Looking for a decent conservative news source.
July 4, 2015 11:36 AM Subscribe
My mother has fallen down the internet hole of terrible right wing political sites. Can somebody point me towards conservative news source that actually reports in good faith?
At this point, I don't even care if they have some ridiculous bias, as long as they attempt to have legitimate sources for their writing and base their opinions on events that have actually happened. I'm not even looking for high level discourse, either; I don't think that's what she wants. They can be totally clickbaity, as long as everything's not complete bullshit.
At this point, I don't even care if they have some ridiculous bias, as long as they attempt to have legitimate sources for their writing and base their opinions on events that have actually happened. I'm not even looking for high level discourse, either; I don't think that's what she wants. They can be totally clickbaity, as long as everything's not complete bullshit.
Will she read The Economist? Or is that too moderate for her?
posted by gingerbeer at 11:53 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by gingerbeer at 11:53 AM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Can you post what news sites she currently reads, to get a baseline?
Aside from that, BloombergView has a conservative bent, especially economically, but with actual journalists. I particularly like Megan Mcardle there. National Review runs the gamut, but Charles Cooke, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Reihan Salam are in my opinion even handed.
Pretty much any conservative news site you see will have a fringe element - that's just how conservatives are today. What's important is finding individual contributors that are not batshit crazy.
posted by permiechickie at 11:54 AM on July 4, 2015
Aside from that, BloombergView has a conservative bent, especially economically, but with actual journalists. I particularly like Megan Mcardle there. National Review runs the gamut, but Charles Cooke, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Reihan Salam are in my opinion even handed.
Pretty much any conservative news site you see will have a fringe element - that's just how conservatives are today. What's important is finding individual contributors that are not batshit crazy.
posted by permiechickie at 11:54 AM on July 4, 2015
The National Post, in Canada, has a conservative bent but as long as you avoid Christie Blatchford (she's the Frozen North Ann Coulter), the actual news is readable.
(And given that our version of conservative is basically centrist Dem in the USA, you might be able to start slipping some stuff under her radar...)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:17 PM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
(And given that our version of conservative is basically centrist Dem in the USA, you might be able to start slipping some stuff under her radar...)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:17 PM on July 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
I don't know if it counts as a "news source" for your mother's purposes, because it's more of an opinion and commentary site (which I guess is as close to "news" as one gets in the right-wing world), but when I want to know what non-mouth-breather conservatives think about stuff, I go to National Review Online.
Do they report in good faith? Again, they're not reporting per se, and no, they do not write in good faith. They are partisans in the class and culture wars.
But the writers tend to be smart people who present rational arguments for their points of view, as opposed to, say, the utter idiots, charlatans and weasels at Fox News.
posted by univac at 12:18 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Do they report in good faith? Again, they're not reporting per se, and no, they do not write in good faith. They are partisans in the class and culture wars.
But the writers tend to be smart people who present rational arguments for their points of view, as opposed to, say, the utter idiots, charlatans and weasels at Fox News.
posted by univac at 12:18 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Again, perhaps not a news source like what you're looking for, but The American Conservative is well-written and even-handed. And hey, it actually has "conservative" in the title, so.
posted by holborne at 12:28 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by holborne at 12:28 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I know she reads Townhall, and the last article she sent me was from Political Ears. Looks like rightwingnews.com and dailysignal.com are on her list, too. I sat down and addressed all the rampant half-truths in the Political Ears article she sent, and now she wants to know how she's supposed to fact check everything she reads, so I want to give her an example of somebody that's actually trying to do things right.
Maybe a "news source" isn't even what I'm looking for. What about a right wing version of Gawker? Something to scratch that moral indignation itch, with short articles and catchy headlines.
posted by redsparkler at 12:51 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Maybe a "news source" isn't even what I'm looking for. What about a right wing version of Gawker? Something to scratch that moral indignation itch, with short articles and catchy headlines.
posted by redsparkler at 12:51 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I'm also trying to give her some tools for analyzing what she reads. Like, if an article uses some kind of numbers to back up its claim, does it tell you where the numbers came from? If they quote someone, do they say when and where the quote originated from?
