Alternative independent news sites to BBC News

[Clariman]

DAK of any good online news sites that are broadly impartial, other than BBC News? I'm not looking for one covered with paid-for ads and click-bait.

Note. I know some people have strong opinions on whether BBC News is impartial or not, but this is a DAK question so please do not go there.

My reason for asking the question: I have increasingly found the BBC News website a bit bland and would like an alternative to supplement it.

Thanks
Clariman

[UncleEbenezer]

A severely outdated impression, but when I lived in Germany I found their serious newspapers - the Frankfurter Allgemeine and the Suddeutscher Zeitung - to be an order of magnitude better than anything in the British press.

Even longer ago I found BBC World Service to be far better than BBC domestic services.

Both those impressions date from last century, but I believe there remains some truth in them. How far that translates to anything online I don't know.

In modern times, AlJazeera has a strong reputation. Strong enough to have attracted the major wrath of its more repressive neighbours!

[BBLSP1]

On the international front, German DW https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097 and France 24 https://www.france24.com/en/ are worth a look.

[RockRabbit]

I think that the FT is by far the best UK news website. Although it (obviously!) has a financial bent, there is a lot of political and international news as well. They also do a lot of their own investigative reporting (eg Wirecard and Greensill)

The downside is the cost, which is pretty eye watering. But you can usually get a first month for £1 just to try it out (easy to cancel online).

https://www.ft.com/

[BobbyD]

I'm not sure that your twin requirements of impartial and not bland aren't to some degree pulling in opposite directions, but if i am after facts my fist ports of call are reuters and the ft.

[redsturgeon]

https://theconversation.com/uk

John

[Lanark]

https://novaramedia.com/

[Lootman]

https://novaramedia.com/

Impartial? With articles like this?

https://novaramedia.com/2021/11/24/esth ... parations/

[csearle]

https://novaramedia.com/

Impartial? With articles like this?

https://novaramedia.com/2021/11/24/esth ... parations/

The trouble with news organisations is that they either shun any kind of investigations and provide just a "balanced" view on stuff; or they try and add value by letting their teams loose on the world, who invariably uncover some injustice, which inevitably results in a political bias.

So does one want an analytical journalist that one imagines uncovers stuff which discords with ones preconceptions; or does one want an outlet that regurgitates what has already been said?

Chris

[Lanark]

https://novaramedia.com/

Impartial? With articles like this?

https://novaramedia.com/2021/11/24/esth ... parations/

Thats a 90 minute episode, I suggest you listen to the whole thing and then report back on which parts you think are lacking in impartiality.

[servodude]

https://theconversation.com/uk
John

<snap>
bit more of a magazine than a newspaper but a definite "go to" for journalists who aren't just recycling others' tweets without any proof reading

- sd

[AsleepInYorkshire]

DAK of any good online news sites that are broadly impartial, other than BBC News? I'm not looking for one covered with paid-for ads and click-bait.

Note. I know some people have strong opinions on whether BBC News is impartial or not, but this is a DAK question so please do not go there.

My reason for asking the question: I have increasingly found the BBC News website a bit bland and would like an alternative to supplement it.

Thanks
Clariman

I've noticed over the last few years that the BBC News website has been nothing short of rubbish. It doesn't report fact anymore. And often it uses emotional terms that are extremely subjective. I swear blind The Daily Mail bought them out about five years ago.

However, that doesn't answer your question. I'm fairly confident I can't help. So why am I posting?

I'm not sure really. If "we" know the news isn't being portrayed unbiasedly then why read it? If it's bland, and I agree with you it ranges from bland to emotionally subjective, then why bother at all. In the time you/we spend more and more time becoming frustrated [addicted] with internet news websites, perhaps you/we could do something more interesting with your/our time?

I think you've raised a great question. I genuinely do. But maybe the answer is the news from any direction is much the same as that offered by the BBC.

I know it's a very cynical thought. A very negative reply. But sometimes you just to have accept that your star striker has been given a red card and you're down to ten men.

