Where to find news with the least amount of bias??

[StacyT]

I am just wondering what people consider to be a good unbiased source of news? I'm usually not a "conspiracy theorist" or anything but I just feel that something big is going to happen in the US soon (martial law, and the collapse of the US dollar), and I would like to prepare and stay informed without freaking out.

Are there any non-mainstream news sources you there that you really trust? Is anyone stocking up on canned foods and barrels of flour, or am I just thinking crazy?

[Eric Roosevelt]

Look no further.

Home | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

[Brutha]

The idea of searching for a source of news without bias is an unrealistic one. Every human has his own views and therefore a different perspective.

The idea of bias less news is the idea of news without ideas that get expressed by writers.
That's unrealistic because writers do have ideas and those ideas are part of what makes them worth reading.
Otherwise you can go straight to the statistical yearbook with is full of "pure" facts but doesn't contain many ideas.

[David Cain]

I second the Onion.

[StacyT]

I know that there will be no completely unbiased news...I guess what I'm really looking for is news that is trustworthy but maybe not reported at the national level.

OK, but what I am REALLY looking for is someone to tell me "Will there be martial law instituted in America, and if so, when?" Because certainly the national news isn't going to report on something like that until it's too late.

The Onion does crack me up, though. Maybe I will just stick to reading that.

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by StacyT

OK, but what I am REALLY looking for is someone to tell me "Will there be martial law instituted in America, and if so, when?" Because certainly the national news isn't going to report on something like that until it's too late.

How would anyone know if this was coming? Also, note this would be very regional. It wouldn't be across the entire US, just some parts.

[WanderingOak]

Offhand, I would say that NPR is one of the least biased sources out there. They do lean a bit to the left, but they usually try to interview people on both sides of the issues.

[StacyT]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

How would anyone know if this was coming? Also, note this would be very regional. It wouldn't be across the entire US, just some parts.

You're right, nobody would know it was coming. I'm just looking for answers but I realize there aren't any.

What types of regions do you think would be affected? Cities? Border areas? Just random areas where people start up a mass hysteria?

I've been thinking for a while now about building a cabin and living off the land away from suburbia just for this reason. It would be nice if we didn't have the concept of "owning land" and we could just set up somewhere and make a garden and whatnot.

Instead, you have to buy the land and then get taxed on it every year for the rest of your life. *Sigh*

[schola]

Originally Posted by Brutha

The idea of searching for a source of news without bias is an unrealistic one. Every human has his own views and therefore a different perspective.

The idea of bias less news is the idea of news without ideas that get expressed by writers.
That's unrealistic because writers do have ideas and those ideas are part of what makes them worth reading.
Otherwise you can go straight to the statistical yearbook with is full of "pure" facts but doesn't contain many ideas.

Yeah I agree. Unbiased news is a myth. You're better off reading a variety of different news sources to get different perspectives rather than trying to find one reliable source. I like libertarian and anti-establishment blogs and news sites because they're beyond corporate and government influence.
Here are a few sites I read from time to time:
Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
Chris Martenson | Information on the global economy, environment, and our energy challenges. Real estate, oil, community, homes, money.
LewRockwell.com

[aelle]

As others said, biased news don't exist.

I like to do a couple of things to put the news in perspective.
The first one is to get them from a variety of sources, with a variety of "biases". I read international press reviews, for example: they tend to lift a lot of cultural and governmental filter, or make them stand out by comparison. Start by getting news from Fox, CNN, BBC UK and Al Jazeera and you'll have a clearer idea of what's really going on in the world.
The second thing I like to do is discuss pieces of news with other well-informed people, who are capable of critical thought, know how to put together an argumented piece of writing and back up their sources (some forums and blogs are great for that, but real life friends is best). Tv and newspapers give you at best a snapshot of a situation that's very easy to distort, while the perspective of real-life testimonies, specialists and scholars, and the habit of argumentative and critical thinking will give you in-depth understanding and will make you more immune to facts manipulation.

[garentee]

Christian Science Monitor is a good choice although they have severely cut back their news operations..A good collection of world news sites is found on worldpress.org That organization has been around for a long time(at least since I was a kid which I guess was not that long ago...)

[vMike]

The onion is a pretty good source

I find wikipedia to be the least biased: since it's written and edited many times by many editors, eventually what stays are likely to be plain facts

Good News Network also

[Nasir]

NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts

BBC - Homepage

Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

[StacyT]

Thanks everyone for the great replies! There are a lot of sources here that I'd never heard of. I don't normally watch or read the news because it can get pretty depressing, (especially the local news, where newscasters smile and sing as they talk about local tragedies) but I would like to be informed.

I guess you just have to take it all with a grain of salt.

[liamona]

I get the RSS feed for Signs of the Times. It posts regular and alternative news sources, often with comments from the editors.

I like to read what George Ure posts every day too:

UrbanSurvival.com Daily News Update

Sometimes I'll take a look at Alex Jones or Jeff Rense or WhatReallyHappened.com, but I try not to for too long, because they are so depressing.

[ballhit2]

Russia Today does a pretty decent job of having western-style news with what I'd call subtle counter-bias rather than none at all; they have a youtube account you can easily find. It's not in Russian.

[funchy]

I also like NPR and BBC for TV & radio news. I also like the idea of getting at least some of the news from global sources. I can't speak for other countries but US news tends to be extremely american-centric, as if the rest of the world doesn't matter or even exist.

I also tend to read more of my news (mainly internet sources), which allows me to skip over fluff and drama. I like written news because it makes it easier to check sources or research further.

I don't think unbiased news is possible. No matter how you present a story there will be someone who says their side wasn't presented well. Some complain when stories they don't like are talked about. Others suffer censorship when interesting stories are deemed "not newsworthy" and buried.

