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Friday, December 28, 2007

Sign of the Times

posted by on December 28 at 11:45 AM

This is sort of inside-baseball, but it’s telling for anyone who’s interested in the media world and where it’s going, especially when it comes to political journalism. Mark Halperin today offered a long list of things that reporters shouldn’t hold their breath for as the Iowa caucuses approach. On the list: “Al Gore’s endorsement,” “Huckabee to lose that new 12 pounds,” and this:

An editor to say, “Don’t bother filing for the web – take the time to make your print story that much better.”

Which brings up something I’ve been wondering: Where do you all get your political news? Is it just from blogs and online news sites, or do you actually wait for a well-crafted story on printed paper to tell you what’s going on?

I know asking this of Slog readers on a day when a lot of people aren’t at work is going to make for a strange sample, but hey, maybe strange times call for strange samples. And anyway, I’m just curious.

RSS icon Comments

1

The last strange sample I saw was in a cup at the doctor's office...but I digress.

I get my political news 93% online -- but not always from blogs since I do check out MSNBC, BBC and CNN online sites daily. My local political news source is The Stranger and the P-I.

The blogs I check out are Slog (duh), Huffington Post, Drudge Report (know thy enemy), Daily Kos (during elections for polls and arcane facts), The Nation, Towleroad (for the gay angle -- and no, that doesn't mean putting a pillow under my ass), and Wonkette.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | December 28, 2007 11:56 AM
2

The only printed material I regularly read for my news these days is The Economist. The rest comes from NPR, C-Span, and I get pointed at things of interest/and/or/fill in the gaps using the internet (including newspaper websites)

Posted by Kentankerous | December 28, 2007 12:00 PM
3

I look at the Huffington Post, Election Central at TPMCafe.com, Slog, and http://www.scoop.co.nz/

Posted by i love my hourlong commute | December 28, 2007 12:05 PM
4

I get it from the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Reader. Occasionally the NY Times and for a conservative point of view The Economist. Oh and Stephanie Miller!

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | December 28, 2007 12:05 PM
5

I *intuit* all my information about politics, current events, the arts, and restaurant reviews. Reading is for people who live in Fremont.

Posted by Katelyn | December 28, 2007 12:08 PM
6

I read Slate's Today's Papers feature every morning and listen to a handful of NPR podcasts for a good overview, and read source articles for anything that particularly interests me.

Oh, and I occasionally follow the blog of some local alt-weekly rag...

Posted by lostboy | December 28, 2007 12:09 PM
7

Print and online. But increasingly they're the same thing; the printed version isn't any more polished than the online version. The print version is just later -- and more portable and flexible.

Posted by Fnarf | December 28, 2007 12:09 PM
8

I always confuse this Mark Halperin with Mark Helprin (brilliant novelist/conservative crank). Just sayin'.

Posted by Levislade | December 28, 2007 12:18 PM
9

I'm pretty much exclusively online these days, albeit much of that involves perusing the online sites of traditional print media.

Besides my Dearly Beloved Slog, I also regularly visit the PI, Times, NY Times, The Guardian, WA Post, MSNBC, CNN, The Beeb, Salon, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Atrios, Blatherwatch, Horses Ass, Crooks & Liars, and generally at least skim Slate, Drudge and even LGF (as @1 says, just to see what the wing-nuts are ranting about).

For people who don't have a lot of time to track down individual sites, I highly recommend adding www.refdesk.com to your favorites. Among its other myriad useful links (and aside from being one of the first, and still largest link-to sites on the web) is a comprehensive list of major U.S. and international newspapers; everything from the Anchorage Daily News to the Miami Herald, along with an excellent representation of major dailies from every continent on the planet - except Antarctica (the New South Polar Times having apparently been discontinued some time ago).

Posted by COMTE | December 28, 2007 12:30 PM
10

I haven't read a print newspaper or magazine in a long time. Hell, I can't even remember the last time I picked up a paper copy of the Stranger. Generally, for news I go to MSNBC, Raw Story, Slog, and occasionally the Economist, Daily Kos, and the PI. I used to be a lot more hardcore news junkie, but I've gotten lazy...

