# Where do you get your online news from? Do you pay for it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** magazines-newspapers\ **Created:** [July 30, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019 "2026-07-30T13:44:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/1 "2026-07-30T13:44:52Z")
“Your topic is similar to…” has a few accurate hits subject-wise, but not very timely–the newest thread goes back to 2007: - [What’s your on-line news source?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-on-line-news-source/41078)[In My Humble Opinion](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/in-my-humble-opinion/14) - [So… Where do you get your news?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-you-get-your-news/117830)[In My Humble Opinion](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/in-my-humble-opinion/14) - [Your Source For News? Internet/Television/Newspapers?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-source-for-news-internet-television-newspapers/390899) So it seems like a high time for a new one… I tend to triangulate when I get my news sources. Or maybe, ‘jump around depending on my mood’ is more accurate. Sometimes I want fairly neutral, unbiased, ‘just the facts’ news. Sometimes I want something more opinionated and to the left: “can you believe what these idiots did now?” type news. Other times I want to get a feel for how some story is being spun on the right, so I go to a site like _foxnews[dot]com_ and try not to throw up in my mouth a little. My usual go-to “start my day” news sites recently have been _nbcnews[dot]com_ and _ms[dot]now_. I have a lot more sites I visit, but those were the ‘top of the morning scan the headlines pages’ for me. _nbcnews_ has more neutral ‘just the facts’ style headlines, while _ms[dot]now_’s headlines (and articles) often have a much more opinionated tone to them (I tend to think of _ms[dot]now_ as ‘_rawstory_ lite’). But lately maybe 50-60% of nbcnews’ articles are ‘subscriber only’. I know, people need to get paid, and apparently ad revenue alone doesn’t cut it for most news sites. More and more news sites that used to be free seem to be moving to subscription models, like _CNN news_. I want to support a free press (well, not so free anymore, haha). But I’m already getting nickel-and-dimed to death with subscriptions. _ms[dot]now_ alone is not neutral enough for my liking. _abcnews[dot]com_ still seems to be free, and neutral enough, so that may become my new morning go-to for now. So I ask you-- where do you get your news these days? Do you have one or more news sites that you trust enough to subscribe to? Say, is _nytimes[dot] com_ worth the sub price? What (still, so far) free sites do you like? Do you have some sites you prefer for political news, and others for more general, ‘scanning the headlines’ news? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/2 "2026-07-30T14:13:43Z")
I remain mainly NPR & BBCnews sites. I use to use Reuters, but they’ve made it harder to use their site, so now I use them far less. I don’t pay for news at this point. Well actually we’re small contributors to NPR, so that is kind of like paying I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/3 "2026-07-30T14:15:35Z")
NPR and Reddit. And, of course and with much gratitude, this place! Occasionally I access some foreign news from BBC or Canadian organizations. I am planning to donate to NPR this month. But I do not pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/4 "2026-07-30T14:16:48Z")
I pay for Washington Post and New York Times and for my sad local newspaper–all online. I donate to NPR, but I’m in the car so seldom anymore (which is where I used to always listen to it on my 45 mins X 2 commute) that it’s not much of a news source. I watch Rachel Maddow, but NO other TV news at all and haven’t for 25+ years. Hate the talking heads who keep saying nothing over and over while laughing and smiling. Bring back Walter Cronkite! And, of course, here–the best news aggregator around. I would gladly pay to subscribe to the Dope, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to do that. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/5 "2026-07-30T14:19:11Z")
For politics: mostly Talking Points Memo. I’m a paid member, but you can see most of their stuff free. It’s a fantastic left-leaning news outfit, with plenty of genuine, high quality original reporting as well as analysis and opinion. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/6 "2026-07-30T14:34:42Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > And, of course, here–the best news aggregator around. I would gladly pay to subscribe to the Dope, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to do that. Same for me. Links to The Guardian, etc. My only paid subscription is the NY Times. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/7 "2026-07-30T14:34:46Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I remain mainly NPR & BBCnews sites. > [@Ellecram](#): > > NPR > > […] > > Occasionally I access some foreign news from BBC or Canadian organizations. Yes, NPR is a good one. And I do like BBC for an outsider’s perspective of what is happening in our country. I visit both those sites, but I wouldn’t count them as my 'top of the morning go-to". Not that I’m asking just for that type of site, just saying. > [@Ellecram](#): > > And, of course and with much gratitude, this place! > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > And, of course, here–the best news aggregator around. I would gladly pay to subscribe to the Dope, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to do that. Yes, for sure! And I’m very grateful for the gift links to articles at sites like the New York Times and the Atlantic that Dopers share. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > For politics: mostly Talking Points Memo. I used to visit TPM regularly. Didn’t the site and its founder lose some credibility over some political bad call or unpopular opinion at some point? I’m thinking maybe in calling a Kamala Harris win a ‘slam dunk’ or something? I could be badly misremembering this, but it seems like I actively got turned off from visiting TPM for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/8 "2026-07-30T14:37:10Z")
Online only. I subscribe toNYT & The Guardian,I’ll skim Apple News feed for free articles. Local news channels too but they’re thick with ads. As well as progressive news journalists on IG. Aaron Parnas lately. For gossip it’s TMZ. And the Daily Mail as I like to downvote their maga articles and troll them in the comments. Also on occasion I like to read what’s reported in the military publications. Military Times, Stars and Stripes. I’ll listen to Fox on sxm, until I start yelling back. ---
