I am Moving Away from Traditional News

Written by Thomas Baekdal on August 24, 2009

For the next 30 days I am going to be relying completely on non-traditional news sources. I am going to stop reading traditional newspapers, watch any news on TV, or listen to the radio.

The point is that I keep getting told by members of the traditional press that social news cannot possibly replace traditional news. And I think it already has.

Despite that I am still reading 3-4 traditional newspapers (online) every day. It's the first thing I do every morning, just after checking my social feeds. And every morning a feel frustrated by the time I have wasted reading them.

Here is an example of news headlines on CNN:

At least 38 feared dead in India rains
Kenyan offers livestock dowry for Chelsea Clinton
Harrington lead trimmed as Tiger lurks in Ohio
Sources: Wanted terror suspect Top killed
Harrington returns to form at Bridgestone
India intercepts North Korean ship
Sotomayor poised to take oath as Supreme Court justice
86 missing in Tonga ferry sinking
'Survivor Package': Luxury hotel offers campy deal for $19 a night
In-vitro meat: Would lab-burgers be better for the planet and us?
War by remote
Bride's lover pops murder plot
2 dead in hunt for Indonesian terrorists

None of these have any relevance to me as a person. None of them is useful for what I have to do. How can news about a local ferry accident in a very remote region of the planet be relevant to me living in Europe?

The only story that is even remotely interesting is the one about the lab burgers', but that is only because I like future trends.

Traditional news is a huge waste of everyone's time. And I am going to stop using them. At first for 30 days, but if it goes well... forever.

How I will read the news

Instead of turning to traditional sources (newspapers, TV and radio) I will be relying on 3 different sources:

Social News, via sites like Twitter, Facebook
(Social) news aggregators
Varies RSS feeds, although none from traditional news companies.

If someone post a really good article from the New York Times on Twitter, then I am still going to read it. But I will not go the their site to see if there is anything new.