AiY

[mc2fool]

https://novaramedia.com/

Impartial? With articles like this?

https://novaramedia.com/2021/11/24/esth ... parations/

Thats a 90 minute episode, I suggest you listen to the whole thing and then report back on which parts you think are lacking in impartiality.

Methinks co-founder Aaron Bastani would be upset to hear Novara Media called "impartial"! They describe themselves as "Driven to build a new media for a different politics, our journalism is always politically committed; rather than seeking to moderate between two sides of a debate, our output actively intends to feed back into political action." https://novaramedia.com/about/

Indeed, Bastani "was once dubbed Jeremy Corbyn’s “attack dog”" and "Through the Novara Media website, Mr Bastani, which was founded in 2011, had been at the forefront of the digital media drive to back Mr Corbyn’s project."
https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/jeremy-corbyn-s-attack-dog-quits-labour-allegedly-ahead-of-an-investigation-into-his-conduct-1.511596

Bastani and senior editor Ash Sarkar used to appear fairly regularly on the Daily Politics in the Corbyn days, and it was dead obvious then they are pretty much communists -- even without looking up their Wikipedia entries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Bastani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Sarkar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novara_Media

[Dod101]

The World Service of the BBC in the old days was very good but then so was the BBC domestic service. Rightly or wrongly I read The Times and I know who owns it but it is much more impartial than many and I would not give the Telegraph houseroom. The FT yes, most of the time but it is not that strong on domestic news and is at least liberal in its views most of the time. And it is expensive.

On television I too think Aljazeera is good.

Dod

[XFool]

https://theconversation.com/uk

Yes, an interesting site. But surely not primarily a site for breaking daily news, equivalent to BBC News?

My 'favourite' site (OK, not for news, more for comedy!) remains: https://conservapedia.com/Main_Page

[redsturgeon]

For breaking news you can use use Reddit which consolidates news from many sources then you can choose your own favourite bias.

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/

Personally I use a variety of sources including:

BBC
Guardian
Zerohedge
Alternet

and others, each have their own bias some (much) stronger than others

John

[kiloran]

I also use a variety of sources..... BBC, Sky, Independent, Guardian, Times, Huffington Post and others to get a varied view.
And also https://newsthump.com/ and https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/

If I had to restrict this list, I would go for BBC and The Times.

--kiloran

[XFool]

Personally I use a variety of sources including:

BBC
Guardian
Zerohedge
Alternet

"Zerohedge" ?

[Lootman]

Impartial? With articles like this?

https://novaramedia.com/2021/11/24/esth ... parations/

Thats a 90 minute episode, I suggest you listen to the whole thing and then report back on which parts you think are lacking in impartiality.

Methinks co-founder Aaron Bastani would be upset to hear Novara Media called "impartial"! They describe themselves as "Driven to build a new media for a different politics, our journalism is always politically committed; rather than seeking to moderate between two sides of a debate, our output actively intends to feed back into political action." https://novaramedia.com/about/

Indeed, Bastani "was once dubbed Jeremy Corbyn’s “attack dog”" and "Through the Novara Media website, Mr Bastani, which was founded in 2011, had been at the forefront of the digital media drive to back Mr Corbyn’s project."

Just the intro to the "episode" is riddled with bias so I feel no need to listen to however they chose to rationalise their biased cause. And indeed the rest of your post goes on to describe their lack of impartiality!

[AF62]

DAK of any good online news sites that are broadly impartial, other than BBC News?
…
My reason for asking the question: I have increasingly found the BBC News website a bit bland and would like an alternative to supplement it.

Thanks
Clariman

The problem is that to deliver impartial news it is either bland so it doesn’t upset anyone or there are a mixture of pieces with each setting out a different point of view.

The trouble with the latter approach is those who seek to be offended and look for bias only see the pieces that disagree with their viewpoint and ignore the others, and so call ‘biased reporting’.

The only realistic way to achieve a balance is to read a wide variety of news sources, both those who’s viewpoint you might agree with and those you find obnoxious, and then somewhere in between the truth might exist.