How to Stay Well Informed on What is Going on in the World

Many of us watch or listen to the news, while others of us catch random headlines here and there throughout our daily lives. Here's a few tips to help you make sure you stay well informed.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Radio
• Access to local Library
• Internet
• Television

1. Know that many stations are biased. Political affiliations, Religious views, and, all the impolite conversation topics that we're supposed to veer away from usually affect what gets relayed to the general public. Some advertise themselves as being balanced news stations just to portray the same sense of bias.

2. Watch more than one news station that have differing opinions, also listen to more than one radio station. If you are conservative, listen to both conservative and liberal stations to get a better idea of what is going on, and visa versa.

3. Know that even with listening to more than one station that this is media. They can and will take information and twist or turn it to best interest the crowd and get good ratings. Take things with a grain of salt. If you are particularly interested or appalled by something the media is reporting, do your own research via online or the library to find out both sides of the story, and after seeing different media stations spin on things, try to find cold hard facts out for yourself, and see what you think about it.

4. Know your politics. Political campaigns can be the worst. Arguments divide friends, and family members alike, and we are all getting information from whatever media happens to be spitting out slander, lies, or popular gossip. Several websites are dedicated to pointing out the facts of what each candidate ACTUALLY says and does, vs what they are accused of or claim. These sites are completely not biased and point out truth and lies of each candidate.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't know, research it rather than argue yourself into a hole, then get back to the person asking or trying to argue with you.
• One of the worst dangers is fanatic ignorance, be well informed!

[melissalewis]

on 8/17/2009 Nice job - I usually slack on this precisely for some of the reasons you outlined. It takes some work! 5*

[onenight]

on 8/3/2009 Good tips! 5* & Recommended you. =)

[merken]

on 7/27/2009 excellent advice "blckink"! ... getting to know a little bit about the sponsors of the stations helps, as well as definitely getting familiar with the background of the "journalists" or "commentators".. and EVERYONE should be aware of what other groups of people are thinking and perceiving around the country... as well as the globe. My favorite source - NPR, NY Times, Economist, but also good to know local people's perspectives (esp. in other countries); know what irks them and what they need

[fraph]

on 7/23/2009 Very well written! Thanks

[sneedc]

on 6/26/2009 You're right about the bias slant; it's good to get info from a myriad of sources, thanks! 5*