I’m not sure if anyone noticed but NYTimes’ quality has gone downhill for the past 2-3 years and why is there no dark mode on the app? WSJ looks good but there are issues with cancellation.
Edit: I am from Southeast Asia and got lots of family and relatives in the USA, so the obvious interest in Western and EU culture and politics.
I also decided I would never buy another subscription to a news site that also has advertising. In my perception, ads seem to be predictive of low quality journalism.
Most recently I've had an Economist subscription. I like them. They don't make canceling as easy as subscribing, and I do hold that against them, though they aren't as terrible as NYT.
But honestly, I let that subscription lapse and I don't buy any news right now. I actively avoid it, in fact. My sanity and happiness needed a break from the drip-drip-drip of negative stressful world events that I have exactly zero control over.
The podcast, Page 94, is also excellent [2] and is sparsely updated, but they do good things when it is. For an example of the "WTFBBQ" stories they cover, have a look at "The Snooty Fox" episode [3], which covers the rather horrid tale of a pub landlord who pissed off a council member by accidentally overcharging her, and ended up punitively investigated by the food standards people, bankrupted and quite literally imprisoned for several years. He finally secured justice after more than 20 years when the council authority ceased to exist (and its successor apologised hugely and unreservedly – his convictions were quashed and later counter-sued for £14m [4]).
One other thing – cancelling the subscription is trivial.
[1] https://www.private-eye.co.uk/ [2] https://www.private-eye.co.uk/podcast [3] https://www.private-eye.co.uk/podcast/68 [4] https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1547675/pub-landlord-the-s...
This article has single handedly ignited my interest in arts and paintings. This is just an example but in general what I find great about NYT is the way they do storytelling with mixture of interactive visualization and text-based news and facts.
- When they cover something I’m knowledgeable about, they get the facts right, so I trust them in other areas
- App lets me listen to the weekly edition read by humans
- Only comes out weekly (so no daily bullshit treadmill, and they have time to get things right)
- Genuinely useful and interesting info. Since I switched from NYT to the Economist it’s like I have supernatural powers to see into the future; nothing surprises me anymore. Recent issues where I knew what was coming months to weeks before others: COVID, post-COVID inflation, Ukraine
I listened to the podcasts for months before paying to subscribe, and the podcasts (The Intelligence and Economist Asks are favorites) cover some of the content of the weekly edition. If you like the podcasts, you’ll love the genuine article.
The Guardian is “intelligent” but is way too blatantly leftist, to get any sort of balanced information.
I've also had WP and NYT subscriptions, and I think these are fine choices. One thing, though: I found it quite difficult to cancel my NYT subscription. Subscriptions are like hash functions -- easy in one direction and hard in the other.
As far as quality of news, I'd echo the sentiment others have given that Wall Street Journal's factual reporting is stellar, but their opinion and editorial pieces leave a lot to be desired. I'd say the same about The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.
The Atlantic is decent for thoughtful editorials as can be The New Yorker, but honestly, you're just going to run into some sensationalism and knee-jerk, politically-motivated slant no matter what editorial/opinion sources you choose, so caveat emptor.
It is a weekly publication with good writers. Meaning: it is rarely, if ever, sensational, and covers prominent issues around the globe so I stay informed after about 60 minutes of reading. I still haven't figured out which way the editorial staff swings because they do a good job of keeping explicit bias out, but they seem to be left of center.
I also subscribe to The Atlantic. They are solid long-form reporting, but occasionally they get a really far-out article.
I used to get The Baffler, great out-of-the-box ideas, but the content was too depressing.
If you're worried about canceling and getting billed, put it on a credit card, and if you still get billed dispute the charge as "unauthorized" and block the merchant
- Los Angeles Times
- Chicago Tribune
- The Boston Globe
- San Francisco Chronicle
- Miami Herald
- Dallas Observer
- Houston Chronicle
- Denver Post
- Star TribuneExample: For an alternative view into US politics to some of the hopelessly biased mainstream platforms you could try Tangle, but that's just one unfortunately.
It would be nice if you could collate several of those sort together but I guess that's what the old style providers are still good at.
I like to stop by a news stand and pick up an Atlantic, or New Yorker from time to time, and whatever else seems interesting.
What do you hope to get out of it? You're absolutely right that the NYT has changed in recent years, but that change has been part of systemic shifts that have affected all of journalism as it existed before the internet.
For most outlets, "the news" is now substantially more infotainment and in-group sermonizing than it used to be. Buzzfeed-y clickbait and Facebook-y rageporn juice engagement numbers like little else. Competition for your attention online is fierce and, with access to alternatives at the click of a button, audiences have very little appetite to continue reading an outlet that publishes things they don't agree with.
Are you looking to stay abreast of conversational topics in certain social circles? Are you looking for high-quality information that will help you form more accurate predictions about the world? If so, what types of predictions are most important to you? Economic? Social? Political?
Do you like your facts presented in an editorialized fashion or do you want events to be reported without being nudged to feel one way or another about them? Do you just want a news source that provides fun stuff to read? Do you read the news because you're not very into sports and books are too long? (I've been there in life.) How important are polish and sleek UIs to you? Do you want to read content that goes down easy or do you want to survey a broad set of views on subjects to know what other people are thinking even if some of that makes you angry or confused?
