With the world becoming ever more polarised and unstable, we revisited this topic we last discussed in 2021. Here are the previous notes updated to reflect today’s reality. The introductory paragraphs hold true today – and will hold true tomorrow – Additional 2023 notes and comments are highlighted in orange!:
Our consumption of news contributes to our world view and social interactions and news should be there to inform us. However, over the years newspapers have morphed into opinion papers.
In addition, we tend to choose our news sources so that we read, hear and see stories with which we agree, creating a self-reinforcing echo chamber.
This is called “confirmation bias” and it is even more insidious in the modern world of the Internet and viral fake news. It encourages the formation of groups such as the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy believers and anti-vaxxers. None of us is immune.
Therefore, wherever you get your news, it is worth asking the following questions:
- How trustworthy are my news sources?
- How biased are they politically?
- Are they telling me news or opinions?
- How can I get close to the truth?
- How can I detect fake news?
Let us take a look at some of the news sources we regularly use, looking at the situation from the point of view of a British citizen living in Spain.
News Sources
1. Printed newspapers – the traditional source of news
Here in Spain, we have The Daily Mail (for UK news), the Costa Blanca News, free news weeklies (Euronews, Olive Press etc.), Spanish newspapers and international weeklies such as Time magazine and The Economist.
The Daily Mail seems to be the only UK National newspaper which is printed and sold here these days and it is widely sold and read. Update 2023– I don’t think it is printed here any more – you can get it on-line instead.
Unfortunately,the Daily Mail is categorised as a “Questionable source” by Mediabiasfactcheck.com !https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/filtered-search/?media_type=newspaper&country=GB
“A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence. Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. “
This website analyses publications based on the wording used. e.g. is it loaded, emotional and over the top? what are the sources? are there stories from different points of view? is there a political ideology? etc.
Still the same today – In human affairs, there’s no “truth” only different interpretations of the same events – this is called the Rashomon effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashomon_effect
2. Online newspaper
Many British newspapers are available online. Some are behind paywalls. (most are now behind paywalls)
Here are some, with their political bias as categorised by https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ .
- Daily Mail (Questionable source) !!,
- The Telegraph (right bias)
- Daily Express (right bias)
- The Times (right-centre) – One member suscribed to this
- The Economist (least biased) . Chris still subscribes to this
- Daily Mirror (left-centre)
- Independent (left–centre), – even though it’s free, few members read it.
- The Guardian (left-centre), – This is still free and many members read it.
Spanish news: e.g.
- El País (also in English) (left-centre); ABC (right-centre);
- Local on line news papers: e.g. Olive Press (paywall) , Las Provincias (paywall) , Xàbia al Día
- Dedicated news websites such as
- Xabia.com (Several languages) https://www.javea.com/en/
- La Marina Plaza (Spanish) https://lamarinaplaza.com
- Spain in English https://www.spainenglish.com
- The Local. https://www.thelocal.es (paywall)
International: e.g. New York Times (paywall), China Daily, Spiegel International etc etc….
3. Radio :
- BBC World Service (many different languages), Bay Radio.
- Online radio from broadcasting news providers (e.g. BBC, Sky) and newspapers: e.g. Times Radio. A joint operation between Wireless Group, The Times and The Sunday Times. Available via the Times website, and apps for iPhones and Android. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio
Not many members listen to the news on the radio these days
4. Television news channels (via Satellite, iptv and/or Spanish terrestrial)
It’s worth checking who owns each channel – are they State-owned, owned by a media mogul?? This may give you an idea of potential bias.
- BBC News: Independent corporation – funded by license fee and sales of programmes (UK) (content seems to have gone downhill and become more parochial )
- CNN : Private media company (US) (no longer on Freesat)
- Sky : Sky Group, part of NBC Universal, a private company (US)
- France24: State owned – funded by license fee and subsidy (France) Broadcasts in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
- Euronews: jointly owned by several European and North African public and state-owned broadcasting organizations and private company Media Globe Networks (HQ in France) (Not on Freesat though available in STB mode)
- Aljazeera : International media conglomerate funded through loans and grants, some from Govt of Qatar (Qatar) Broadcasts in Arabic and English.
