News Question

I am finally graduating college and I want to start keeping up with the elections (U.S.) and news etc. But one thing I have noticed is if you aren't up to date on news, it seems hard to catch up. For instance, I don't know that much about any of the candidates for the election, and there are always referrals to old news, and phrases referring to international news that I don't know much about. Is this something everyone deals with when attempting to get into news? It seems like it would be nice if there was a summary of events that have happened so someone could just jump into the news. Does anyone know anywhere that might have a summary of a lot of different news lately?

Also:

What news sites do you use?

I have started with

cnn.com
news.bbc.co.uk
nytimes.com
Wall Street Journal (Paper Version)

Thanks for any help.

Well you could try getting the news in style!

Go to your screensaver > RSS visualizer. The default will be BBC news, which is pretty good. Then just watch...

haha, thanks! I already have that saver as my default.

I have a Yahoo Widget Engine Widget called "Panther News Ticker" You can set it to the RSS news feed of you choice and then place it on your screen. Mine is at the top right below the toolbar and the news is always scrolling.

While I am not saying that they are biased, I would add Fox News to your list as well. Many folks don't like them but they often offer a counterpoint or different POV than CNN, NYT, BBC and other more "Liberal" new establishments. I also check out "The Drudge Report" daily (as do others here) for a more interesting look at the news. The key is to get as many points of view as you can to help you formulate a good opinion. Reading opinions that you may not agree with is good as it forces you to reexamine your own stance on an issue.

I use foxnews.com.

And even if you just want to learn more about a certain canadite, just search their name in Google. And if you don't know all of their names, just search "2008 political candidates".

I would suggest subscribing to Newsweek or Time and reading it religiously for a month or two. It will be difficult at first, but you will begin to get it at some point. Honestly, just jumping in is the only thing you CAN do. If there is something referred to that is not explained in the article, Google News can let you search internet news outlets. Just search the reference and read up on what was written when it was happening.

The subscriptions for those are pretty cheap, so it is not much of an investment. Weekly magazines are often more thought out and less 'BREAKING NEWS!', at the expense of it not being daily.

I had an old professor who used to say, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

Just start reading and learning. You'll have to learn how to filter out the BS from the actual important news. It'll be easier after that. For info on the candidates for next year, check out www.politifact.com or www.factcheck.org. Probably the best, non-bias, non-BS site with info on the candidates.

The LAST place you want to get facts on a candidate is from the candidates themselves. I urge everyone to do as I do and turn the channel when a political commercial comes on, even if you like the person in it.

EuphLlama said:

I use foxnews.com.

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By far one of the most biased, garbage news sites of them all.

Try BBC News or Reuters.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

http://www.reuters.com/

Alex

jdgti;

I won't give you my opinion because we all know what those are like - then again some may have not gotten the message...

What I will do is ask why a good ol' boy from Georgia isn't reading the Atlanta Journal Constitution on a daily basis? In case you haven't gotten the word, the paper is a highly respected news source. Otherwise (and yes I am somewhat biased), I might suggest something like the NBC Nightly News - a great source for daily world news. Btw; news magazines are okay, but I gather you are looking for sources to, as you put it, "catch up" with current events.

And as for the candidates themselves - keep in mind regardless of the fact, not all are what they appear to be -- you will learn what "promises & dreams" each believes in -- or let me rephrase -- would like YOU to believe in about them. I don't know about you, but this tells me a lot about a candidate. Some third party sources backing a certain party, would like you to believe that one is about "something new", while the other is about "experience". Here's a little news breaker - they're ALL "something new" and not one of them has "experience" in the job. It would appear that a majority of America is currently suffering with "Dancing With The Stars" fever. So again I suggest you not overlook the candidates own websites / blogs. One can only hope each of us will use common sense -- but it's not looking good. I digress.

Finally, you may be surprised to learn the news is not all good news. Good luck just the same.

I heard there is a site with a chart comparing the candidates' views on the different issues. I don't know it though.

The Economist, NPR, Bloomberg, and CNBC. All are great news sources.

EuphLlama said:

I use foxnews.com.

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Sorry, I laughed out loud in case no one heard. Not laughing at you EuphLlama, I watch Fox News on occasion. Most of the other replies were for more "unbiased" news outlets so Fox News stuck out like a sore thumb and I chuckled.

bryphotoguy said:

Sorry, I laughed out loud in case no one heard. Not laughing at you EuphLlama, I watch Fox News on occasion. Most of the other replies were for more "unbiased" news outlets so Fox News stuck out like a sore thumb and I chuckled.

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CNN and Fox are at opposite ends of the spectrum and both are biased. If you think Fox is biased and laughed but didn't laugh at anyone who recommended CNN, you need to think again.

baggss said:

CNN and Fox are at opposite ends of the spectrum and both are biased. If you think Fox is biased and laughed but didn't laugh at anyone who recommended CNN, you need to think again.

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I don't have cable so I am unfamiliar with CNN.

bryphotoguy said:

I don't have cable so I am unfamiliar with CNN.

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You do realize you have less than 2 years to upgrade from analog television, right?

bryphotoguy said:

I don't have cable so I am unfamiliar with CNN.

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Fair enough. I have heard people refer to CNN as the "Communist News Network" for their left leaning bias.

I have a Samsung 32" LCD hooked up to a set of rabbit ears. The 5 or 6 HD channels are enough during this time of the year and use Netflix more in the summer.