Where do you read all about it?

June 27, 2005 3:12 PM

What online sites are good for news on the US. I currently read CNN, and look through GoogleNews. But where do other Mefites go online to find their news. Political commentary sites are very welcome. Please and thank you.
posted by FunkyHelix to Society & Culture (15 answers total)

I've been reading The Christian Science Monitor for years. No, really. It doesn't rely on newswire services like AP or Reuters. I find it thoughtful and well-balanced (perhaps a bit left-leaning).
posted by driveler at 3:18 PM on June 27, 2005

BBC Online. They generally have a pretty balanced political opinion, and don't print a lot of the crappy US celebrity news that you see so much of on CNN.com.
posted by muddgirl at 3:27 PM on June 27, 2005

The New York Times likes to think of itself as the newspaper of record. The Washington Post and the LA Times are also good. There are many other quality newspaper sites as well. If you prefer to listen to your news, PublicRadioFan.com will take you right to tons and tons of streaming broadcasts from public radio stations, most of them American but some international English language stations.

For punditry, I like Andrew Sullivan (though he is quite widely hated here) and Slate Magazine (though actually it has been kind of boring of late).

Finally, Arts and Letters Daily is indispensable. It is an aggregator of thoughtful essays, new stories, and reviews.

Good question! I look forward to seeing what other MeFites are reading.
posted by LarryC at 3:31 PM on June 27, 2005

For all things geopolitical I enjoy Spotlight on Military News and International Affairs. Scroll down a little bit past the Canadian news and commentary to get to the International News and commentary, of which a great deal involves the USA.

I also second the Christian Science Monitor.
posted by furtive at 4:09 PM on June 27, 2005

Slate Today's Papers (via email subscription).

Christian Science Monitor Terrorism & Security Daily Update (via email subscription).

Cursor

Romenesko

White House Briefing

War and Piece

Daypop

Blogdex

among others.
posted by mlis at 4:49 PM on June 27, 2005

WikiNews from the people that brought you Wikipedia and Wiktionary. It's not that extensive at the moment, but hey, you can always add a story. It also seems to rely heavily on online news sources. But there is a lot of variety there, for the comparatively sparse content.

Anyway, I'm giving it a go :-)
posted by ajp at 5:52 PM on June 27, 2005

memeorandum is a good site that lists the top (typically US news) stories being chatted about by a mix of left and right blogs.
posted by extrabox at 6:49 PM on June 27, 2005

I always thought Salon had some good stuff.
posted by Staggering Jack at 7:53 PM on June 27, 2005

I second Romanesko. Also, the International Herald Tribune (it's an NYTimes Paper, but I would expect it to be a little more centrist).
posted by autojack at 9:05 PM on June 27, 2005

Findory, as a news and blog aggregator that learns your tastes the more you click.

I've been reading Arts & Letters Daily for .. six or seven years at least, but recently I've found it to be just a little bit too right-leaning, so I was planning on not reading it anymore. You may have a different take, and if you do, it's (as mentioned above) indispensable for how well it does what it does.
posted by Hildago at 9:22 PM on June 27, 2005

Alternet (Indy)
In These Times (Indy)
Political Theory Daily Review (Aggregator)
Independent (UK)
Guardian (UK)
FreshNews (Tech aggregator)
SciTech Daily (Like Arts & Letters Daily - Sci aggregator)
International Herald Tribune
Der Spiegel
But I still think GoogleNews is a good place to scan
posted by peacay at 9:29 PM on June 27, 2005

Oh and Global Voices Online is a good blog roundup of news discussed in lower profile countries.
posted by peacay at 9:32 PM on June 27, 2005

ps. I should have read the question again. I overanswered. oops.
posted by peacay at 10:34 PM on June 27, 2005

If you're left-leaning, Talking Points Memo is an excellent blog that provides incisive analysis and commentary.
posted by randomstriker at 11:26 PM on June 27, 2005

I second Salon - independent journalism. You can read it for free for each day if you watch one brief ad (20 seconds?). lots of interesting stuff.
posted by judybxxx at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2005