- RT: Russia today – Russian state-controlled international television network funded by the federal tax budget of the Russian government Banned in 2023
- RTV.es 24H: national state-owned public-service television broadcaster (Spain)
5. Streaming: Mostly on YouTube – Still true in 2023
- The International news broadcasters’ live streams (e.g. Sky News), documentaries from Deutsche Weller, France 24 and Aljazeera and programme clips.
- Some live streaming of international conferences. e.g. the recent Climate conference on Earth Day 22nd April (2021). (Only 2700 viewers – I guess most of those were journalists!)
- Documentaries and “news clips” of doubtful origin – these are a major source of fringe ideas conspiracy theories and political propaganda.
6. Websites of the international news broadcast companies (as above)
Visiting these gives you an idea of the different priorities of each news broadcaster and their different “takes” on each news story:
e.g. Main news headlines April 22nd 2121
- Biden announces US will Halve emissions by 2030 -BBC
- Oxygen shortages compound death toll as India confronts Covid 19 surge – France 24
- Some Delhi hospitals have no oxygen, says minister – Aljazeera
- We have to step up: US commits to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 – Sky
- Biden announces ambitious climate goals in stark contrast to Trump – CNN
(RE: CO2 emissions, one asks the question – half of what?) ;.)
See also the front pages of tomorrow’s British Newspapers to compare their priorities https://www.tomorrowspapers.co.uk
7. International News agencies:
Reuters, AFP etc.
These try to maintain standards of accuracy , integrity and lack of bias: Top 5 Unbiased independent world news sites https://www.pcguide.com/apps/top-unbiased-independent-world-news-sites/
All the above news sources are second hand. i.e. the news is being presented to you through the lens and bias of the journalists and newspaper organisation concerned. Often these days, news from these sources is opinion rather than news.
8. News aggregators:
News aggregators are sites/apps that collect content from various sources to present them to you in a personalised way for easy viewing. Hence your news is further filtered e.g.
- The Edge browser gives you a feed of news stories on its default Home page of MSN News. This becomes personalised if you log in with a Microsoft account. It also displays ads. https://microsoftnews.msn.com
- If you have an Android phone and Google account, Google will “feed” you personalised news stories through the Google app. The news is partially based on your searches and stories you have clicked on. (Google News is not available on a PC because of Spanish legal restrictions)
- Also:
- Flipboard (general news) https://flipboard.com
- Pocket (provides recommendations based on news stories you have saved) https://getpocket.com
- Rotten Tomatoes (films) https://www.rottentomatoes.com
- Metacritic (movies, TV, games) https://www.metacritic.com
9. News Blogs: News and Opinion
e.g Huffington Post, Mashable, Gizmodo, the Daily Beast.
Although they are just blogs, they can be very influential. https://www.lifewire.com/top-most-popular-blogs-3486365 They seem to be less popular these days. Some people like to listen to podcasts e.g Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell : The Rest is politics: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsufaClk5if2RGqABb-09Uw
We oldies have grown up with news which has been curated by newspaper editors , but things are very different now. We live in the 21st century, and people don’t trust these newspapers any more. ( Some say state owned media spout propaganda – or is it just natural bias? Why are the English language feeds so biased to the US?)
More people get their news through Social Media – e.g. Facebook (for the oldies e.g. Jávea Connect) X (Twitter), TikTok WhatsApp etc. No-one has time to delve deeply into a topic and stories spread like wildfire: “Slick videos or more ‘authentic’ content? The Israel-Gaza battles raging on TikTok and X” https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67497299 Influencers can very easily shape public opinion and attitudes towards important issues: https://www.favikon.com/blog/top-200-twitter-influencers – and don’t forget Trump.
There’s even more fake news about which we need to be aware of – there are more online services to help: https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/ and https://www.factcheck.org
To make matters worse , AI is now involved in creating “News” websites with fake facts: “Nearly 50 news websites are ‘AI-generated’, a study says. Would I be able to tell?” https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/08/ai-generated-news-websites-study
The development of AI is the new major player in the distribution and consumption of news today.
Chris Betterton-Jones – Knowledge Junkie