, but they have English-language documentaries on youtube here), and Al Jazeera (Qatari, just don't trust their reporting on Qatar; their English international journalism is highly reputable, though, and they produce good documentaries available on youtube here) are some examples. In general, I find the long-form content produced (i.e., longer videos and documentaries as well as long-form articles) by these outfits to be better for "getting informed" than their regular just-the-facts news.
Amongst the above public broadcasters, I especially recommend the DW documentaries. They're really prolific and produce a ton of high-quality documentaries, all available for free on youtube.
For geopolitics and the war in Ukraine, William Spaniel is the best I've found. He's a professor of political science, and his videos are in-depth and topical on the happenings of the war. He also gives great insight into political science and geopolitics as a whole. Also has a good sense of humor and engaging style. He's also very quick to upload an analysis whenever there's a major development in the war.
For general data-based analysis, Our World in Data is a really good website. All the data is open-access and open-source, and they have a treasure trove of good charts and accompanying analysis for exploring the world by data. You can filter by subject category as well.
Looks like I'll have a lot of bookmarking to do. You have my appreciation. ^~^