Friday Blog Question: Where do you get your news?

We all know how splintered media is these days. There are five different kinds of ways to watch TV, there are so many audio outlets people no longer have presets on their car radios, and newspapers everywhere are fighting to stay alive. Clare Boothe Luce is almost certainly turning in her grave. So of the many forms of information available to you, which do you prefer? Television? Radio? RSS feeds? What?

My news source is online. I would not say I seek it out (except for sports) as much as have it collect on my home page and notice it once in a while. I pretty much seek out sports news exclusively. Everything else has to come to me. Brian Alig

I read the Arizona Republic and the Wall Street Journal on my Kindle every morning. If I get a chance I check out CNN online. I read Time magazine (in its physical form, not online). I keep my eye on a couple of blogs including Lifehacker and Gizmodo to feed my gadget habit. I skim headlines in World, U.S., Local, Business/Money and Marketplace. If I find an article that looks interesting, I read it through. I used to watch CNN or local news in the morning while I was getting ready for work, but TV news has gotten too A) stupid, B) depressing and C) irrelevant to bother anymore. Susan Baier

NPR. It’s on all morning at home while I’m drinking coffee and slapping myself awake for the day. It’s on in the car to and from work on the days I don’t bike. It’s on most of the weekend, though “This American Life” isn’t exactly “news.” I probably hear most of my breaking news this way, then read up on it later on the New York Times website. Sara Wachter-Boettcher

In the mornings I watch the local news – but for the rest of the day it is online which starts out with a bit of azcentral for crime, local biz, national headlines,etc. - but then I gravitate more so to entertainment news, such as TMZ and page 6. The news is too depressing, so why not read about what the wealthy celebs are up to? Debby Hrach

Honestly, I still go to newspapers first when I need real news. Even though they are hitting hard financial times, everyone who wants trustworthy information goes to a Night Ridder/APWire written newspaper. (This definitely excludes USAToday.) However, for tech news, entertainment fluff and things I happen to be running an Internet search on anyway, I'll definitely look to news on Google or Yahoo!. By the way, did anyone notice how cool I was back there when I quoted Clare Boothe Luce? Anyone at all? Eric Reid

On my computer I get news from my Yahoo Homepage. It has a variety of topics from headlines to sports to entertainment - basically everything I need! Also, it is refreshed throughout the day, so the information is always new. On my phone I usually head to CNN.com where I can see all the breaking news from around the world. Ellen Stevens

Pretty much news online for me these days. I have a regular rotation of CNN, MSNBC and ESPN.com going. Between those three I can usually keep all bases covered. William Smith

Aside from grazing through sections A and B of the Arizona Republic for client news monitoring, I turn on CNN every morning and watch as I get ready for work. I also like NYTimes.com for headlines and slideshows. Renee Airo

I get nearly all of my news from various online sources, with most of it coming in through Google Reader and Twitter. There isn’t a specific type of news that I seek out. As I’m browsing I will typically ensure that I visit CNN, The New York Times, and several other mainstream media outlets to get their opinion of what’s current. I’ll usually avoid opinion pieces on these sites because said writers have typically proven themselves to be biased idiots on television. Sites like Reddit have proven useful at picking out the real stories to follow. You wouldn’t know it from just scanning the front page, but longtime users regularly discover bits and pieces they’d never hear about otherwise, or that the mainstream media would not deem exciting enough for coverage. I tweet every now and then about how news sources like CNN have a really skewed sense of what’s relevant (http://twitpic.com/h2md). Did you know Bush just enacted a “midnight regulation” allowing coal companies to dump waste materials into streams and valleys? It isn’t on CNN, but it’s on Reddit. Another great source is Slashdot, but you have to be a total geek to grok it. Joseph Jaramillo

RSS Feeds from qualified reporters and journalists. They’re fast to scan and I can subscribe to only those things I’m most interested in. Roger Hurni

Feeds – work related and general news items Online – CNN.com, AZCentral.com, ESPN.com Radio – NPR, Howard Stern Chris Sietsema

My primary source is online, mostly Google News, as I like to scan what’s happening in the world from politics and finance to sports and entertainment. And by “scan”, I mean I read headlines and intros unless the story is extremely interesting. My secondary news source is John Stewart’s Daily Show. While it is news satire, his show does a great job finding the funny in real-world politics and world news. Judi Merrick

Rather my news gets me. I'm pretty sure one can't really miss current going ons by simply moving through an urban day. The only news I actively sought was a subscription to US Weekly 6 months ago. Even then, after appearing in my mailbox each Friday, "the news" winds up on my coffee table unread until next weeks installment pushes it to the recycle bin. I want my money back. Amanda Wolfe

CNN and ESPN daily onsite - consuming feeds for these sites make time management difficult - twitter and random blogs for industry news throughout the day everyday, and specific topical sites/feeds/blogs for the rest at least weekly (ex. music – pitchforkmedia.com). I’m far less of a feed reader at the moment, still dieting from my last round of feed gluttony and information overload. Mike Corak

About the Author: Eric Reid

I am the Social Media Services Manager for Off Madison Ave. I've been with the company since 2006, when I was hired to do SEO, and link building in particular. When social networking sites started cropping up, at first I started using them to create backlinks - but they weren't the best for that, given all of the "nofollow" attributes. However, I did see the potential for all of the direct referral traffic they represent. Since then I've been actively pursuing both tactics for clients: Links that can help them for search, and social postings that get them involved in the conversation. It's about the coolest job you could ever get. ;)

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