News and Opinion Websites That We Follow
We live in a post-truth world, with a daily barrage of lies. Some are intentionally spread by domestic and foreign anti-democratic forces. Others are spread unintentionally by people who haven’t fact checked inflammatory information but instead forward it on. And social media algorithms care nothing about the truth, they only want to hype people’s emotions to get more clicks. So, how can you distinguish truth from misinformation?
Below, we share which news outlets or expert commentary three of our committee members use to stay informed. Independent media is a fantastic alternative to legacy media, and we want to encourage everyone to diversify their news diet. Most of the recommended resources are free and not behind a paywall. It has become easier to find reliable, truthful information.
For Hawai’i news, Sam reads Civil Beat, West Hawai’i Today and especially Gary Hooser’s blog. To keep up with the broader world, Sam recommends several substacks: The Contrarian and Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo for in-depth news, Timothy Snyder and Anne Applebaum for international events, Paul Krugman and Adam Tooze for economics, Sherrilyn Ifill for Civil Rights, Steve Vladeck for the Supreme Court, Andrew Weisman for the Justice Department, Joyce Vance and Preet Bharara for the rule of law and Revolving Door Project to track public corruption. For breaking news, Sam uses Bluesky and checks The Guardian newspaper.
Maryellen loves Robert Reich, a former Secretary of Labor and founder of Inequality Media. She also refers to Axios, Vox’s political coverage, MeidasTouch News, Mother Jones, and Democracy Docket. A lifelong supporter of professional journalism, she loves public media (including PBS and NPR) and still follows traditional media sources, like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Guardian.
Martina prefers to watch the news and commentary on YouTube, so she subscribes to the MeidasTouch Network (#MeidasMighty) and Legal AF, plus Brian Tyler Cohen, Democracy Docket, Glenn Kirchner, PoliticsGirl (epic kitchen rants!), Adam Mockler (GenZ contributor), Jim Stewartson, and the Lincoln Project.
Yvette’s favorite progressive news and opinion sites are the New York Times, AlterNet, Raw Story, https://www.npr.org/, The Guardian, PBS, Slate, Propublica, Politifact, Snopes, Politico, The Atlantic, Vox, Al Jazeera, Pew Research Center, and Wired.
If you do only one thing of all the suggestions, please read the daily newsletter of Heather Cox Richardson, one of the most popular American historians (covering the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians and more). Historians have a perspective on our country that many of us lack. You can learn an incredible amount from her Substack, “Letters from an American,” which has over 2.6 million subscribers. It is a Must Read.