It is also why, only the BBC News, has talked about Mastodon.
We do not have real news in America.
In America we have a celebrity type reporter interviewing another celebrity type reporting about how they feel and think about whatever is going on. We have "news" that is far too opinionated and far too political and, as you pointed out, far too deep in corporate pockets to be factual.
@maria@Linux_Is_Best
I'm not even going to joke. Even though the sect running it is of the "cuckoo" variety, and that I'm openly hostile to religion in general, the Christian Science Monitor actually has solid reporting. I have a subscription just because of the in-depth reporting.
I second the CSM. They have great non-hysterical reporting. They were founded with seed money by the founder of Christian Science Mary Baker Eddy. She was harassed by Joseph Pulitzer who tried to get her committed for insanity. After she won her case, she helped found the paper as a public service (a big thing in early 20th century US) on the stipulation that it had to be named the Christian Science Monitor and that it had to have one CS opinion piece. 1/2
@seanbala: I knew that the editorial board was independent, but definitely wasn't familiar with all the details of ownership/funding. The US media landscape is dire, and there's not really much I can turn to for breaking coverage.
When my Spanish was better, I found the local Spanish-language channel almost a necessity for some coverage.
@Linux_Is_Best@maria The news itself isn’t, and the editorial board is far more than the Beeb which for decades now is pretty much just a mouthpiece for the government in power.
@Linux_Is_Best: What are you even talking about? Literally 10 seconds with Google and a ton of reporting about clergy abuse and molestation comes up from them. Believe what you want, but don't fscking post outright falsehoods.
There's no affiliation with the Catholic church for one thing.
@Linux_Is_Best@sawwavemedia@maria
On TV, the BBC News channel's presenters are still signing off with "you can reach me at", but with no explicit reference to "Tweet" (or Twitter or X).
Meanwhile, @BBCRD recently set up an official presence (for the entire Beeb) on their own Fedi server.
@Linux_Is_Best@maria Please don’t kid yourself that the BBC is anything but an enforced stealth-tax funded mouthpiece for the basket-case uk tory government.
And before anyone mentions Red Nose Day, know that hosting that is merely asking an already strapped public to pick up the tab for the government’s deliberate and ideological modus operandi of corruption, incompetence and neglect.
The BBC and Daily Fail, keeping turkeys voting for stuffing since 1896..
@Linux_Is_Best
And in the UK, we have a “public service broadcaster” that is a mouthpiece for the Conservative party.
International news is mostly good and mostly accurate, but lies by omission are the norm if it reflects badly on the Conservative government.
Their drama, comedy, arts and documentaries are generally pretty good though.
We do have real news sources in America; you just have to go look for them. Pro Publica, for instance, who among other things broke the Justice Clarence Sale story. Proper long form well researched journalism.
lots of alternative media is shit. conspiratorial nonsense. but the fact that it also has less money and attention behind it leads lots of people to dismiss it when they shouldn't.
alternative media is also less encumbered by the need to comfort the comfortable. so then many others over index on this real concern, rejecting too much much of the mainstream and reflexively accepting too much that challenges it.
@maria This sentiment seems popular but wrong. We all know journalists love(d) Twitter. It was one place they could go to find stories that they knew would drive article views, because the tweets about it were already capturing attention. When writing about those events, Twitter inevitably became part of the story. They may eventually have to break up with it and if they come here, you'll see the same thing happen here. This isn't necessarily a good thing. I regret how tabloid the news became.
I'm a journalist! We didn't/don't all use Twitter the same way, or for the same purposes, then or now. Research, finding colleagues abroad, gauging the temperature of breaking news... many many reasons
Now I have it as a forwarding address, and to tell people to come here, and occassionally to boost stories... but I only really engage here, and to a lesser extent on bluesky
These distinctions matter a lot, because journalism can focus public attention in both good ways and bad.
Given how bad the media coverage is of fedi, saying it is hard to use, hard to sign up to, perhaps those of us who are here, are the best people to advocate the fediverse.
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