Posted by Hernandez | December 28, 2007 12:39 PM
11

I subscribe to the NYTimes and P-I and listen to NPR a few hours daily. That's probably the bulk of my news consumption. Online I read the Agonist semi-regularly (along with related blogs like Kos, Talking Points Memo, etc.) and links for the top stories on my iGoogle page.

Posted by doublepower | December 28, 2007 12:40 PM
12

Yup, I'm nearly 100% online these days for news. @1 and COMTE pretty much cover where I go...I also include JoeMyGod for more gay news and the Time magazine blogs. Oh, and Pollster.com for the latest aggregations of polls on the political horseraces.

What I don't get online I get from KUOW on the AM and PM drive. I cannot stand broadcast or cable news anymore, and I don't read anything in print if it isn't for pleasure anymore...

Posted by el ganador | December 28, 2007 12:41 PM
13

When you say "...do you actually wait for a well-crafted story on printed paper to tell you what’s going on?" you make it sound as if the only place one can find a well crafted story is on paper. Surely that isn't what you mean, is it? And yes, I will call you surely if I want to.

Posted by Paul In SF | December 28, 2007 12:59 PM
14

Oh, and to answer the question: mostly the Internet, but I do read the Stranger and Harper's in print.

Posted by Levislade | December 28, 2007 1:02 PM
15

National:


Wonkette (they always make me laugh, and the comments are often better than the posts)


Salon (Glenn Greenwald, my super-Constitutional fantasy boyfriend)


Huffington Post


Local:


Slog


Horse Sass (my name for it)


West Seattle Blog (They see and know all—it’s scary!)


Honestly, the establishment media is so idiotic--and their reporting so submoronic--that I just can’t stand to read any of it anymore. As the whole presidential primary race has shown, those fools will focus endless print inches on the daily “he said/she said” spat or which candidate orders the best pizza instead of anything with any actual substance. The repulsive DC press corps is the same. If their basic purpose is to inform and educate, then they’re all miserable failures who only care about being charmed, wined and dined; it’s truly pathetic that we get far better reporting on American politics from blogs and foreign journalists. What separates them from our establishment media is that they call out liars and expose their shameless mendacity and hypocrisy, while the US corporate media simply reports every dispute as a partisan disagreement where each argument has equal veracity and validity regardless of the facts (see the “debate” over torture or the Iraq War/occupation for example). It’s fucking preposterous and insulting to our intelligence.

You have to wonder what goes through the heads of these sycophants that edit dentist office rags like TIME and Newsweek. Do they ever wonder why they’re about as respected as the Nazi propaganda mill?

Posted by Original Andrew | December 28, 2007 1:03 PM
16

I get all my news online. My daily news ritual is to check bbc news first, then go to AlterNet and check their news feed and editorial pieces, Seattle times for local stuff, and then Slog for anything they may have missed/entertainment.

Posted by thaumaturgistguy | December 28, 2007 1:26 PM
17

@15 .."Honestly, the establishment media is so idiotic--and their reporting so submoronic--that.."-
yeah- you nailed it.
moi? I go for fair & balanced... so Rush Limbaugh & Ross Reynolds in equal amounts.
OK- Pacifica, NPR, APMedia, BBC, online papers (PI, NYT, Vancouver Sun, The Guardian, etc), Harper's in print, Cascadia Times & High Country News for enviroprint, & email links to others , eg Columbia Basin Bulletin. The Nation online only, (sorry Katrina) my neighbor's "In These Times"... What I love blogs for is the distilling process... & utilize locals already mentioned, and a few (eg Majikthise, Pandagon, DKos, Pharyngula, Tidepool, etc) from farther away.
There are links to stories all over the place... and when I see them, & want to know, I go there. ^..^

Posted by herbert browne | December 28, 2007 1:43 PM
18

Believe it or not - just SLOG. And I live in California...
Sometimes if I hear something socially I will google news it.

Posted by subwlf | December 28, 2007 2:03 PM
19

Slog, HA, NYT, and the Minneapolis StarTribune are my main online sources. NPR fills the radio space. As to print, I actually get the PI and the WSJ. For some reason, I do like having the physical paper. I still tend to check the PI's site, but I read the hard copy of the Local and Business sections. The WSJ is just too damn much to digest online, and the print version is a delight...other than the editorial page, which is often just amusing.