I know there's still plenty of ways to lie with actual numbers, but anything has got to be better than what she's reading right now.
posted by redsparkler at 12:56 PM on July 4, 2015
I know there's still plenty of ways to lie with actual numbers, but anything has got to be better than what she's reading right now.
posted by redsparkler at 12:56 PM on July 4, 2015
I would recommend she try out Politifact if she's looking to fact check, or just browse political information that's been fact-checked. My (formerly conservative) father loves it and ultimately, it's nonpartisan: the point of the site is to find and present the facts to back up what is true, partially true, or outright false.
posted by nightrecordings at 1:20 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by nightrecordings at 1:20 PM on July 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Are you sure she's actually going to the front pages of these sites and reading them, rather than just clicking on sensational headlines shared by friends on social media? I think the later is much more common, and if it is indeed how she's getting her news then fact-checking/critical thinking assistance will probably go a lot farther than recommendations for more-reputable news sources.
posted by contraption at 1:46 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by contraption at 1:46 PM on July 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
National Review (NRO) and the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal are the most prominent professional and edited mainstream conservative media sites.
TakiMag, Breitbart, American Conservative and Unz.com aggregate a variety of professional non-anonymous writers who are not conspiracy theorists but are definitely more out there ideologically than NRO or WSJ.
RedState, FreeRepublic and /r/Conservative are user-supplied content but strictly moderated and with an aggressive corps of realist commentators to slap down nutty ones. Topics and links are a pretty comprehensive digest of whatever conservatives care about on a given day and generally only legitimate news sources are linked.
Unz.com
posted by MattD at 2:03 PM on July 4, 2015
TakiMag, Breitbart, American Conservative and Unz.com aggregate a variety of professional non-anonymous writers who are not conspiracy theorists but are definitely more out there ideologically than NRO or WSJ.
RedState, FreeRepublic and /r/Conservative are user-supplied content but strictly moderated and with an aggressive corps of realist commentators to slap down nutty ones. Topics and links are a pretty comprehensive digest of whatever conservatives care about on a given day and generally only legitimate news sources are linked.
Unz.com
posted by MattD at 2:03 PM on July 4, 2015
FreeRepublic and realist in the same sentence is fucking hilarious. They're batshit insane and proud of it.
posted by trondant at 3:25 PM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by trondant at 3:25 PM on July 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
Another vote here for The American Conservative The main thrust of this publication is sensible conservatism. Not that I agree with it all, but you see little to no vitriol. It's thoughtful without being academic. Their foreign policy is very much anti-interventionist and stands unapologetically opposed to the neocons. Even when dealing with with social issues, it's almost always expressed in a tolerant fashion and many times presents all sides. Respectful is the word that comes to mind. Don't get me wrong, it's still a conservative website/magazine, but it's far away from the fringes.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 3:52 PM on July 4, 2015
posted by Gerard Sorme at 3:52 PM on July 4, 2015
What about a right wing version of Gawker? Something to scratch that moral indignation itch, with short articles and catchy headlines.
Sounds like a job for the Drudge Report. Current banner headline: HUMALIATION: PRESS LASSOED BY CLINTON AIDES AT EVENT
posted by Little Dawn at 4:01 PM on July 4, 2015
Sounds like a job for the Drudge Report. Current banner headline: HUMALIATION: PRESS LASSOED BY CLINTON AIDES AT EVENT
posted by Little Dawn at 4:01 PM on July 4, 2015
The Washington Times.
posted by Tanizaki at 5:02 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Tanizaki at 5:02 PM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think "The Federalist" is pretty sane, but maybe someone else won't agree.
What about a right wing version of Gawker? Something to scratch that moral indignation itch, with short articles and catchy headlines.
That would be Instapundit.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:00 PM on July 4, 2015
What about a right wing version of Gawker? Something to scratch that moral indignation itch, with short articles and catchy headlines.
That would be Instapundit.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:00 PM on July 4, 2015
National Review's blog, The Corner.
The Weekly Standard, the Daily Caller, Jewish World Review.
RealClearPolitics has opinions from across the spectrum, but it's generally right-leaning.
posted by John Cohen at 8:30 AM on July 5, 2015
The Weekly Standard, the Daily Caller, Jewish World Review.
RealClearPolitics has opinions from across the spectrum, but it's generally right-leaning.
posted by John Cohen at 8:30 AM on July 5, 2015
« Older A fancy meal, like revenge, best served cold | Questions about vacationing with kids in Columbia... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kschang at 11:44 AM on July 4, 2015