**Author:** ![knavette57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knavette57/32/3871_2.png) [@knavette57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knavette57)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/9 "2026-07-30T14:37:52Z")
Here!. NPR, too. I love the Frontline Series, and the local Donnybrook (St Louis). I don’t pay for any of this, but do subscribe to the Atlantic and read it online. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/10 "2026-07-30T14:49:23Z")
I mostly look at NBC News and the New York Times. NBC news was completely free until recently. Now a lot of their articles require a subscription, which I don’t have. Their streaming service is still free, at least for now. The Times requires a subscription, which I also don’t have. But I signed up for their email newsletters, which gives access to quite a few articles. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/11 "2026-07-30T14:58:43Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I used to visit TPM regularly. Didn’t the site and its founder lose some credibility over some political bad call or unpopular opinion at some point? I’m thinking maybe in calling a Kamala Harris win a ‘slam dunk’ or something? I could be badly misremembering this, but it seems like I actively got turned off from visiting TPM for some reason. I’m not aware of anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/12 "2026-07-30T14:59:48Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Also on occasion I like to read what’s reported in the military publications. Military Times, Stars and Stripes. Interesting. Do those sites tend to heavily lean right-wing? I mean, under the trump / Hegseth regime I’m sure they do now, but have they traditionally been obviously right-biased? > [@zimaane](#): > > I mostly look at NBC News… > > NBC news was completely free until recently. Now a lot of their articles require a subscription, which I don’t have. Hmm, somebody didn’t read the OP very well… 😉 > [@solost](#): > > My usual go-to “start my day” news sites recently have been _nbcnews[dot]com_… > […] > But lately maybe 50-60% of nbcnews’ articles are ‘subscriber only’. But my OPs tend to be kind of long-winded-- I don’t blame ya. I probably wouldn’t read them very thoroughly, either 😄 > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > Didn’t the site and its founder lose some credibility over some political bad call or unpopular opinion at some point? > > I’m not aware of anything like that. Well, like I said, I could be badly misremembering. I briefly googled to see if I could find what I was thinking of, but didn’t find anything conclusive in a few minute search. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/13 "2026-07-30T15:12:54Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Interesting. Do those sites tend to heavily lean right-wing? I mean, under the trump / Hegseth regime I’m sure they do now, but have they traditionally been obviously right-biased? Stars & Stripes at least use to be non-political but very pro-Military which many consider Right-Biased. But I would say they weren’t rightish in the past, hawkish though. I don’t think I read the Military Times. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/14 "2026-07-30T15:25:59Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > > > > [@solost](#): > > > > > > Didn’t the site and its founder lose some credibility over some political bad call or unpopular opinion at some point? > > > > I’m not aware of anything like that. > > Well, like I said, **I could be badly misremembering**. I briefly googled to see if I could find what I was thinking of, but didn’t find anything conclusive in a few minute search. (Bolding mine) Ugh, yeah, ‘badly misremembering’ it is 🤦‍♂️ Just to set the record straight, I was thinking not of ‘Talking Points Memo’ but of the whole fiasco with FiveThirtyEight-- Nate Silver selling the site to ESPN, which ABC/Disney took over, mismanaged, and eventually shut down. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/15 "2026-07-30T15:28:11Z")
Thanks! You should go back to TPM. They still do great work. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/16 "2026-07-30T15:28:24Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I pay for Washington Post and New York Times and for my sad local newspaper–all online. > > I donate to NPR… I also pay for the _New York Times_, the _Washington Post_, the _Hartford Courant_, and still donate to NPR. (I used to listen to NPR on my commute, but had to turn it off every time Trump’s voice came on. Then one day I turned it off and left it off. That was about ten years ago.) I also pay for Apple News, which gives me access to a lot of paywalled sites, especially _The Atlantic_. If I couldn’t read _The Atlantic_ there, I’d probably have to pay for it separately. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > And, of course, here–the best news aggregator around. I would gladly pay to subscribe to the Dope, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to do that. Ditto! I hear about all sorts of thing here first. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/17 "2026-07-30T15:35:38Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Thanks! You should go back to TPM. They still do great work. On it now, and I like what I’m seeing. Just for funzies, I took a look for TPM on the Media Bias chart-- according to it, they are a little ahead of the middle of the pack for ‘reliability’, and ‘skews-left’ to ‘strong-left’ for bias. Not that I take that chart very seriously at all. Who bias-checks the bias-checkers? > **[Interactive Media Bias Chart](https://app.adfontesmedia.com/chart/interactive)** > > Ad Fontes Media's Interactive Media Bias Chart web app. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/18 "2026-07-30T17:30:18Z")
> [@solost](#): > > been _nbcnews[dot]com_ and _ms[dot]now_. FYI, a good way to post links that aren’t live but can still be copied and pasted is to enclose them in the ` symbol. That control symbol disables the usual automatic link parsing, fancy formatting, etc. So like this: Type this `nbcnews.com` to get this `nbcnews.com`. The highlighted part in the other font can’t be clicked, but it can easily be copied then pasted into your audience’s browser address bar. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/19 "2026-07-30T17:37:48Z")
Testing… `nbcnews.com` Nice! Great tip, thanks. Much less awkward to type, to read and to copy / paste than nbcnews[dot] com. 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019/20 "2026-07-30T17:44:44Z")
My main online news sources are ABC News (free for now), the local newspaper (subscription), the Boston Globe (subscription) and the Wall St. Journal (subscription), Science-Based Medicine and Retraction Watch (both of the latter free), somewhat in that order. There are generally workarounds for interesting stories on other pay-only media. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-get-your-online-news-from-do-you-pay-for-it/1032019.md?page=2)