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DUU

(71 posts)
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 11:44 AM Thursday

Your most trusted new source is: (Help my granddaughter's project please)

Simple question: “Who do you trust to provide you with accurate and timely information? Why?”

(Full disclosure: granddaughter has a HS project on “trusted news sources” she needs responses from several hundred people across the US)
I agreed to ask the exact 2 questions above and provide the responses. Please no PII or tacky remarks, she is not supposed to filter any of the responses. Happy to post her overall results if there is interest. )
Thanks in advance on behalf of Sadie.

60 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Your most trusted new source is: (Help my granddaughter's project please) (Original Post) DUU Thursday OP
UKGuardian malaise Thursday #1
Okay Mz Pip Thursday #2
The Economist Bok_Tukalo Thursday #3
The Guardian LearnedHand Thursday #4
Same GPV Thursday #39
Critical thinking. Hugin Thursday #5
The Guardian Ping Tung Thursday #6
NPR because they fact check. Also, I know many of the local MinnPR people and they all have the highest integrity. Nanuke Thursday #7
Not a trick answer. My two news sources are Aggregators/Curators of news articles, and they are heavily moderated. usonian Thursday #8
I was gonna say the same LearnedHand Thursday #37
Curators? I'll add that, because that's the effect, and I actually do curate articles for a friend still in industry. usonian Thursday #40
I call both Hacker News and DU the best news aggregators I've ever seen LearnedHand Thursday #42
The Guardian cbabe Thursday #9
The Guardian, Associated Press, Santa Fe New Mexican Ponietz Thursday #10
The Guardian EverHopeful Thursday #11
NPR and BBC World News Iris Thursday #12
Guardian and Reuters Sailingdiver Thursday #13
Deutsche Welle and PBS Torchlight Thursday #14
Deutsche Welle, Agence France Press, NHK World Japan, RAI... Kid Berwyn Thursday #15
PBS News Hour pattyloutwo Thursday #16
Excellent project. Just this thread is informative. It seems like "unreliable" sources AnotherMother4Peace Thursday #17
Al jazeers & the guardian questionseverything Thursday #18
Al Jazeera is pretty good malaise Thursday #31
The Guardian. Lonestarblue Thursday #19
Not intimidated by the UK elites and oligarchs either n/t malaise Thursday #59
Guardian and Texas Tribune. efhmc Thursday #20
ProPublica and the Colorado Sun Thew Thursday #21
The Guardian - set to US news as a starting page. TommyT139 Thursday #22
NPR, AP, Reuters, BBC krawhitham Thursday #23
CBC News, BBC World Service, Al Jazeera, PBS, NPR nt Disaffected Thursday #24
Depends on the topic... Al Jazeera is excellent on most everything except Israel and Gaza... WarGamer Thursday #25
Ditto LearnedHand Thursday #38
The UK Guardian CanonRay Thursday #26
My Brief Answers MineralMan Thursday #27
The Guardian for world news, and the Delaware news Journal for local news Walleye Thursday #28
Associated Press. dalton99a Thursday #29
Agree. Know from working in newsrooms that the top people are hired by AP. nt allegorical oracle Thursday #36
Guardian and BBC. nt HappyH Thursday #30
Here's my list Joinfortmill Thursday #32
Guardian Catlady123 Thursday #33
It goes withou saying DU is a great source, but iI find youtube to be informative. Demsrule86 Thursday #34
The Guardian. They provide fair and accurate Luciferous Thursday #35
Bbc news DiverDave Thursday #41
DU, NPR, CBC, Guardian rurallib Thursday #43
DU LBN Kaleva Thursday #44
The New York Times and Washington Post ificandream Thursday #45
The Guardian LoisB Thursday #46
The Guardian duckworth969 Thursday #47
AJ+, Guardian, and comparing multiple sources cally Thursday #48
The American Prospect justaprogressive Thursday #49
The Guardian IrishAfricanAmerican Thursday #50
NEW source? I don't have one, just old ones. DFW Thursday #51
MSNBC Wifes husband Thursday #52
Public TV and Radio (just finished writing this for another newsletter) Ranting Randy Thursday #53
NPR BigMin28 Thursday #54
A few from me EuterpeThelo Thursday #55
the NY Times. Because it has a great track record and a diverse set of regular columnists CTyankee Thursday #56
The Guardian, for both accurate and timely info. Solly Mack Thursday #57
In this order every morning Ferryboat Thursday #58
Thanks for all the input! DUU Monday #60

Mz Pip

(28,280 posts)
2. Okay
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 11:50 AM
Thursday

San Francisco Chronicle for print news. Good for both local and national/international news

CNN - for Breaking News because it has correspondents in place internationally and are excellent at covering the big stories quickly.

