Savaged: Where Does a Liberal Find His News in an Ocean of Dreck?

By Chris Savage

[A2P Notes: Warren Liverance, who writes A2Politico’s new column “411 on the 313,” most recently wrote about where a conservative finds his news. To have a look at that piece, click here.]

When A2Politico’s editor Pat Lesko asked me to write about where I get my “news,” my first thought was, “Hah! She wants all my secrets!” Then, my second thought was, “Hmmm…where do I get my news?” Because, frankly, much of my news consumption has become somewhat routine; something into which I don’t put a great deal of thought.

The most basic answer to the question “Where do I get my news?” is “the Internet.” I have long ago given up on print media with the occasional exception of the Livingston County Press & Argus that is in our company lunchroom. But the Internet is, as some have called it, a million miles wide and two inches deep. In other words, you can get news slanted in any way that you wish and predigested into whatever form you wish. That doesn’t mean, however, that what you are digesting has any nutritional value.

As a blogger with a focus on Michigan, my first stops of the day are typically three sites: the Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press, and the very fine news blog of Michigan Radio.

I’d love to be able to say that Michigan’s two largest newspapers are putting out fantastic reporting that I can’t get anywhere else these days. Sadly, this has become less and less true. In fact, over the past year, the diminishing quality of these two sites has become rather frightening. While they have jazzed up their web sites to be more visually appealing, the content has gone in the other direction. If you are looking for sports news or for pictures of scantily clad women at high-society Detroit parties, you’ll be quite satisfied, I suppose. But, if you’re in search of hard-hitting journalism, that has become more and more scarce at these two flagship news outlets. What I find there is most frequently what I call “reporting by press release.” These days, most of what appears there as “news” seems to be simply a reprinting of information provided to them by various organizations through their press releases.

That said, I do occasionally come across news items on these sites, particularly pertaining to Detroit, that I don’t find elsewhere. If it’s something unique or breaking, I generally find out about it first through a text message from the paper on my smart phone. In addition to the two Detroit papers, I get alerts from the Lansing State Journal, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.

Most local Michigan news outlets these days are part of one of two media giants, Booth and Gannett. AnnArbor.com, for example, is part of Booth’s MLive Media Group. Gannett owns sites like the Detroit News and the Lansing State Journal. The MLive and Gannett sites and staff do considerable local reporting and I often land on their pages when searching for more information about a particular story. They are, however, rarely a starting point for me. They are clearly too understaffed to provide the in-depth reporting I’d like. Much of their Michigan government news appears to come, at least in part, from Michigan Information & Research Service (MIRS) and Gongwer whose content is available only by subscription.

Michigan Radio is a site that I am particularly fond of. At Michigan Radio, they are still doing true journalism. They have a great staff of reporters and the reporting there is far and away superior to what I can find elsewhere. Google news searches can then help to fill in any blanks on local stories if I’m looking for more.

Once I have the Michigan news o’ the day, I’m off to see what’s happening on the national level. For this, I rarely go to the big national media outlets. Rather, like my friend Warren, am more likely to go to an aggregator of news. In my case, with my penchant for a liberal analysis, I head to Daily Kos. Often disparaged by conservatives, Daily Kos is hands-down the most comprehensive site for news from around the country, provided mainly by citizen journalists. While there is much there that does not rise to the level of “excellent”, there is a great deal of information that does.

Daily Kos is divided into two sections. There is the obvious “front page” with stories are written by paid Daily Kos staffers. What makes Daily Kos so amazing, however, are the “diaries”; blog entries written by anyone who signs up for a free account. If people like a piece, they can “Recommend” it and posts that receive enough “Recs” go to the vaunted “Rec List.” Here is where Daily Kos shines, in my opinion. It’s fair to say that, without Daily Kos, much of what happens in this country that is important to liberals (and others!) would go unnoticed. Many writing careers have been launched at Daily Kos and I count my own among them. It’s a true community, as well, with people supporting each other in myriad ways. For example, a recent push for paid memberships resulted in $7,000 in donations from “Kossacks” who purchased lifetime subscriptions for worthy writers who could not afford one of their own.

Other sites that I enjoy that report on stories that don’t often make the mainstream sites are Talking Points Memo, Think Progress (a dreaded “Soros-funded” site), Politico, and Blogging for Michigan.

I should probably include Facebook as another source of news for me, as well. If the Internet as a whole is two inches deep, Facebook might only be a centimeter deep. Still, if the people you are Friends with on Facebook are new junkies like mine are, it can be a great way to learn about things around the world that you may never hear about otherwise. Plus, all those cats-playing-piano YouTube videos are a riot.

Finally, one other useful tool that I recommend to help sift through the million-mile-wide news & information highway is an iPad/iPhone/Android/Windows phone app called “Pulse News”. While it is only available to folks with one of these devices, it may very well change how you read your news, particularly on a tablet device. This almost magical app allows you to plug-in and aggregate your favorite news sites (any website, in fact) all in one place using a very intuitive and easy-to-use interface.

And, yes, Warren, that could include Pravda.

For more of Chris Savage’s writing, visit Eclectablog.