Best website for world news?

I'm really interested in the world's politics, economics, current affairs etc but I find it very difficult to find a proper website that features articles on international issues AND focuses on the BIG PICTURE of what's going on - along with good coverage of the history of that particular topic. Allow me to illustrate using a few examples.

I don't know if it's just me or something, but I find the layout of guardian.co.uk/world rather confusing. TIME on the other hand have started posting "featured" articles that require membership access, and quite often articles there are rather stupid (e.g. 50 things you didn't know about spongebob squarepants, Is the world ending?, Burma's T-Shirt Trade etc etc). The Economist thinks they are so smart that countries should do what they think needs done - so egotistical that I can't bear to continue reading despite some of their articles are indeed well written.

What I mean with "news sites that focuses on the big picture" are sites that show us the big picture of what's going on/might happen between the two countries (e.g. Diplomacy between Afghan and America) because of this particular incident. Bombings on the other side of the world, killing dozens of people are indeed disheartening, but reading articles like those don't help me analyse the big picture. What I look for are the impact of this incident on the bigger issues and what previous incidents that lead to this event (etc).

I like New York Times Topics very much, and I also visit ForeignPolicy.com and Guardian's Comment is Free rather often. My main source of news is still Guardian, but I'm sure there's a better site out there somewhere.

What say you?

P.s. I just realised I'm a FULL MEMBER! YAAAY! :banana:

(edited 12 years ago)

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Reply 1

Bagration

You have to read more, not better, to get the proper picture. You have to have been following something. I like:
Independent
BBC
Reuters (for its sheer terseness)

Reply 2

someonesomewherexx

The Economist: you only need to sign in and then some.

Reply 3

Polygoof

Try reading the press of different countries (there are also English-language versions of many foreign newspapers/newspaper websites) to get a better idea of what people think about the same issues around the world.

Reply 4

Aj12

Get a twitter account and follow a few websites. That way you can get the headlines from a large number of sites as well as opinion articles

Reply 5

tehFrance

Original post by Polygoof

Try reading the press of different countries.

This, I read the Financial Times, Коммерса́нтъ, Le Figaro, Le Monde, the Moscow Times, the New York Times and the Telegraph, it basically covers France, UK and US news with views on worldwide stories on a lot of stuff... if I had more time, I'd read more :h:

To be honest it is better to read localised news rather than the local news with an international pov.

Reply 6

johnconnor92

Original post by Aj12

Get a twitter account and follow a few websites. That way you can get the headlines from a large number of sites as well as opinion articles

Which accounts do you follow? I follow CNN's breaking news, AP, Reuters, NYTimes World.

Reply 7

Aj12

Original post by johnconnor92

Which accounts do you follow? I follow CNN's breaking news, AP, Reuters, NYTimes World.

NYT
NYT election one.
Al Jazeera
BBC
The Economist
Reuters
The Independent

Just added CNN

Reply 8

Obfuscator

I love english language Al Jazeera for coverage of the middle east, and usually more cynical coverage of the west which is useful to burst the bubble. The Economist is also pretty good on world news, I get the magazine, though, not sure how good the website is.

Reply 9

silent ninja

Read a variety of sources and try to read between the lines, learn what the real story is. As you read so many sources, it shouldn't be too hard to separate fact from fiction which are often conflated. I'd urge people to read foreign news. The FT is probably the least biased this side of the world, but it's short and to the point.

You can also refer to modern thinkers for the big picture, such as Noam Chomski.

Reply 10

johnconnor92

Original post by silent ninja

Well I know A.C. Grayling, and that's almost it. I like Fareed Zakaria's articles too. Very nicely written.

"FT" stands for "Financial Times", right?

Original post by Aj12

The Independent

Please don't hate me for saying this, but how good is The Independent? I always step away from their articles because I notice my friends share a lot of their silly articles (names of which I have forgotten, but as a fellow facebook user I'm sure you've stumbled upon a few). That gives me a negative impression on their articles.

Can anyone please correct my misconception - if it's indeed false?

Reply 13

ak137

Original post by Aj12

NYT
NYT election one.
Al Jazeera
BBC
The Economist
Reuters
The Independent

Just added CNN

lulz

Original post by johnconnor92

If im correct, The Independent is on par with The Guardian. So yeah, pretty reliable.

Reply 14

Aj12

Original post by johnconnor92

Some are pretty good. Obviously they have a few crappy articles but so do all news sites. Its what I like about Twitter, you can easily scroll past the crap ones and find the good ones.

Reply 15

Swanbow

I just stick with BBC News, it's non-partial and provides a wide selection on world news, albeit often very brief.

Al Jazeera of course

people should follow alternative news sources as well as the mainstream. if you exclusively follow one or the other you are likely to turn into either a brainwashed automaton or a conspiracy theorist.

Reply 18

johnconnor92

Original post by thunder_chunky

Al Jazeera of course

Am I right to say that Al Jazeera was practically unheard of by the rest of the world before the Arab Spring? Well at least for me it was.

What facts have you got to support your statement for it being the "best" news site?

Reply 19

thunder_chunky

Original post by johnconnor92

I was being sarcastic, and no, Al Jazeera has been in the public eye for at least a decade. Bin Laden used to send his video and audio taped messages to AJ to broadcast.