LearnedHand

(5,133 posts)
4. The Guardian
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 11:54 AM
Thursday

They are independently owned by trusts and a media group. They are shielded from intimidation by the US administration.

EDIT: Cool project!

Hugin

(37,115 posts)
5. Critical thinking.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 11:55 AM
Thursday

Any source of information is information. It’s all in how a viewer interprets it.

Nanuke

(879 posts)
7. NPR because they fact check. Also, I know many of the local MinnPR people and they all have the highest integrity.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 12:02 PM
Thursday

usonian

(22,371 posts)
8. Not a trick answer. My two news sources are Aggregators/Curators of news articles, and they are heavily moderated.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 12:05 PM
Thursday

Last edited Thu Nov 6, 2025, 02:30 PM - Edit history (1)

Moderation means no clickbait, no scams, and AI-written articles are called out and flagged/deleted ASAP.

1. Democratic Underground. ( https://democraticunderground.com )
2. Hacker News (https://news.ycombinator.com) Tech and general interest news.

The honest truth!

LearnedHand

(5,133 posts)
37. I was gonna say the same
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 02:23 PM
Thursday

Mine are exactly the same as yours, except I feared “aggregators” might not be an acceptable answer. The Guardian IS my most trusted “traditional” news source.

usonian

(22,371 posts)
40. Curators? I'll add that, because that's the effect, and I actually do curate articles for a friend still in industry.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 02:29 PM
Thursday

LearnedHand

(5,133 posts)
42. I call both Hacker News and DU the best news aggregators I've ever seen
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 02:31 PM
Thursday

They both are solidly people powered and completely lack algorithmic interference.

EverHopeful

(621 posts)
11. The Guardian
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 12:15 PM
Thursday

They don't seem to be part of our current US corporate media kowtowing to the apparent demand to normalize the spectacularly abnormal.

But I should mention that DU is actually where I go first for my news.

Torchlight

(6,117 posts)
14. Deutsche Welle and PBS
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 12:20 PM
Thursday

Accuracy and objectivity, while no drama, hysterics or personalities take center stage.

Kid Berwyn

(22,262 posts)
15. Deutsche Welle, Agence France Press, NHK World Japan, RAI...
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 12:20 PM
Thursday

...just about any decent national news organization that's not owned by plutocrats and oligarchs.

AnotherMother4Peace

(4,964 posts)
17. Excellent project. Just this thread is informative. It seems like "unreliable" sources
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 12:23 PM
Thursday

are more well known than "reliable" sources. I think this is an excellent project.

Lonestarblue

(13,115 posts)
19. The Guardian.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 12:38 PM
Thursday

They are a UK company and are not intimidated by Trump’s extortion of US media through his lawsuits and constant threats. He sues media like CBS and they cave by paying him undeserved damages, in CBS’s case because they had a big business deal pending that needed Trump’s approval.

efhmc

(15,926 posts)
20. Guardian and Texas Tribune.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 12:52 PM
Thursday

Got asked that question by one of the people who work for me and I gave him the exact same answer.

TommyT139

(2,071 posts)
22. The Guardian - set to US news as a starting page.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 01:01 PM
Thursday

As others have, I recommend The Guardian. I have a bookmark for the US news "home page." (You can choose UK, Australia, maybe other areas too.). They have great minute by minute live coverage for important events, posting every five or ten minutes when it's busiest. I also like that it's not just political news, but they cover popular culture, climate, technology, health, arts, books, you name it. They publish far more information than anywhere else I've seen about what's happening in the non-English speaking, non-European parts of the world. Some long-form articles are available as podcasts. They have the best overall coverage of LGBTQ+ issues of the major outlets (that I've seen), especially since the NY Times has helped skew the public discourse on transgender issues (personally relevant to me).

