News360

I am kind of a news junkie, but I have grown concerned that the movement toward presenting news from a perspective makes it difficult to really become informed about what is going on. I really do not know that news in the days of Cronkite and Edward Morrow was more accurate, but this is a popular perspective. Now, it is obvious Fox and MSNBC are interpreting the same events with different explanations. Somehow, I would think the access allowed by the Internet would offer a solution, but more perspectives do not necessarily offer greater clarity.

My present effort at understanding makes use of News360. This site, accessible via a browser of app, organizes the day’s news by story and provides multiple versions of a story as reported by different sources. In addition, if allowed, News360 analyzes my browsing behavior to identify topics I am interested in. The idea, as I interpret it, is to offer me options for understanding stories I will likely find interesting. I guess sorting our the the different “takes” on the events is up to me. You do not have to take advantage of this feature if you object to a service learning about your preferences.

So, for example, candidate Romney recently selected a running mate, and I was interested in the supposed differences in the reported views of the candidate on key issues with Paul Ryan having more conservative views. My personal take had been that the choice was an effort to appease the far right and I wanted to see how the disparity was being interpreted by different news sources.