Posted by Juan | December 28, 2007 2:21 PM
20

Slog, Sullivan, CNN, and TPM online.

Time and the Times (yes, Seattle) on occasion in print.

Posted by Mike of Renton | December 28, 2007 2:24 PM
21

I get all my news from slog. So y'all should make sure not to get anything wrong.

I also read the Nation, but that's always after the fact.

I read sciencedaily.com blog, but I wouldn't call it news.

Posted by Tizzle | December 28, 2007 2:32 PM
22

85% online (blogs/news sites), 15% from alt weeklies and Time, Newsweek and US News and World Report. I rarely pick up a traditional print daily newspaper any more.

Posted by Wolf | December 28, 2007 2:56 PM
23

I subscribe to the print Seattle P-I, seven days a week and read it over my bowl of cereal every morning. Seriously. (I'm under 40 and female.) I also listen to NPR regularly.

I read SLOG every day and watch the Daily Show. (Yes, I consider that a news source, no matter what John Stewart says.) I also pick up the printed Stranger every week (ever since the paper started) and consider it more definitive than SLOG, because from what I understand, most Stranger staffers think it's more definitive than SLOG.

I don't read news/opinion blogs regularly. There are just too many to choose from and I don't have time (read: I don't find the time) to read them all. Plus, I'm generally unfamiliar with them so I don't know what their angles are.

Posted by me | December 28, 2007 3:47 PM
24

I listen to NPR and read The Stranger online. That's it.

How lazy I am, I need to expand my news-getting habits. Although to defend myself, I have to say that I love to listen to the BBC's world news and Alternative Radio on NPR which always have an interesting twist on what's going on in the world. At least compared to the god-awful local papers and news channels.

Posted by Katy | December 28, 2007 6:42 PM
25

Besides the Stranger and Daily Kos I listen to NPR for the AM drive and Randi Rhodes on the way home (she only sounds like a shrieking harpy...) I also like the Guardian and am proud of the fact that my great-grandfather wrote for it over a century ago. As for TV, the only news I trust is the CBC from Vancouver. Local news is basically some fire somewhere, the latest police chase or someone getting shot by some redneck in a bad neighborhood. I tune to KOMO 4 in the morning but only for the things actually relevant to me: the weather and how bad the traffic is on the 520 bridge.

The days are long gone when everyone in the country watched Walter Cronkite or Huntley/Brinkley whether they liked them or not. The information age has turned us all into select audiences. Lefties like myself have the Kos and Air America, righties have Faux News, Rush Limbaugh and 99% of all religious broadcasting. No wonder we are so polarized.

I admire those of you who can cross over to Drudge et al. without throwing up. Myself, they make me want to take a pill and lie down. I think of these yahoos putting one of their own into the White House and the people I voted for doing absolutely nothing to ITMFA or undo the damage he's done for the last seven years. Maybe 13 months from now I'll be able to look at their publications since I won't have to take these people seriously anymore.

Posted by RainMan | December 29, 2007 12:04 AM
26

I just recently moved back here from Iowa, and I still listen to the NPR station from the UofI. Sorry KUOW, no Talk of the Nation and no Science Friday means I won't listen. After that the NYT, then the PI, because I like to do the crossword. Then if I'm not working, CNN, or whatever nightly news is on in the evening. I read slog but more for editorial content, it's hard to take you guys seriously some times. I would say Colbert or Jon Stewart, or Conan, but I'm reluctant to watch them if the cross the picket line.

Posted by meteorcrashesintomarsonjan30th | December 29, 2007 1:17 AM
27

I hardly ever read any print news. I can't stand having the mountains of trash that a daily paper generates in my house. The one exception is the local alt weekly, The Austin Chronicle, which you might know from its sponsorship of SWSX. For some reason I always pick up a physical copy rather than read the website. They cover local news, arts and politics far better than any other source in town.

Other than that it is NPR and online. I read Salon, Slate, NY Times, Wonkette, and Slog.

I agree with the idea of The Daily Show being a news source, but I don't have it as part of my cable package so I just see it online occasionally.

Posted by Jim | December 30, 2007 5:44 AM

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