World News
Recently I've decided that I don't want to be as ignorant about world events as I have been, well, my entire life.
In an effort to educate myself, I've bookmarked the BBC world news website and the ABC World News Webcast.
I also discovered something called a "reader" in my gmail/google account. Basically, you can put in RSS feeds and the reader will allow you to view/read/listen to the feeds without downloading them to your computer (a disadvantage, I have found, to iTunes). I've of course added the BBC world news recap.
Tonight when I got home from work, I decided I would give the BBC audio feed a shot. I settled down by my computer for a good 25 minute listen, but alas fell asleep after about 13 minutes. I did manage to stay awake for the part about the Darfur peace negotiations, so even though I only got half of the information, I'm feeling better about my ignorance already.
Many of you have been long time followers of the news, and I would welcome any insight you have on good webpages, blogs or whatever about current events. I am not too keen on suggestions such as "cnn.com" or "The New York Times" because I often find myself seriously distracted by fluffy sections of the newspaper such as science and space and real estate, and I never even get to the important stories (the front page is flooded with them, but which one do I click?).
I would, however, be very interested in hearing about good summary types of pages (what's important that I need to know about in a condensed format), or audio/visual news broadcasts (because sound and video are simply more exciting than a bunch of plain text). I'm really in love with the google reader, so RSS feeds would be fantastic!
posted by Meghan @ 5:45 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
honestly, I read mostly fluff on the nytimes website too. npr keeps me informed. basically, it's my background noise. I wake up to it on my alarm clock in the morning, I listen to it during my commute, and I fall asleep to it at night. the information sort of makes it into my head through osmosis. I think I listen to npr in the same way that you listen to songs on iTunes or used to have DVDs playing in the background during college. maybe you could make an effort to have, like, all things considered on when you're cooking dinner each night. they have plenty of fluff pieces to keep you interested, and the rest of the news sort of slips in there at the same time.
my other tip is to start reading lots of op eds and political blogs. people can write a lot more engagingly about a subject when they take a side. and if you find someone's opinion interesting, you can go back and search for less biased sources on the same topic. in the nytimes, I think tom friedman and david brooks are both good op ed writers. (haha, I can't believe I'm recommending a republican, but seriously, I think you'd like david brooks.) I also love nick kristof at the times, but he's on sabbatical right now. I'm mildly obsessed with the econ blogs, and I think you'd like the freakonomics blog and probably at least 50% of the posts on marginalrevolution (some of them are a little econ terminology heavy and I don't have a clue what they're talking about. the rest are pretty fascinating.) a lot of blogs on the atlantic are pretty good (andrew sullivan, megan mcardle. yes, more conservatives/libertarians. but I think you'd like them too. I actually think you'd share a lot of sensibilities with andrew sullivan.) and if you're into sarcastic gossip about the news, wonkette is fun. start with 1 or 2 blogs you like, keep up with them, and start following links to other blogs they link to. eventually you might become a news junkie.
okay, that was a lot. but what can I say? I *am* a news junkie.
Awesome suggestions - thanks so much! This will keep me busy for days. :-)
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