Unbiased news sources

Out-Of-Phase

Out-Of-Phase

Audioholic General
Does anyone have any favorite unbiased news sources?

The AllSides site as a guide is interesting. Another one I found is Media Bias/Fact Check.

Any other good ones?
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
The only news site that is truly unbiased is Audioholics.com. All other news sources are hopelessly corrupted!
 
rojo

rojo

Audioholic Samurai
theSkimm email newsletter, although patronizing and conspicuously lacking a Y chromosome at times, is admirably centrist -- indeed the least partisan news source of which I'm aware. When I had cable I also enjoyed the PBS News Hour, though I would regard them slightly left of center (though not nearly as left as MSNBC. Same for NPR, though they can go a little to the left of PBS. My Google RSS news feed to the west of my Android home screen is mostly tech stuff, but I have made an effort to tap "this content is useful" for articles on both sides of center -- CNBC, CNN, BBC, Huff Post, Fox News, WaPo, Breitbart... I'm making an effort to get out of my bubble, and Google seems to recognize and honor that. *shrug*
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
theSkimm email newsletter, although patronizing and conspicuously lacking a Y chromosome at times, is admirably centrist -- indeed the least partisan news source of which I'm aware. When I had cable I also enjoyed the PBS News Hour, though I would regard them slightly left of center (though not nearly as left as MSNBC. Same for NPR, though they can go a little to the left of PBS. My Google RSS news feed to the west of my Android home screen is mostly tech stuff, but I have made an effort to tap "this content is useful" for articles on both sides of center -- CNBC, Fox News, WaPo, Breitbart... I'm making an effort to get out of my bubble, and Google seems to recognize and honor that. *shrug*
The phrase "left of center" begs the question what is the center? In the USA, what is considered conservative has gone so far to the right that it has broke historical notions of the normal political spectrum. Modern american conservatism doesn't seem to have any principles beyond stifling progress of any kind. It has been stripped down to the naked id, to use Freudian terms, it is pure dumb animal instinct. It wasn't always like this; while I could never agree with conservative ideologies, they at least used to have a coherent platform. Now it is nothing more than reactionary emotions.
 
rojo

rojo

Audioholic Samurai
The phrase "left of center" begs the question what is the center? In the USA, what is considered conservative has gone so far to the right that it has broke historical notions of the normal political spectrum. Modern american conservatism doesn't seem to have any principles beyond stifling progress of any kind. It has been stripped down to the naked id, to use Freudian terms, it is pure dumb animal instinct. It wasn't always like this; while I could never agree with conservative ideologies, they at least used to have a coherent platform. Now it is nothing more than reactionary emotions.
Seems to me that now more than ever people invest their identities into their political beliefs. If anyone disagrees with their politics, they take it as an insult. This is true on both sides. It's more and more rare that people maintain an open mind and a willingness to concede that maybe they didn't know the whole story, and that their team may have messed up. Politics has become a spectator sport with unshakable loyalties and all-in investment of personal identity, and the rivalry is nuts.
 
John Parks

John Parks

Audioholic Samurai
The phrase "left of center" begs the question what is the center? In the USA, what is considered conservative has gone so far to the right that it has broke historical notions of the normal political spectrum. Modern american conservatism doesn't seem to have any principles beyond stifling progress of any kind. It has been stripped down to the naked id, to use Freudian terms, it is pure dumb animal instinct. It wasn't always like this; while I could never agree with conservative ideologies, they at least used to have a coherent platform. Now it is nothing more than reactionary emotions.
If one were to replace the words "conservative" or "conservatism" with "liberal" or "liberalism" in your post, one could easily describe the opinion of a conservative regarding liberals. The great "divide" in this country is perpetuated, reinforced and encouraged by news outlets (right or left) and social media. I believe @rojo had a great answer and is something I try to do myself as it is too easy to glom onto an entity that reflects and encourages my own political leanings and could blind me to the fact that I am not getting "the whole story". I really enjoy BBC news - maybe it's because of their soothing accents as they recount the latest catastrophe. ;)
 
