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New News for the New Year

Morgan Lasher

Morgan Lasher

Jan 2, 2023

May 2, 2024

New News for the New Year
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Almost every morning, I wake up to "breaking news" from an app on my phone. But my news "diet" is pitiful. I'm like a four-year-old who only eats chicken nuggets. I get most of my news from only one source. So, this new year, I'm resolving to break my one-sided news habits. And here are four resources to help me...

#1: Compare different plates of news — side by side

With a mission to “free people from filter bubbles so they can better understand the world — and each other,” this is my first stop. AllSides serves up top news stories from outlets on the political left, right, and center—side by side.

Visit AllSides

#2: Focus on one news item, prepared in different ways

A colleague recommended this email newsletter, and it is an all-caps GEM.  I can read the Flip Side in about five minutes, and it usually focuses on a single topic.

The emails choose substance over simple summaries and the content is all (according to its website) “fact-checked, and approved by at least one liberal AND one conservative team member.”

Visit the Flip Side

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Interested in a simple but powerful way to help this country heal? Join the thousands of people who are taking the Unify Challenge.

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#3: Find out what's on your neighbor's news plate

Over one billion hours of video a day are spent watching videos on YouTube, and a mind-boggling 70% of those videos are recommended by an AI program to maximize engagement, naturally trapping us inside a narrow bubble.

Enter, TheirTube. It’s a Youtube filter “bubble simulator” that shows example videos that are recommended to people in different bubbles, which I can use to find videos outside of my viewing habits. (I’m afraid my current bubble looks most like the “Fruitarian.”)

Visit Their.Tube

#4: Explore why a news item takes on different flavors  

I first stumbled on the Narratives Project through Instagram. Its niche? Deep, deep dives into how and why stories and headlines coming from different media outlets diverge. The team aggregates data around a specific story (from social posts to news articles), articulates a summary from different perspectives, and outlines why and how the divergence happened.

Visit The Narratives Project

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With these resources now in my mental toolkit, here's a more specific resolution. I will read the Flip Side newsletter every weekday and get news notifications from my phone's newest app: AllSides.

Want to join? Shoot me a note with your resolutions (or accountability tips, pretty please). Cheers to broadening our information diets and thinking more independently!

Morgan (morgan@unifyamerica.org)

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