Information Diet Inventory

Return to Critical Thinking

News and Current Information and Opinion

List your current news and information with a brief description of focus and bias.

• BBC - international news, non-US perspectives, us: liberal/socialist, europe:mainstream/centrist
• Corriere Della Sera - Italian news
• New York Times - national and international news, opinion, global: centrist/conservative, us: liberal/left
• Spokesman-Review - local news, centrist/conservative
• The Inlander - local news, liberal
• iGoogle - weather, customized aggregator for article links for news and interests
• The Economist - international news, non-US perspectives, global: conservative free market, socially liberal
• The Atlantic - news, features
• The New Yorker - New York liberal. Very smart writers.

Information about Books, Movies, Music

List sources for information about culture and arts.

• New York Review of Books - Opinion, Book reviews, notable work across many academic discipines
• [last.fm LastFM] - collaborative filter, basic information about artists
• Pitchfork - reviews of independent music
• The Inlander - local music/events, local: liberal
• Personal recommendations from friends
• Meta-critic
• Rotten Tomatoes
• IMDB
• Amazon

Political Cultural Perspective Balancing

Use this section to identify sources that would balance or diversify your primary trusted sources.

• Human Events
• Commentary
• American Spectator
• Slate
• Salon

Special Interests

Use this section for topics or interests that you follow aside from general news and cultural information.

• [www.scientificamerican.com Scientific American]
• [www.finewoodworking.com Fine Woodworking]
• [www.reason.com Reason] - liberatarian perspective
• [www.sciencenews.com Science News]

Critical Questions

• Do your sources cover a range of news from local to global?
• How would you assess the relative objectivity and balance of your sources?
• If you were trying to balance your sources, what perspectives would you add?