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John Parks

John Parks

Audioholic Samurai
Seems to me that now more than ever people invest their identities into their political beliefs. If anyone disagrees with their politics, they take it as an insult. This is true on both sides. It's more and more rare that people maintain an open mind and a willingness to concede that maybe they didn't know the whole story, and that their team may have messed up. Politics has become a spectator sport with unshakable loyalties and all-in investment of personal identity, and the rivalry is nuts.
Good answer.
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
If one were to replace the words "conservative" or "conservatism" with "liberal" or "liberalism" in your post, one could easily describe the opinion of a conservative regarding liberals.
I just don't believe that. Compare the conservative ideologies of the USA to anywhere else in the developed world. By comparison, American conservatives are extremely far to the right. Their nationalism has driven them to outright unintelligibility. Remember when Republicans were at least for free market trade? There is at least some reasoning for the merit of that idea, whether you agree with it or not. Now it has been replaced with the most bone-headed nationalism. It's as if an entire political party had incurred dementia all at the same time. And the convolutions these people make to protect a very obviously corrupt president! Remember when American conservatives used to consider Russia an adversary? Russia launches a direct attack on our democratic process, and they are fine with it, even when it clearly makes the American president a subordinate to Russian interests. This is not the Republican party of yesteryear. Republicans of yore had some principles at least, and while you might not agree with their policies, it was at least plausible that they had the country's best interests and well-being at heart.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
I just don't believe that. Compare the conservative ideologies of the USA to anywhere else in the developed world. By comparison, American conservatives are extremely far to the right. Their nationalism has driven them to outright unintelligibility. Remember when Republicans were at least for free market trade? There is at least some reasoning for the merit of that idea, whether you agree with it or not. Now it has been replaced with the most bone-headed nationalism. It's as if an entire political party had incurred dementia all at the same time. And the convolutions these people make to protect a very obviously corrupt president! Remember when American conservatives used to consider Russia an adversary? Russia launches a direct attack on our democratic process, and they are fine with it, even when it clearly makes the American president a subordinate to Russian interests. This is not the Republican party of yesteryear. Republicans of yore had some principles at least, and while you might not agree with their policies, it was at least plausible that they had the country's best interests and well-being at heart.
It is mind boggling how most Republicans have become complacent with what is happening in their party today under Trump. Only a select vocal few are speaking out but they are either winding down their careers or are not very influential in their party. This really isn't about party anymore. If a Democrat was doing what Trump is doing, I'd call him out on it. Of course the Dems lack the ability to unify even behind good policy so it's unlikely ever to occur on their side. One side is ruthless and corrupt, the other side is spineless. We are screwed!
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
It is mind boggling how most Republicans have become complacent with what is happening in their party today under Trump. Only a select vocal few are speaking out but they are either winding down their careers or are not very influential in their party. This really isn't about party anymore. If a Democrat was doing what Trump is doing, I'd call him out on it. Of course the Dems lack the ability to unify even behind good policy so it's unlikely ever to occur on their side. One side is ruthless and corrupt, the other side is spineless. We are screwed!
There are a lot of single issue voters in Trump's base. I can't tell whether he believes what he says, but he does deliver to these single issue voters. Whether it's a pro-life Supreme Court, no gun controls, immigration controls, or praying in the Oval Office with Evangelicals, Trump delivers like few other Presidents have. The man's got a 90% approval rating with his base. That's amazing.

The Republicans really lost me because they've become the anti-science party. How can someone not believe science works and fly in an airplane? How can someone not believe that evolution is real and take antibiotics when they get an infection? How can anyone think that quantum mechanics isn't real and then get an MRI to diagnose their back pain? Oh yeah, but make sure that nuclear weapons stockpile still works!

Personally, I feel like a man without a party. The Bernie Sanders socialist crap gaining traction in Democratic party makes me want to puke. Every time I hear that zero-sum view of the economy I feel like pulling out Atlas Shrugged and reading it again. ;-)
 
rojo

rojo

Audioholic Samurai
James, Gene, you guys are not wrong. But I'm not sure you fully understand your adversary. When you speak of the GOP as being ruthless and corrupt, what you say in admonition is received by the right with pride and triumph, as well as scorn for the defeated bleeding heart liberals. As personally invested as people are in their beliefs, it's going to take something other than identifying the other party's faults to heal the rift. And that's what the Democratic party is lacking, is a strong message and a ruthless network with which to deploy it.

Right or not, Repubs have borders to secure, jobs to bring back from overseas, taxes to cut, zygotes to save, guns to hoard, and a child sex trading, nuclear materials selling, Benghazi botching grandmother to lock up. They have a clear message that resonates with the commoners. They have angry people feigning righteous indignation at conspiracies on Fox & Friends, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Breitbart, and so on, wall-to-damn-wall, and they use small words and endless repetition to preach their propaganda. They even have your rural relatives forwarding conspiracy emails reinforcing this network. What do the Dems have? Rachel Maddow? Amy Goodman? Michael Moore? Celebs at awards shows? They're all either not righteously angry enough, neutered by ridicule from the Right, or too whiny to sway any Fox News fans. And the Dems' unified messages of "the other side cheated", "stop mistreating brown people", and "yeah, but what if we're right about science" just come across as sour grapes.

