Just the Facts, Ma'am

[Note: This was originally posted several weeks ago, but has been updated since then to include more news sources.]

It often seems that traditional news networks and papers, sometimes referred to as "legacy media," have lost their reliability. Many have been compromised by political considerations. They may be owned by people or corporations with financial or ideological ties to special interests or a particular political party and its enablers, or they may simply have decided to "obey in advance." We are increasingly frustrated by their (apparently intentional) failure to report certain events and facts, while focusing obsessively on others.

Sometimes the best reporting on events within the U.S. comes from observers outside the U.S. It is also worth considering the growing body of "independent" journalists, some of whom have walked away from legacy media, others who have emerged from the world of podcasts and social media.

• The Guardian covers American and international news for an online, global audience.
• Al Jazeera was the first independent news channel in the Arab world
• Irish Star aspires to bridge the gap between Ireland and America
• BBC News, a public service broadcaster, established by a Royal Charter, and principally funded through the licence fee paid by UK households.
• University of Michigan Library Research Guides lets you search hundreds of international news sources simultaeously.
• The Contrarian is self-described as "unflinching journalism in support of democracy."
• Pro Publica offers investigative journalism in the public interest.
• Associated Press is widely considered unbiased in its reporting.
• NPR is an independent, nonprofit media organization.
• Military.com, daily news along with in-depth investigations on issues that impact the military community
• Stars and Stripes provides independent news and information to the U.S. military community from around the world.
• Media Matters is a web-based, not-for-profit,progressive research and information center dedicated to monitoring, analyzing, and correcting misinformation in the U.S. media.
• Democracy Docket is a digital news platform dedicated to information, analysis and opinion about voting rights and elections in the courts.
• C-Span shows U.S. government hearings and other events without adding opinions or interpretations.
• Allsides displays top news stories from Left, Center, and Right perspectives, and provides media bias ratings for over 1400 outlets and writers
• 1440 is a news digest attempting to focus on fact-based stories.
• The Tennesse Holler, a reader-supported digital site with the slogan "Always yell the truth."
• Le Monde is France's leading newspaper. It makes its website available in English
• Corriere della sera is a leading Italian newspaper.
• The Independent is a UK-based newspaper with a U.S. edition

Also, take a look at your town's local newspapers (if they still exist). Local papers often have an obvious political leaning, but can still be good sources for stories that are not well-reported elsewhere.

 

Thinking About Big Things

Illustration: "The March of Intellect"(1829), William Heath

We don't need "critical" thinking as much as we need just plain thinking. When a madman claims there is a giant faucet, so big that it takes a full day to turn the handle, and that faucet directs all the water of the Pacific Northwest to either flow naturally into the ocean or to be redirected to drought-plagued California, it shouldn't require any kind of fact-checking or research. All that is needed is thinking. Think about what the world is like, what water is like, how rivers and oceans function.

If you were tempted even for a second to believe in the magic faucet, some realistic thinking would snap you out of it. Unfortunately, we seem to be living among a population that doesn't know what the world is like or what water is like, doesn't know how rivers and oceans function, and - most of all - doesn't know how to think. Fifty, forty, even thirty years ago, if a guy like that had appeared on TV making a claim like that, people would have had a hearty laugh before changing the channel. The show would not have been renewed. A third-grader in 1955 (the year donald was in third grade) would have known immediately that the giant faucet claim was ludicrous.

Yet now, many adults seem unable to think clearly enough to understand the difference between reality and nonsense. So let's assume that the giant faucet story seems credible. Why have we never heard of it before? A faucet that could control the flow of mighty rivers would be a remarkable engineering feat. When was it built, and by whom? Was it part of the Public Works Administration in the 1930's? Why have we not seen any documentaries about it? Why is it not a famous tourist attraction? These are some of the questions a person capable of critical thinking might ask, questions a middle school student might ask. Yet no reporters have asked these questions. Surely, the vast majority of the White House press corps know that there is no magic faucet. They can easily make the truth known to the public by asking the obvious questions.

If fact-checking and research are deemed necessary, send an expedition to the headwaters of the Columbia River to look for the faucet. Spend some time in a library checking the newspaper archives and the encyclopedias for stories about the great faucet project. Ask a few hydraulic engineers if such a thing is possible. Today's "journalists" won't do that work, not even the relatively easy work of asking the person making the claim to provide supporting facts for the claim.

 

Things I Don't Write

This morning on the way to a fast-food breakfast I saw an apparently homeless man lying by the side of the road, passed out next to the plastic bag that held his extra-large beer can. I could have snapped his picture and then used it to illustrate a blog post about the problems of homelessness, alcoholism, or just the good fortune that last night's temperature in the Valley did not drop below freezing. But I just couldn't bring myself to take that picture. There are plenty of people who become prize-winning photo-journalists based on their willingness to exploit report on other people's misery. My distaste for doing that is doubtless one of the factors that doom me to blog obscurity. Oh well.