For many years, I'd considered Google News to be one of the Net's truly fair and balanced news sources. But as Faux News, the Wall Street Journal, and other criminally insane propagandists have come to dominate the Google News headline service, I no longer believe that to be so.
Though I'd initially feared that it would be very difficult to find adequate alternatives to GN, I'm pleased to say that a few readily available alternatives I've been using for the last few days might make it very easy indeed to walk away from what has become a pretty degenerate entity.
Habitually angry is no way to go through life, and it's gotten to the point at which Google News -- the news site that I've scanned at least several times each day for the last 5-10 years -- has started to keep my hackles habitually raised. I'm sick and tired of scrolling through Google News looking for a fast, efficient update on the day's doings, only to be visually assaulted by right-wing meme after right-wing meme after right-wing meme.
Heckuva job, Google. So much for not being evil, huh?
In a sane world, Google News would automatically filter out the appalling militarist, racist, American-exceptionalist, laissez-faire lunacy of FOX, the Wall Street Journal, et.al. Sadly, though, such bastions of militant sociopathy and felony stupidity seem to get more and more of Google News real estate with each passing day. Google News needs to clean up its act, sharpen its filters and stop legitimizing that which is not legitimate, but criminally insane. Until that's done, many of us need alternatives, and Google needs whatever motivation we can provide to tune up its site.
Complicating the process of abandoning Google News, however, is the fact that it's just so darn easy and fast to use. Most other good, mainstream news sources -- even those on the internet -- take considerably more time and effort to use. To be honest, I'd gotten so comfortable with GN that I'd long since forgotten about the existence of viable alternatives.
Well, it's taken me a couple days, but I've bumped into a few good -- if not better -- alternatives -- functional approximations of -- and in some cases improvements on -- what has been especially useful about GN:
*(Please note that all of the following are text-only or nearly so; ordinary websites are, I think, way too cluttered to compete with Google News when it comes to usability.)*
NY Times AP headlines: http://www.nytimes.com/...
Alternet Mobile: http://www.alternet.org/...
BBC (Americas) Mobile: http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
Reuters Mobile: http://mobile.reuters.com/...
I'm sure I'll find other fine alternatives in the days ahead.
In the meantime, please feel free to suggest other relatively fascism-free, easy- and fast-to-use news sources for the benefit of those of us who have gotten way too comfortable with Google News.