Over the last few years I've made a habit of trying to understand others as much as possible. Historically I only read left-leaning sources but after exposing myself to more, it became clear that I was blind to the other side's perspective. I've found that there was typically validity to multiple views on most topics, and that selection bias (what news sources choose to cover) was a big problem. So these days I visit a number of sources, which is easier today because there are sites that try to represent views from different parts of the spectrum. Staying informed does take time (at least an hour a day), money (supporting news via subscriptions), and effort (takes away mental energy from other things).

Apart from the list below I also read and subscribe to a few different local news sources. Over the last several years, local news has been dying (financial issues) and I think that's a bad thing because it means you miss things happening around you that affect your life more so than national news, and because you only get a homogeneous national perspective (often reduced to a left versus right axis) instead of the more diverse issue-to-issue variation that is possible locally. I recommend identifying a few local sources near you if you have the time to read!

UNCATEGORIZED

1. Hacker News (I check the first couple pages several times a day)

2. Matt Taibbi (https://taibbi.substack.com - investigative reporting by a former Rolling Stone journalist)

3. Glenn Greenwald (https://greenwald.substack.com - cofounder of The Intercept, known for breaking Snowden's revelations)

4. Quillette (https://quillette.com/ - a news journal for intellectual conversations on controversial topics)

5. Stratechery (https://stratechery.com/ - analysis of news and economics of the tech industry)

6. ArsTechnica (https://arstechnica.com/ - tech news, although I've seen increasing left-bias where their stories intersect with politics)

LEFT LEANING NEWS

1. New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/ - just their notifications typically)

2. Washington Post (washingtonpost.com/ - just their notifications typically, but it seems like a mirror of NYT for the most part)

3. ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/ - non-profit investigative journalism)

4. The Economist (https://www.economist.com/ - good for economic news and international current affairs)

5. Vox (https://www.vox.com/ - news with a progressive bias)

6. Jacobin (https://www.jacobinmag.com/ - news with a far-left/socialist bias)

CENTRIST NEWS

1. The Hill (https://thehill.com/ - in my opinion, perhaps the most balanced news source out there today)

2. Axios (https://www.axios.com/ - useful if you're short on time because of how they summarize articles)

3. Wall Street Journal (their push notifications and The 10-Point, which is an email newsletter summarizing the Top 10 stories of the day, a members only benefit)

4. The New Paper (thenewpaper.co - free email newsletter summarizing the top stories of the day)

5. All Sides (https://www.allsides.com - a multi-source news aggregator, with bias ratings)

6. Ground News (https://ground.news/ - a multi-source news aggregator, with bias ratings)

RIGHT LEANING NEWS

1. Fox - (https://www.foxnews.com/ - right leaning news)

2. New York Post (https://nypost.com/ - right-leaning news, stick to the News and Opinion and not the tabloid categories)

3. Reason (https://reason.com/ - I hesitate to label them right-leaning. They're pretty balanced and centrist, and libertarian more than right-biased)

4. The Post Millennial (https://thepostmillennial.com/ - a newer news site that is willing to challenge the coverage of left-biased mainstream sources)

5. The Federalist (https://thefederalist.com/ - right-biased news and opinion site)

6. The National Review (https://www.nationalreview.com/ - right-biased news and opinion site)

And then there's the usual social media stuff:

1. Reddit - just my main feed, carefully curated to unsubscribe from all the major subreddits, which are toxic and constantly brigaded

2. Instagram - I preferred Instagram when it wasn't overrun with politics and now I see almost exclusively political things due to who I follow. Even though you can't link to things easily, it somehow seems easier than Facebook's slow interface

3. Facebook - it's a wasteland but I mostly use it to follow news shared by particular groups and nothing else

4. LinkedIn - it's become increasingly like Facebook, with people mostly sharing political/activist things, so this may fall off my list soon

5. NextDoor - I try to avoid it because it is a political war zone but it's probably the best way to get hyperlocal neighborhood news

I don't use Twitter anymore at all unless someone or something links me to a specific Twitter thread. I've found that Twitter is by far the most toxic and damaging social media service. I've been much happier, less anxious, and better informed since dropping it and shifting to "slower" news sources.