All I Want for Christmas is the Truth
When asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, I responded with something that I think made my mum’s eyebrows rise so far up her face they may never come back down. I wanted a New York Times subscription, please.
I’ve been reading the New York Times online for years, but there’s one huge problem; you’re only allowed to read 5 articles per month. Unless you have a subscription. Every month I’m left hanging, unable to read the articles I really want to. Instead I’m greeted by a message which reads, “You have 0 remaining articles this month”…
Yes, as someone living in the UK why don’t I just read the Guardian or The Times, or anything else that takes my fancy, for free. Or I could pick another news outlet which will give me, most of the time, the same news that is probably closer to home and more relevant to me. I do that, I am tuned into alerts on Russia and the US, environmental alerts and every day I browse my news app several times in order to keep up with goings on. It’s just not the same.
I find the New York Times leads me to explore the story that I’m reading more. It provides a gateway for me to expand my knowledge of something that is happening in the world that I live in. I think it’s important to have knowledge of other places, not just what is happening in my county or my country. I usually browse through the New York Times, or see what they have shared.
For example, I was introduced to Denmark’s plans to send ‘unwanted migrants’ to Lindholm, a remote 7-hectare island where they will have to report to a deportation centre each day, through the New York Times. The article did not include every detail or answer all of my questions. However, from here I researched what other news channels had been saying, the opinions of the party proposing the plan and the opposition. This prompt to research further and have me engage with a story in such a way that I go away and do further reading is something that I don’t experience with other platforms. Their combination of confirmed, researched facts and feature-style news pieces enable me to expand my knowledge and collect different opinions in order to be able to talk confidently about a topic. I don’t rely on The New York Times, but I do not think that any news outlet should be wholly relied on.
News apps make it very easy to enter into a homogeneous sphere; a sphere that offers you news stories you’re interested in, or that agree with the values that you have. As Eli Pariser would call it, a filter bubble. Of course, this is how they can ensure that you’re interested in reading what is being presented to you, and it’s meant to make it easier than sorting through the millions of news stories that are published every day. However, we should be reading opposing views; if you think one thing, you should be reading a counter-argument or other sides of the story. Read a story that interests you and do further reading or research on it, form your own opinion. You should not be avoiding content that challenges your views, you should be taking it on board, and adding it into your discussions.
I know that when I was younger, my grandfather would read the same newspaper every day. I can’t remember what newspaper it was, but every day he would walk to the shops to pick up a copy of the paper and then he would sit for the next couple of hours reading it cover to cover. I’m not saying that it was wrong, but since then we have access to every publication through the internet. We are not tied to a single newspaper or publication. I think it is foolish not to take advantage of that.
So for Christmas I have asked for a subscription to the New York Times; a news outlet that gets me thinking about the content they are producing, do further reading, watch videos and do my own research. It provides me with the truth, or leads me to discover the truth in a way that allows me to formulate my own opinion. I think that makes me a better consumer of information, and allows me to contribute to discussions in everyday life.