Ask HN: Untainted International News Sources | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Untainted International News Sources

7 pointspolycaster7 comments

Hi!

In times like these it is interesting to get an insight into the sentiment in other countries and cultures. Of course there are a number of non-western news outlets broadcasting in English. E.q. South China Morning Post or Russia Today. Yet, I have the strong impression (or at least the suspicion) those institutions follow a specific agenda for their English recipients which doesn't align with the picture they paint when addressing their local audience.

In Germany we have a nationwide radio station called Deutschlandfunk (DLF) which delivers an international newsreel [1]. This is about the kind if content I have in mind. Unfortunately DLF is under public law so I'm not sure if it can be considered politically neutral, particularly when it comes to picking topics. Usually topics are being selected that somehow relate to current topics in local news or are affecting German citizens. But that's not a way to see what others see.

So, my question: Do you know a source for international news that...?

- ... deliveres 1:1 translations of local news on current topics

- ... picks topics in a not very tendentious way (which I believe is hard)

[1] https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/internationale-presseschau-100.html

The Conversation (https://theconversation.com)

“The Conversation Australia and New Zealand is a unique collaboration between academics and journalists that in just 10 years has become the world’s leading publisher of research-based news and analysis.

Everything you read here is created by academics and journalists working together, supported by a team of digital technology experts. Our professional editors turn knowledge and insights from academics into easy-to-read articles, and make them accessible to readers like you.

All our work is free to read and free to republish under Creative Commons. We do this as a not-for-profit company guided by a clear purpose: to provide access to quality explanatory journalism essential for healthy democracy.”

Ref: https://theconversation.com/au/who-we-are

Main site, pick from many editions as the site has gone international with more University partners.

Though not likely what you had in mind, you can try talking with people directly "on the air" via radio communications. It's interesting to speak with someone and hear things straight from them instead of a reporter telling us what they think we should know. Large grain of salt with this method as you only get one person's viewpoint. It looks like the Ukrainian call signs start with EM-EO.

http://www.arrl.org/international-call-sign-series

If I had to pick one news publication, it would be the Financial Times. In my opinion, they are generally objective because their readers are businesspeople and traders.

Alternatively, you could read a variety of news sources from around the world. That way you’ll get different perspectives.

If you read a lot of sources you can mostly understand the hard facts. But most of news is analysis, which is done by humans, so ...

DLF is as much tainted as the BBC or NPR world news. Pure government propaganda. You can also see it in real time whenever government changes, how the DLF reporting shifts with it.

Rather pick more independent nations, like ORF Ö1 or Swiss Radio.

Btw I've worked in both government propaganda radio and independent radio.

There aren't any. All news sources are biased.

Obviously it makes a huge difference in how hard they try to convey information.

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