Top Five Sources of News and Information

    In today's world, our sources of news can come from various channels, whether it be through video media, online articles, journals, or an old-fashioned newspaper.  The problem however is that with such a divided political structure in modern America, news sources tend to cater to their specific beliefs and stray from political views that they do not want to talk about. This of course can clearly be seen through television news, for example, Fox News, which leans heavily towards the right, and CNN, which is very left-sided. Personally, I tend to stay away from these media sources, as they provide news mainly for their demographic, not maintaining neutrality. 

    I use many different platforms to gain information on many different topics, including politics, sports, pop culture, music, and more. Each genre of news tends to have a different source for what I believe gives me the most information to form a reasonable opinion.  

 

1) Twitter/X

    X, previously known as Twitter tends to be my main source of information regarding politics. Twitter was a platform known to be open to freedom of speech, keeping an open-minded approach to the content that it allowed. This created a platform full of controversial arguments. Because of this Twitter developed policies to rule out "misinformation" and harassment, however, this extended beyond the span of threats and hate speech. Because of this Twitter was attacked by both parties for censoring their political beliefs, which is a First Amendment right. 

    After Elon Musk Bought Twitter for $44 Billion in late 2022, he envisioned a platform in which people can express their beliefs without the threat of censorship. Because of this members of society from any political viewpoint can share their thoughts, as long as they do not use hate speech or threaten others. While there are not many specific X users I refer to for my news, I typically scroll through the For You section to stay up to date on day-to-day updates. X Provides the convenience of being able to scroll through a topic and easily complete further research on this topic from several various reputable viewpoints. 

2) ESPN

    Straying from the political aspect of news and information, I will now dive into ESPN, my main source of sports media content. As a collegiate hockey player and lifelong athlete, I like to stay up to date on major sports news when it comes to the sports I enjoy, which include hockey of course, as well as football, baseball, basketball, and more. ESPN's interface allows the user to select their favorite sports teams, displaying these teams on their home page so that they can immediately view breaking news, rosters, injuries, and many other statistics. I personally have push notifications enabled so that whenever a major update related to my favorite teams happens, I immediately get notified. The structure of their application provides scores for every live sports game being played across the globe. They also provide live game casts for every sport, so the public can consistently stay up to date with each shot taken, pitch thrown, or penalty called. 

3) TikTok

    When attempting to get a better grasp on the constantly changing pop culture in America, I admittedly turn to TikTok to stay up to date. While I am very aware TikTok is one of the least reputable sources of information, there are still many ways to gain good information throughout the platform. When referring to a pop culture topic, you can easily search and find thousands of videos of people sharing their opinions. With so many different people able to give their own personal feedback, there is so much information at the tips of your fingers, you just have to be aware that many people are uneducated on the subjects that they are talking about. TikTok also allows me to see news clips or other short-form media that I would otherwise most likely never view. It is a great source to find out about new things happening, but I would certainly recommend researching the topic through a different channel. 

4) Podcasts

    I often listen to podcasts through Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and Its been a very helpful way to learn new information while actively getting other obligations completed. One podcast that I listen to weekly is The Joe Rogan Experience. Joe Rogan invites famous guests onto his shows, ranging from pop culture figures and politicians to doctors, engineers, astrophysicists, and more. While Rogan, the host of the podcast, is not an expert in any case on many of the topics he talks about, the guests he invites are decorated members of their designated fields. In one episode, for example, Joe Rogan talks with Neil deGrasse Tyson about various astrological topics. I mainly listen to some of his older episodes to gain more general information on subjects rather than popular news, however, these podcasts are newly uploaded with guests that fit the current topics floating around pop culture and politics, so you can gain good information from professionals about modern problems and issues. 

5) Youtube

    I am an avid music listener, and with so many artists releasing music every day it can be hard to keep track of what's new. I like to use YouTube to learn when my favorite artists are releasing new music. The great thing about YouTube is that there are millions upon millions of videos about every single topic, so while I'm catering this section of the blog to music, there are millions of media sources for pop culture or political news as well. YouTube has specific sections of its home page dedicated to music-related content, from music videos to informational and reaction videos. YouTube is also an industry standard for Music, so almost every song ever created and released to the public can be found on its platform. There are even several playlists of artists' unreleased music that are not supposed to be available to the public. Overall it is a very good and dependable source for information on the music industry, but is applicable to many other subjects.