This is maybe not quite what you're looking for, but I'd use this decision as an opportunity to step back and reflect on the bigger question of why you want a subscription to a news publication in the first place.
Once you have the answer to some of those questions, that should help narrow down your search.
If you're interested in some articles that further reflect on changes in the news, I'd recommend these two: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/its-all-just-displaceme... and https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-news-is-americas-new-relig...
I now subscribe to the WSJ. That way I can get the business and financial news I'm interested in by people who are educated in business and finance, rather than activism.
The only publication I'm aware of was Linux Journal back in the day, but it's gone now.
Otherwise, I lean towards non-profit news like NPR and local affiliates, ProPublica, The Markup, Grist. They all cost nothing, but monthly gifts are accepted.
It is... hard to do better.
I try to stick to the financial press since the financial press has an interest in objective facts at least some of the time, since its readers use the information to inform investment decisions. WSJ and Bloomberg. I had an FT subscription, which I think is much better than the previous two (especially for international news and commentary), but it's also quite pricey.
For global news: The Economist (simply the best!)
For Science news: National Geographic (more on photography and travel side), Scientific American (A little more hard science but especially good to keep up with space related scientific progress)
That said, if you still want to read the news and have access to an Apple device, why not consider Apple News+? It's just about the only news service I'm aware of where you can cancel your subscription without any hassle and you get multiple news sources to boot.
NYT, WSJ, Economist and all the other commonly-recommended news places are a hassle to cancel.
I also subscribe separately to NYT & Washington Post. All great options.
This has been said every year for my entire life. I would keep the NY Times, but also:
* The Financial Times is on the NY Times level IMHO, but far more expensive
* The Wall Street Journal is published by the same people behind Fox News. It's Fox News for the elite - framed in ways appealing to them, and trading on an old established brand. Same results, IME.
* The Economist can be fantastic in terms of knowledge gained / minute. It's ideologically free-market - applying that tool to every situation. And it's not actually journalism, it's analysis: They generally don't dig up stories, interview people, etc. They summarize and analyze.
* The Washington Post is nearly on the NYT level, IMHO.
* Maybe The Guardian?
That's it. Nothing else worth paying for (in English).
Here are the included publications: https://www.apple.com/apple-news/publications/
LWN.net is the only news subscription I can recommend without reservation, but of course it's not general news. :)
Now it’s just Caravan monthly, Outlook weekly (Indian magazines). Biblio (Indian book review magazine).
I only read printed news. It’d be nice to subscribe to a few (better) International printed magazines. The ones that really covers the globe.
For following the war in Ukraine, I used "TLDR Daily":
https://www.youtube.com/c/TLDRDaily
https://open.spotify.com/show/3yoF2Uwd1JQsErhBHnGQKD?si=pk3F...
If I had more time I’d do Financial Times as well.
Old people love it though - plus you can give it to someone else once your done!
Also when was the last time you read The Funnies?
Also, The Week is a well-edited digest of the best of U.S and international news sources, albeit with a U.S. liberal slant at times. And no ads, except maybe inside front & back covers.
I think that I enjoy The Atlantic and The New Yorker the most but Economist and NYT are more information dense.
I mostly read my news in print, offline, and don't bother with the apps except I do like the live coverage on NYT app.
The Washington Post is only $5/month if you're an Amazon Prime member.
Economist
NY Times (I disagree that it has gone downhill)
The New Yorker
I just have to find it in my tens of thousands of bookmarks. :(
I set up shell twitter accounts for each issue I'm interested in, follow all the relevant people, take a month or so to adjust by deleting irritating flame baiters and accumulate a few sharers of high quality information.
Twitter's algorithm recommends a bunch of similar content, but because I only follow one issue per twitter account, it's all (or mostly) on topic, without distractions.
Use web archive to get around paywalls, uBlock Origin to remove the irrelevant parts of the twitter web UI, and Video Speed Controller to quickly watch video content at 2, 3, or 4x speed.
This gives a quick, easy, and extremely effective way to scan important info on a topic. Since many "news" sites get their material from social media anyway, you just get the "news" a little earlier than everyone else by going to source. It's more cumbersome than Zite (remember that?), but very effective.
For this to work you must be ruthless about navigating around attention sinks (like worthless twitter squabbles).
For everything else I evade paywalls either using the bypass paywalls extension or some other method. I explicitly refuse to pay for the content because I want to see these businesses die, and consuming their content without giving them money is one way to help accelerate their demise.
We're in the scam stage of late stage capitalism, and between the climate crisis and the slow decline into populist fascism, our best hope as a species is degrowth.
Is theinformation.com really worth it for $33/month?
They seem to publish tech stories which do not appear anywhere else.
I think you'll get more in depth news by subscribing to politicised commentators, possibly on both sides of the spectrum.
You'll get way more focus on different details (of course to support their point of view) and you'll actually get to experience what newspapers felt like in the 90s, before they turned into left wing outrage and ad click machines.
I think this would help you understand where your values lie on any issue and will reduce polarization.
The Economist
The Guardian (voluntary)
Financial Times
Barron’s
WSJ
Cook’s Illustrated
NY Times
Bloomberg
I find each of them useful in their own way.
Pay the creators you want to keep creating and pirate the rest. I let you determine who to support. Use bypass paywalls extension or 12ft.io for the rest.
I doubt it is relevant for you, but I’ve been happy with the Japan Times.