Honestly, I have no idea how to fix this. I'll just keep voting for the centrists and keep watching my votes cancelled by the truckers and the ladies in mumus.
 
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John Parks

John Parks

Audioholic Samurai
Sorry; I meant to post this earlier... :p

1530589614841.png


And of course, the OP is sitting back like...

1530590613875.png
 
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panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
Wow....um...anybody watch Vice news tonight? Not literally tonight, but that's the name of the program.

Or maybe some of you are like me and get news from John Oliver...

In all honesty I can't watch most news. Bias and opinion have no place in honest reporting. Tell me what happened, not what you think about what happened. I can't be the only person that couldn't possibly care less what anyone's opinion is. Much less than what should be a source of factual imformation.
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Wow....um...anybody watch Vice news tonight? Not literally tonight, but that's the name of the program.

Or maybe some of you are like me and get news from John Oliver...

In all honesty I can't watch most news. Bias and opinion have no place in honest reporting. Tell me what happened, not what you think about what happened. I can't be the only person that couldn't possibly care less what anyone's opinion is. Much less than what should be a source of factual imformation.
One problem about that is totally unbiased reporting is impossible. Newspapers HAVE to make editorial decisions about what constitutes 'newsworthy' and that necessarily involves opinion. Pure objectivity is impossible and would probably be unreadable if it even could be done. I would say the proper way to do it is to make your editorial biases clear and try to convey as honest and lucid interpretation of events as possible in that light.
 
Out-Of-Phase

Out-Of-Phase

Audioholic General
I find C-SPAN to be very informative and somewhat neutral.
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
I think the biggest challenges the Republicans have are Trump's trade actions. An important faction of his support base is agriculture, and farmers are taking it on the chin with retaliatory tariffs. So are factory workers, another key group. I doubt too many Harley-Davidson or Brown-Forman workers are happy with Trump at this juncture. GM and Ford workers may be the next people on his "What the hell are you doing?" list. All of the German car manufacturers with factories in the US are in red states, so I'm assuming members of Congress from those states aren't aligned with the President either. I wonder if his base will stay so loyal once important groups in his base lose fractions of their overseas markets to retaliatory tariffs? I doubt it; financial considerations are not like guns and courts.
 
Out-Of-Phase

Out-Of-Phase

Audioholic General
I'm not sure how accurate this list is for 'least biased', but I've been using it at times as a guide.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/center/

1. Biased Wording/Headlines- Does the source use loaded words to convey emotion to sway the reader. Do headlines match the story.

2. Factual/Sourcing- Does the source report factually and back up claims with well sourced evidence.

3. Story Choices: Does the source report news from both sides or do they only publish one side.

4. Political Affiliation: How strongly does the source endorse a particular political ideology? In other words how extreme are their views. (This can be rather subjective)
 
P

pewternhrata

Audioholic Chief
One problem about that is totally unbiased reporting is impossible. Newspapers HAVE to make editorial decisions about what constitutes 'newsworthy' and that necessarily involves opinion. Pure objectivity is impossible and would probably be unreadable if it even could be done. I would say the proper way to do it is to make your editorial biases clear and try to convey as honest and lucid interpretation of events as possible in that light.
While I agree with you, i will add. Remember the 'animals' quote about ms13 for example? It's one thing to sway on side or the other, but this isn't even close. It's stupid reports like those that push me more to the right. Heres and idea, Report on the interview, boom, news story, ok so you want to spin it left or right - awesome. But nope, dems (not all of them, so dont dont be too quick to get offended, unless its true) are gonna turn it into what it's not, all so they have something to whine about.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
While I agree with you, i will add. Remember the 'animals' quote about ms13 for example? It's one thing to sway on side or the other, but this isn't even close. It's stupid reports like those that push me more to the right. Heres and idea, Report on the interview, boom, news story, ok so you want to spin it left or right - awesome. But nope, dems (not all of them, so dont dont be too quick to get offended, unless its true) are gonna turn it into what it's not, all so they have something to whine about.
Harvard released a report about parades- they concluded that 4th of July parades are Right Wing and it's bad to be patriotic.

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/06/30/harvard-july-4th-parades-are-right-wing

https://epod.cid.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2018-02/shaping_the_nation-_the_effect_of_fourth_of_july_on_political_preferences_and_behavior_in_the_united_states.pdf

Personally, I think a bit of national pride would be a good thing- too many people who don't give a rat's ass running at the mouth are getting their way because they hate what they were taught to hate.

This link comes from a conservative source, but the points about the worst offenders are true- the Right is being accused of being Nazis, yet there's nothing in what's happening that approaches the horrors of WWII.

https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/craig-shirley/why-are-liberals-so-violent
 
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