We have finally cut the cord, ending our YouTubeTV subscription. The fight over live baseball plus our unhappiness with the news options was the final nail in the coffin for my wife.

So we have quite a bit of $$ now unspent - part of our decision was to now $$ directly to support news rather than pay indirectly via a bundler (we've have DirectTVNow, SlingTv and YouTubeTV). Where to support?

1) PBS, a no-brainer. We do this already, we will likely double.

2) NPRx2, since we listen to so many of their podcasts.

Other options would be: Washington Post, NYT, The Atlantic. We already have a local newspaper subscription (that we hardly ever use).

Share the best, I want to be sure to get quality - would be good to cover the political spectrum. So where are there good, non-'liberal' points of view?

TIA!

Rather than assume there’s a recipe everyone “should” do, I was going to suggest something very much like what you’re doing:

1) support local news
2) support national news
3) support them in that order!! (but see below because I’m dragging my feet)

I’ve had a WaPo subscription since um, later 2016 and recently the wife picked up NYT. The local idea is so that you get state news from whatever the major newspaper is in the nearest metro area. I’ve hesitated there because in many ways The Tennessean is already a lost cause, slathered as it is from USA Today ownership. Where I’m seeing interested coverage for TN is from some small outfits and you have to seek them out in your area.

There’s a husband-wife duo (Tennessee Holler) [www.knoxtntoday.com] / [tnholler.com] and something with legit journalistic cred would be Tennessee Lookout, [tennesseelookout.com]#

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The problem with using national sources like NYT or WaPo for local stuff is that it’s always a late summary of course. I have seen some good breaking or exclusive news from the Nashville TV stations but only online since I don’t have an antenna that’s gonna pick up that far away. Since a lot of that can be Sinclair owned be careful.

I probably should consider something in Bowling Green, KY since they’re the same distance. For national I’m strongly considering adding The Atlantic.

There are others work considering. The Root, and Bulwark perhaps.

See where your comfort lies

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

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Ombligo
See where your comfort lies

The problem is I know little about the right - and what I am exposed to, I would not pay.

EDIT: I now realize that may go-to daily news is the BBC, and I see why!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2021 09:16PM by sekker.

The Washington Post has been consistently cheapest for me.

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vision63
The Washington Post has been consistently cheapest for me.

They're all available through your LAPL account.

I get the WaPo online.

I like Bulwark a lot. It's conservative but not mouth-breathing-right-wing, and only once in a while do I find one of their articles irritating me. Since I get most of my news from BBC, PBS, and npr, I find WaPo combined with Bulwark give me a bit wider slant on things. I am dying for the Tribune to sell the SUN to the local group who is trying to buy it because right now the SUN isn't even worth lining a bird cage with.

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i do NPR, WaPo, and the NYT. the last two i always look for deals. would like to pick up The Atlantic but i’ve not come across a deal. i don’t do the Atlanta Journal Constitution because even after 27 years i can’t quite admit i live here.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Apple News +

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The arts are not luxuries but assets that give way more than they cost.
--Ronald Tucker on YouTube

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.
--Frank Zappa

I currently hold digital subscriptions for the WaPo and NYT, since I think they have the inclination and staff to do serious national investigative reporting. I also have a digital subscription to Consumers Reports, since I’ve long liked their model. Honestly, I’m not sure about that one tho - it may be nostalgia as much as anything.

I also hold regular dead-tree subscriptions to one of the dailies here in MSP, and the weekly suburban local (which you can get for free, but they welcome subscriptions). Even though the daily is the “conservative” one of the two dailies here, it’s from our side of town, and it’s not New York Post/Washington Times looney. I do so cause I think it’s important to have some viable local papers too.

(Also MPR and TPT, the local public radio and TV).

All told I probably spend not much more than my Netflix subscription, which keeps going up, and which I use a lot less.

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graylocks
i do NPR, WaPo, and the NYT. the last two i always look for deals. would like to pick up The Atlantic but i’ve not come across a deal. i don’t do the Atlanta Journal Constitution because even after 27 years i can’t quite admit i live here.

