Someone asked me today where I get my facts...in other words, what I listen to and read for news. I've thought about it and here goes:
Every morning starting at 7:00 a.m., I go through the Google feed to see what is trending. Then I read several newspapers on line. I like the New York Times and the Washington Post. I read the opinion pieces in both because both newspapers include conservative and liberal views. For state news, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel with side trips into the Capitol Times and the Appleton Post-Crescent. I skim through those. I'm not into sports or obituaries so it doesn't take long.
I often get the Daily Show with John Stewart and the Colbert Report on Comedy Central on line, both because they are funny and because Stewart is one of the best interviewers on television. When he has an author as a guest, he actually reads the books, which is amazing. As soon as his interviews are over, I order the books through the library. I watch one or the other of the shows with my cappuccino before I start the day. It's always good to start the day laughing.
I'm too busy to watch television during the day but at 5:30 p.m. I put everything aside for what I think of as my daily civics lesson. I watch the broadcast news unless they are involved in something I consider silly or over the top. For instance, half an hour on the Boston Marathon bombing is too much. After ten minutes, who learns anything new? When that happens I turn to BBC on the PBS station for something more balanced. Then I watch the PBS News Hour. Here I find news from the world with important topics debated by people with opposite views. Margaret Warner is a regular who is also on my list of great interviewers. She has no fear, going to every corner of the world, talking to terrorists, politicians and bankers. She is knowledgeable and takes no crap though she looks like somebody's grandmother.
At ten o'clock I check on my third great interviewer Charlie Rose, again on PBS, as he interviews people about the days news. His interviewees are the smartest and most important people around. Sometimes the discussion takes me deep into economics with people like Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist. Sometimes it is about an important film. For "Lincoln" he interviewed Stephen Spielberg, Sally Fields and Daniel Day-Lewis, and with them presidential historians like Doris Kearns Goodwin. You never know what subject or which guests will be there each night. Again, they lead me to read more books.
And that ends my day of news.
When Gary was in Illinois, he had access to the Quad Cities PBS and there was something wonderful: news from around the world. We could watch French, German, Australian, Spanish plus Al Jazeera news broadcasts. It was was a wonderful education to find out what people around the world were thinking. I wish we could have something similar here in Northeast Wisconsin.
Gary is another source of news. He never misses reading the New Zealand newspapers and he is particularly good at keeping me informed about environmental issues.
All in all, I think I am well informed about the day's events. My civics teachers would be proud.
Every morning starting at 7:00 a.m., I go through the Google feed to see what is trending. Then I read several newspapers on line. I like the New York Times and the Washington Post. I read the opinion pieces in both because both newspapers include conservative and liberal views. For state news, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel with side trips into the Capitol Times and the Appleton Post-Crescent. I skim through those. I'm not into sports or obituaries so it doesn't take long.
I often get the Daily Show with John Stewart and the Colbert Report on Comedy Central on line, both because they are funny and because Stewart is one of the best interviewers on television. When he has an author as a guest, he actually reads the books, which is amazing. As soon as his interviews are over, I order the books through the library. I watch one or the other of the shows with my cappuccino before I start the day. It's always good to start the day laughing.
I'm too busy to watch television during the day but at 5:30 p.m. I put everything aside for what I think of as my daily civics lesson. I watch the broadcast news unless they are involved in something I consider silly or over the top. For instance, half an hour on the Boston Marathon bombing is too much. After ten minutes, who learns anything new? When that happens I turn to BBC on the PBS station for something more balanced. Then I watch the PBS News Hour. Here I find news from the world with important topics debated by people with opposite views. Margaret Warner is a regular who is also on my list of great interviewers. She has no fear, going to every corner of the world, talking to terrorists, politicians and bankers. She is knowledgeable and takes no crap though she looks like somebody's grandmother.
At ten o'clock I check on my third great interviewer Charlie Rose, again on PBS, as he interviews people about the days news. His interviewees are the smartest and most important people around. Sometimes the discussion takes me deep into economics with people like Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist. Sometimes it is about an important film. For "Lincoln" he interviewed Stephen Spielberg, Sally Fields and Daniel Day-Lewis, and with them presidential historians like Doris Kearns Goodwin. You never know what subject or which guests will be there each night. Again, they lead me to read more books.
And that ends my day of news.
When Gary was in Illinois, he had access to the Quad Cities PBS and there was something wonderful: news from around the world. We could watch French, German, Australian, Spanish plus Al Jazeera news broadcasts. It was was a wonderful education to find out what people around the world were thinking. I wish we could have something similar here in Northeast Wisconsin.
Gary is another source of news. He never misses reading the New Zealand newspapers and he is particularly good at keeping me informed about environmental issues.
All in all, I think I am well informed about the day's events. My civics teachers would be proud.
No comments:
Post a Comment