Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s when I studied media as part of my Radio & TV minor in college, I was fortunate enough to take a course from James Quello, who at that time was the Vice-President and General Manager of WJR in Detroit. He would later go one to become a commissioner of the FCC.
We learned at that time, that the governing principle of radio and television was that the airwaves belonged to the people. Radio and TV stations were given a license to use their frequency for a time but were required to serve the public interest in order to keep that license. When a station’s license came up for renewal, they were required to provide proof of serving the public interest and the public was invited to comment on their service. News programs were looked at by the stations more as serving the public interest than as a profit center.
Prior to the Internet, newspapers and news magazines provided depth and analysis to the news beyond what could be provided in the shorter radio and TV broadcasts.
Cable television, and then the Internet changed the marketplace as the big three networks, NBC, ABC, and CBS suddenly faced lots of competition and new networks arose. The mood of the FCC changed and the airwaves became less property of the public and more something that the government could auction off for revenue. This put pressure on the media and everything including news became a profit center and the push for survival and market share became central to their existence.
Newspapers and news magazines have been decimated by the Internet and are struggling to find a profitable business model in this age of New Media.
All news reporting has some bias, but realize that besides left or right bias, there is a strong bias to report the stories that get more clicks on the Internet or higher ratings on broadcast media because this is what affects their bottom line and survival.
The other issue is “fake news sites” and “click bait”. These sites have no interest other than attracting clicks for their ads and maximizing their profits. They proliferate because anyone can build one, and the many off-shore sites are not subject to US regulation. It is best to avoid these sites like the plague not only because they are worthless, but also because they can be a source of viruses, malware, and other nasty software.
News Agencies
According to Wikipedia, “News agencies were created with a single aim to enrich the newspapers with a wide variety of news events happening around the world. Initially, the agencies were meant to provide the news items only to the newspapers but with the passage of time, the rapidly developing modern mediums such as the radio, television, and Internet too, adapted the services of news agencies.”
The three largest agencies in the US are UPI, AP, and Reuters. These should be good sources of news, probably with less bias than other news outlets. They have all been around for a long time and have very large news gathering capabilities around the world. Also, their business is gathering and reporting news, they aren’t entertainment companies.
AP – Associated Press – https://www.ap.org/en-us/
Reuters – http://www.reuters.com/
Bloomberg News – https://www.bloomberg.com/
News Media
There are lots of news media sources. As said earlier, avoid the “fake news” and supermarket tabloid type of sites. It’s best to stick to major newspapers, magazines, and electronic media outlets. Allsides.com has a page to help you determine the bias of a given news outlet. This isn’t foolproof, opinions may vary, but at least it is a start.
http://www.allsides.com/bias/bias-ratings
Well Respected U.S. News Sources
Foreign News
Sometimes, to gain a broader perspective, it is good to hear US news from the perspective of those outside of our country. I used to listen to English Language broadcasts via shortwave radio. This required, obviously, a shortwave radio and a lot of persistence, since because of the nature of shortwave radio frequencies changed frequently depending on time of day, time of year, and where we were on the 11-year sunspot cycle. You can still listen via shortwave, but it is much easier to stream the broadcasts over the web.
BBC World Service – http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio
The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) is known world over for the quality of their news reporting. You can listen to live or archived streams, and hear regular BBC reports on many PBS stations.
The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) See how our neighbors to the north view our politics.
Deutsche Welle – http://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097
Deutsche Welle is a German broadcasting company with English service.