Same, I never truly clicked with Atlanta but there's an awful lot to like about it. About 16 years for me. Of course, any place is what you make of it.

I think the only AJC copy I brought home from work was Obama's election. I'd read all of today's paper the night before while working in Archives. I'd get home by 4am, crack open a beer and sleep til noon if I could.

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sekker
The problem is I know little about the right - and what I am exposed to, I would not pay.

I'd wager that with something fairly centrist you're gonna be presented "all sides" that aren't inherently crackpot. I don't think the goal is to be conversant in extremism in either direction, but to recognize it.

Poynter agrees. Bias is inherent, but transparency about bias is what builds credibility. [www.poynter.org]

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graylocks
i do NPR, WaPo, and the NYT. the last two i always look for deals. would like to pick up The Atlantic but i’ve not come across a deal. i don’t do the Atlanta Journal Constitution because even after 27 years i can’t quite admit i live here.

I seem to be able to read whatever I want on the AJC site. I'm a big fan of former AJC business reporter Maria Saporta's site: [saportareport.com]

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RgrF

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vision63
The Washington Post has been consistently cheapest for me.

They're all available through your LAPL account.

Sounds like I haven't adequately issued the smack down on some thread we participated in.

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Sam3
Apple News +

This is an interesting option I have not thought of. I'd like to sample more than I currently do, and I think AN+ offers some info like WSJ that I will not likely pay full-price.

PS My wife and I like Consumer Reports - for the data. We are less-than-fond of some of their final recommendations. But that's fine, once you realize you can read their data yourself. Our current and AWESOME Bosch dishwasher is not super popular with CR since it does not dry the dishes as well as some other competitors. But it got a top score of cleaning and quiet, and excellent reliability. We are fine with the 'limitation' that some of the clean dishes are a little damp. Similarly, we've had major issues with them over auto recommendations vs data when we owned a Saturn - a car that had excellent reliability (and user-friendly to fix) - but was not a Toyota; CR would regularly state 'we have no idea why Saturn owners are so satisfied'. Follow the numbers at CR (reliability, user-fixable parts, etc, was all there). But we might end their support if they keep up their irrational issues with the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. Plenty of legitimate potential concerns with a modern Tesla, but the single, central screen console isn't one that owners have, only CR reporters...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2021 12:45PM by sekker.

CR is a good example of needing to align your priorities with the publisher’s. For example I’d never go to CR for vehicle advice because they consider them to be soulless appliances.

These folks are amazing, and I highly recommend them.

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Ombligo
See where your comfort lies

They need to shift NPR to the left a little bit more.

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C(-)ris
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Throwback Thursday Signature:

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C(-)ris

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Ombligo
See where your comfort lies

They need to shift NPR to the left a little bit more.

Some hardcore progressives will tell you that NPR is a corporate @#$%&.

It's all perspective.

I like the Economist a lot, but it's so costly. I wish they would have an online subscription that allowed like 15 or 20 articles per month, for less than a full subscription. Had got the physical magazine sub for awhile, and it was overwhelming trying to keep up with it.

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kj
I like the Economist a lot, but it's so costly. I wish they would have an online subscription that allowed like 15 or 20 articles per month, for less than a full subscription. Had got the physical magazine sub for awhile, and it was overwhelming trying to keep up with it.

See if you can read it via your local library.

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$tevie

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kj
I like the Economist a lot, but it's so costly. I wish they would have an online subscription that allowed like 15 or 20 articles per month, for less than a full subscription. Had got the physical magazine sub for awhile, and it was overwhelming trying to keep up with it.

See if you can read it via your local library.

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RgrF

They're all available through your LAPL account.

LAPL = ?

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SKYLANE

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RgrF

They're all available through your LAPL account.

LAPL = ?

In Vision's case Los Angeles Public Library, most other large public libraries have a similar structure. As N-OS X-tasy mentioned in another thread Firefox + Bypass Paywalls extension is another alternative