How to find the best and most valued news on the internet…

This post actually has two points. One, to really tell you how and where to get the best news on the internet. Two, to speak a little about our current economic crisis…

Everyone wants to know about the current economic crisis we are in. The news media has done a great job instilling fear in people, and the government certainly hasn’t helped lessen that fear. We saw an overwhelming response to the $700 billion dollar bailout that is currently in the works. Tens of thousands of people wrote their representatives and senators to express their concern for such a massive spending bill. Yet it still got passed. (I did the math and $700 billion works out to about $2,500 per individual and about $8,000 per household in the US. Meaning, that is how much the American public would have to cough up to pay for the bailout plan. I include the per household number because children, retired senior citizens, and those unemployed don’t pay taxes.)

Soon I will be posting a much longer article about the history that led up to this current mess we are in, but the take away I really want everyone to get is how to find the best, most unbiased, source of news you can on any subject or current affair.

First, let’s look at how most people get their news. The major TV networks (CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX), the major national newspapers (NY Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, etc.), and the internet (Yahoo, MSN, the online subsidiaries of the previous news sources, etc). Is their anything wrong with any of these news sources? Not necessarily unless you want watered down or overly biased news broadcasting. The main key here is to not limit yourself to one news source.

There are also many news sources that are not as biased as the main players, and these tend to be international news sources. If you haven’t made a habit out of reading international news sources and their view of American news, you should start right now. Here are three places you should go:

1. The Economist.  The Economist is based in England and has a very international perspective on all journalistic matters. Each article written is anonymously and is debated over before it is released for publication. They spend an inordinate amount of time fact checking and making sure that each article is down to earth, precise, and written in plain language for everyone to understand.

2. The BBC.  The British Broadcasting Company. Got to love them and their love for covering American news. Nearly everyone knows about the BBC or should know about them so I will leave it at that. The last thing I will say is that they have some of the best coverage of world events of any publication out there.

3. The Times of India.  Also known as the India Times, this is another great source of information. They have a great international perspective and even have an American edition of their newspaper.

So back to the news subject at hand. The Economic crisis. Each of the above sources will give you great coverage of the events, but where do you find the most educated opinions about the current events shaping our world? If you guessed blogs, you get a cookie. 😉

For the first time, possibly in history, we can read what people are experiencing first hand as they happen. We no longer have to wait for the history book or personal memoir to come out. People can blog about their experience in the moment. Perhaps you don’t get the wisdom that comes from reflecting on the events of our time after the fact, but I do think there is some value in simply stating what you are thinking and feeling in the moment.

Here are three blogs that talk about the economic crisis from three different perspectives:

1. The PR Man, Richard Edelson, on the government’s “Failure to Communicate”. Not only does he point out the problem, he also offers solutions. I loved every word of this article.

2. Mark Cuban, on “The Cause of Bubbles = Investment vs. Financial Engineering”. Again, a person that points out the problem and offers solutions. Noticing a trend yet? Did I mention that I love and value an entrepreneur’s perspective on these things?

3. Kent Thune, on “Why it’s time to move on…”. Here is a theme I will repeat again. Perspective. It’s all about gaining perspective. This is a great article explaining why we need to quit worrying so much about money and start worrying more about how we live our lives.

As always, I welcome your comments… Would love to know…

1. What did you think of this article?
2. Is it something you find useful?
3. Will you start looking at a larger variety of news sources?
4. Will you start finding some great blogs to read about the events of our time?
5. What else would you add to the conversation?