They have reporters stationed here permanently, both US-born and from abroad. I really like that they don't take advertising, and as someone on limited income, I appreciate the options to pay what I can, with no paywall. Having seen what Rupert Murdoch (Fox News owner) did to degrade the Australian and the British press, the Guardian staff knows the value of remaining untainted by the motivations of a for-profit structure. They have been called upon in the past to collaborate on important international investigative reporting, challenging corruption and abuse, and that says to me that other reporters and organizations trust them too.

https://www.theguardian.com/us

As a side note, I used to be a paying subscriber to the NYT, having grown up in a household where we always bought the thickly-stacked Sunday edition. They got so bad that their articles have been referred to in footnotes to support right-wing laws limiting the civil rights of LGBTQ people, both on a state level, and federally. It really is sad.

Happy to answer questions by DM, if that helps. Good luck on the project!

WarGamer

(18,098 posts)
25. Depends on the topic... Al Jazeera is excellent on most everything except Israel and Gaza...
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 01:06 PM
Thursday

But my #1 priority... I will never consume any news source that "tells me what to think"... I don't need their analysis, I can analyze for myself... better than they can.

MineralMan

(150,208 posts)
27. My Brief Answers
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 01:14 PM
Thursday

Hi Sadie,

I rely on multiple news sources from broadcast and Internet media and then digest and analyze them to find the common factors. I rely on my assessment to find the truth. In retrospect, that method works well.

Why? Because the details vary from one source to another, so I don't put my trust in any single source.

Walleye

(43,157 posts)
28. The Guardian for world news, and the Delaware news Journal for local news
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 01:15 PM
Thursday

I see I’m in good company here with the Guardian

Joinfortmill

(19,489 posts)
32. Here's my list
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 01:48 PM
Thursday

Meidas Touch Network: Legal AF
MSNBC: Lawrence O'Donnell
MSNBC: Rachel Maddow
The Guardian newspaper
BBC News
Democracy Docket
Pete Buttigieg podcast
Rick Wilson podcast
This is Gavin Newsom podcast
The Daily Beast podcast
IHIP News Podcast
Heather Cox Richardson podcast (professor)
Talking Feds podcast
Richard J. Murphy podcast (professor)
Local Newscasts
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (youtube)

Demsrule86

(71,416 posts)
34. It goes withou saying DU is a great source, but iI find youtube to be informative.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 01:54 PM
Thursday

Sure you have to careful but often breaking stories hit youtube first. They have been good about showing GESTAPO ICE KIDNAPPING, ARRESTING AMERICANS... little kids too. All my young adult kids get their info first from youtube. I think it helped with the elections. Good luck with the project...great topic.

ificandream

(11,545 posts)
45. The New York Times and Washington Post
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 02:48 PM
Thursday

Despite the problems recently, they are still my go-to for news. I'd say most of the staff (a few of which I've worked with in the past) are dedicated journalists. Forget the bosses. They don't report the news. The dedicated staff does.

cally

(21,818 posts)
48. AJ+, Guardian, and comparing multiple sources
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 04:14 PM
Thursday

on a story including social media and legacy media. I look at social media for breading news but then check elsewhere for accuracy

DFW

(59,342 posts)
51. NEW source? I don't have one, just old ones.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 05:30 PM
Thursday

Unless you count new members of Congress, and they are very good about closed-mouthed when it suits them, or makes sense to shut up.

Other than that, they incredibly well-connected Norm Ornstein, except that what he tells me is off the record unless he says otherwise. But when he says it's OK to reveal what he says/knows in public, it's usually hugely interesting!

The media either makes shit up, or rushes to publicize what they THINK is accurate. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

Sometimes it's extremely frustrating. My most glaring case with DU was in 2008, the day Obama was set to reveal his choice for VP. Some of Biden's staff was a little overeager about the news, and was discussing it in an indoor swimming pool at 7:00 that morning. After all, there was only one other person in the pool, and he was a diminutive Asian kid who said nothing and, as far as they knew, spoke no English. Oops. That diminutive Asian kid was my 18 year old half-Japanese nephew, who was working for Matt Angle's Lone Star Project, a Washington lobby operation for Texas Democrats. He understood every word, and called me 45 minutes later to tell me who Obama's VP pick was eight hours before the announcement.