[Brutha]

I know that there will be no completely unbiased news...I guess what I'm really looking for is news that is trustworthy but maybe not reported at the national level.

Trust isn't the purpose of news. Critical thinking should always go hand in hand with reading news and critical thinking is the opposite of trusting the source.

A few newssources that I find valuable:
Glenn Greenwald Legal liberitatian perspective
Bruce Sterling - Futuristic perspective
John Robb - 4GW perspective - probably the best source for news about potential riots

How would anyone know if this was coming? Also, note this would be very regional. It wouldn't be across the entire US, just some parts.

I'm not so sure. Panics can spread.
System can break down. The food system that requires trucks that require food that drive food over long distances is not resiliant.
If it breakes down other groups of people in other parts of the country will also start to riot.

[WordKeeper]

I watched Bill Moyers Journal last Friday. It was outstanding. Here is a link to the transcript followed by a description of two journalists who recently received an "izzy" award for distinction in journalism.

Bill Moyers Journal . Transcripts | PBS

two journalists described as "pillars of alternative journalism," honored "for their courage and persistence."

Amy Goodman is the executive producer and co-host of DEMOCRACY NOW! a daily television and radio news program that airs on more than 750 outlets and is streamed on the internet. Her latest book, "Standing up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times," co-authored with her brother David, is out in paperback this week.

Glenn Greenwald is a constitutional lawyer until he turned to journalism after 9/11. His blog, "Unclaimed Territory," on Salon.com is one of the most widely read on the internet. His books include this one, a best seller, "How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok."

[WordKeeper]

Believe it or not I hadn't read Brutha's post until after I posted mine also listing Greenwald.

[StacyT]

Originally Posted by Brutha

I'm not so sure. Panics can spread.
System can break down. The food system that requires trucks that require food that drive food over long distances is not resiliant.
If it breakes down other groups of people in other parts of the country will also start to riot.

That's what I'm thinking - it's like the book Atlas Shrugged...I feel like it's all going in that direction.

[StacyT]

Originally Posted by WordKeeper

Believe it or not I hadn't read Brutha's post until after I posted mine also listing Greenwald.

Well maybe that means it's worth checking out

[liamona]

Originally Posted by StacyT

That's what I'm thinking - it's like the book Atlas Shrugged...I feel like it's all going in that direction.

Yeah, that's what people have been saying. But remember the hype and paranoia surrounding Y2K? People thought civilization was going to end then, and it didn't.

If things are going to go as badly as some of the more pessimistic commentators predict, I honestly don't think that most of us could adequately prepare for it (do you really want to store 10 years' worth of canned food and toilet paper?).

Sure it's nice to fantasize about bugging out to some pristine rural location with like-minded people, but personally I don't find the idea of the boglife (beyond organized government) very appealing.

[StacyT]

Originally Posted by liamona

But remember the hype and paranoia surrounding Y2K? People thought civilization was going to end then, and it didn't.

Yes, but I think Y2K was different - I didn't feed into any of that hype at the time because for me, the pieces of information didn't come together in a way that spelled catastrophe for our country.

Now with our country in severe debt (and taking on more debt to pay off that debt) ...well, there just has to be an eventual collapse somewhere.

The thing is, people don't need money to survive, but if all the money suddenly becomes worthless, people will go crazy and think doomsday is upon us and start panicking and rioting.

And you wouldn't need to stock up on 10 years worth of canned foods to survive, you would just need a way to live sustainably for an indefinite period of time, like in an earthship or something.

But you do make a good point about toilet paper. It's not essential to survival, but it sure would be good to have an unlimited supply!!

[Inthon]

Bloomberg.com - Best economics and news site.
Period.

[liamona]

Originally Posted by StacyT

Yes, but I think Y2K was different - I didn't feed into any of that hype at the time because for me, the pieces of information didn't come together in a way that spelled catastrophe for our country.

Now with our country in severe debt (and taking on more debt to pay off that debt) ...well, there just has to be an eventual collapse somewhere.

Is that totally true? We can't really know, right? There's been several severe problems (like nuclear war) that we've narrowly avoided in the past, and I think we can avoid this one, but only if people will focus on solutions and not just on the problems.

The thing is, people don't need money to survive, but if all the money suddenly becomes worthless, people will go crazy and think doomsday is upon us and start panicking and rioting.

But even if all the money is worthless, plants we can eat will still grow, the fruits in orchards will still be there.

I've always been drawn to D.H. Lawrence's poem, "Kill Money":

Kill money, put money out of existence.
It is a perverted instinct, a hidden thought
which rots the brain, the blood, the bones, the stones, the soul.

Make up your mind about it;
that society must establish itself upon a different principle
from the one we've got now.

We must have the courage of mutual trust.
We must have the modesty of simple living.
And the individual must have his house, food, and fire all free like a bird.

But you do make a good point about toilet paper. It's not essential to survival, but it sure would be good to have an unlimited supply!!

That's for sure. The idea of a TP-less world is a sad one, isn't it? Worse than riots, I fear being reduced to wiping my ass with leaves. LOL.

[ar81]

BBC, Japan Today, Reuters seem fine to me.
They are not owned by US banks.

[Andrew Gubb]

Question is, do you really care that much about world affairs?

Ok here I am writing in a "world affairs forum" But I don't hang out here much... lol

Has anyone mentioned indymedia.com?

[Asmoday]

Frankly, I am surprised at how many people have not actually set down and read the summaries (congressional members get quick-to-digest versions of bills) of the Patriot Act.

The reason I say this is because martial law is effective now, if you take the time to pour through it.

[Lauxa]

Check out wonkette.com, it's another funny news site but not as outrageous as The
Onion.