I made the stupid assumption that I could tell DU and get thanked for it. Hah! Fat chance. A couple of angry posts demanding LINK???? plus several more demanding that I tell everyone what made ME so special, and that I must have been spouting crap because why should I know and they didn't? Etc. etc. I should have just shut up and told one one. If I had said where I got the info from, and word leaked back to Biden's office (all it needed was for one person in DC to see the post, after all), and we might have gotten Biden's staffers in serious trouble on what was to be one of the most exciting days of their careers. So, I just said I couldn't say how I knew, and that only made the skeptics more furious. When the announcement was made, exactly ONE DUer posted an apology. ONE. Ever since then, I have been a little more careful what I post when the source is a personal "I can't say" acquaintance. It beats telling angry posters to go find their own goddam link, stick their anger up their you-know-what, and leave me the hell alone. They don't call D.C. the world's biggest small town for nothing.

As for media, I read the German press, although of late, they have struck a nasty anti-Democratic tone, saying why don't the Democrats DO something, etc etc. The extremist right has all three branches of government and 90% of the media in their pockets, and WE are supposed to do something? Invade and smash up the White House. The Republicans are even doing THAT before we even contemplated it (which we didn't). It hasn't been 100 years since the Weimarer Republik was dissolved in favor of the Third Reich's National Socialists. They should know better than anyone what happens if all media is in the hands of an evil force that has eliminated all opposition.

One saving grace is that much of the US media is still beholden to commercial trends rather than solely extremist right-leaning political trends.When the wind starts blowing so hard in the opposite direction that they CAN'T pretend not to notice, they suddenly notice with a vengeance. Note the coverage since Wednesday morning. The American media suddenly noticed that the USA had a strong opposition that was alive and well, and living just about EVERYwhere. Gee, look at that! Sorry Sir Rupert and Crown Prince Miller, we'll have to say a few words about that, no way around it this time.

Ranting Randy

(335 posts)
53. Public TV and Radio (just finished writing this for another newsletter)
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 05:35 PM
Thursday

Public Radio and TV stations are the last remaining nationwide news services that haven’t been compromised. They broadcast actual, real, news - good solid information and good programming. There’s not much “infotainment” and hardly any “happy talk.”

You can no longer rely on the large media corporations for reliable information, as the majority of them have been sold or have paid millions in “tribute” to Trump. CBS news has a “minder”(which may explain some of last week’s softball 60 minutes interview with Trump. CNN reports 18 false statements that were not corrected (lets not sugar coat it, those are lies). To really keep informed, you need to read many sources, subscribe to many newspapers and websites, and sort though hundreds of stories each week, because “all we want are the facts, ma’am.”

BigMin28

(1,804 posts)
54. NPR
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 05:49 PM
Thursday

and the Guardian. Both have a proven track record of accuracy and integrity in their reporting.

EuterpeThelo

(111 posts)
55. A few from me
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 05:49 PM
Thursday

Second the many mentions of the U.K.'s Guardian
Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!
Lawrence O'Donnell and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC (the only two mainstream U.S. journalists I trust)
ProPublica
Democracy Docket
KPFK/Pacifica radio here in L.A.
NPR
PBS

Also, echoing what many others have said, I start each day by checking the latest on D.U. and have for 20+ years - you all guide me to the best and most current stories.

CTyankee

(67,537 posts)
56. the NY Times. Because it has a great track record and a diverse set of regular columnists
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 05:51 PM
Thursday

Solly Mack

(96,050 posts)
57. The Guardian, for both accurate and timely info.
Thu Nov 6, 2025, 06:10 PM
Thursday

AP, NPR, Reuters, El Pais and Der Spiegel. MS Now (MSNBC). ProPublica. Here, at DU, of course.

I prefer to read/watch and compare from several sources. I trust them more.

Teen Vogue was reliable until recently.

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