My 5 Favorite News Sources

Before I came to High Point University, I didn't check the news as much as I should have. I never used to watch the news on the TV when my parents had it on and I never went out of my way to check what was happening online. Coming here and deciding that I wanted to be a journalist, I knew my methods had to change. Now as a journalism major, checking the news has become an important part of my everyday life. In one of my journalism courses this semester, everyday when class starts we're required to share a piece of news that we heard or read about during the break since our last class, this exercise has really helped me identify which sites I like to use as news sources and which sources I don't find as reliable.

Although generally all social media is a quick way of getting news, I've found that using social media isn't always the most reliable source for true information. However, I do find that there's one exception in social media when it comes to news, and that's Twitter. Twitter is one of the first news outlets that I go to in the morning when I want to see what's been happening in a timely, concise manner. Twitter is very easy to use in the fact that people spread news with quick little snippets. It usually doesn't take much digging to get to the meat and potatoes of what's been happening. Twitter is also helpful because it not only lets you read Tweets from other people, but you can also share news of your own should you happen to stumble on something. Also, you can comment on news that other people are sharing. Having such a quick-sharing network is very beneficial in a news source because you can access crucial sources of breaking news and be up to date on what's going on whenever you want to be. Other positives aspects of Twitter include its wide range of users, having over 328 million active monthly users, and the fact that you can follow hashtags within posts to bring you to related content that could provide you with more information. The only thing that can be tricky and is very important to watch out for when it comes to Twitter is that you need to be aware of who's posting what. I don't typically trust sources that aren't verified or that aren't following other trustworthy news sources because if they're not, it's hard to tell where they could be getting their information from and if it's reliable. But as long as you're careful with that, Twitter is a quick, easy way to get news on the fly to keep up with the times.

My second best source of news lately, tying into the first statement I made, is my journalism class Reporting and Writing Across. In this class, we're required to share a piece of news every morning that we heard about in the time between our previous class and that morning. Every morning, about five to ten students share their news with the class and this has really helped me stay up to date with current news. Having this outlet for sharing news with each other has also helped me branch out to use other news sites in order to find news that hasn't already been shared. I find myself checking the news everyday before class to make sure I have something to add to the discussion, yet even when I don't find something to share, I still learn a decent amount from my classmates because there's always someone ready to share a story. These small class discussions have helped me broaden the news I hear as not everyone shares news directly related to High Point or our general area in North Carolina. Since the students in the class come from all over the country, many people share news that's impacted their hometowns or areas close to where they grew up. This helps me find news that I wouldn't typically know about and makes me feel like I have more of a grasp on what's happening around the world and not just in the small areas that impact me. 

Sometimes when I have more time in the morning, a typical source of news for me is Google News. In the morning before class, I like to take a minute and look at the news from my computer, however, sometimes I find that I don't have as much time in the morning as I would like. When I do have that time though, Google News is one of my favorite sources because I can scroll through and browse the story headlines to see which ones interest me while also clicking on the ones that draw my eye to get more information. Another thing I like about Google News is that when you access it, you can search up topics, locations, and sources to get specific news. For instance, sometimes I'll look up High Point or Greensboro to see what's been happening in the area around me, whereas other times I'll look up Methuen, MA to see what's been happening in my own town. Google News is a great way to find specific news that lines up with the places and stories that you want to be updated on while also providing a great outlet to get general news as well that you might not have expected to find. Today upon logging onto Google News, I was able to find a range of news stories that caught my attention. In the main bar, there was a news story about a train crash in Greece that killed a minister, and in the side bar I was able to find local news that the Miss NC-USA was recently crowned in High Point. The best part: I found both of these stories within seconds of logging on and I already felt more informed within a minute of being on the site. 

Another favorite news source of mine is CNN. I like CNN when I want to find more worldly news because I feel like they do a good job of covering news from all over. As soon as you log onto the website, in the main top bar, you can see that you have the ability to choose from US, World, Politics, Business, and more. This gives you a good range of topics to choose from and it makes it very easy to find the kind of news that you're looking for or to just browse through the kind of news that interests you. CNN is also really good because they provide a lot of visual elements that make it easy to see the impact of certain stories and how important they are, they typically includes videos or images that draw you in right away. CNN has always been a prominent news source for me because I feel like I've been using it since I was a kid. In middle school, teachers would turn on CNN to give us a small insight as to what was happening around us and I've been using it as a resource ever since. It's formatted very nicely and it's easy to use. Sometimes, it can seem like a lot on screen all at once which is why is isn't my top source of news, but I would not discredit it by any means because it's still a very trustworthy source of news.

My least conventional source of news which, although it isn't the best source, I use very frequently is my family. Being so far away from my home back in Massachusetts, I call my mom and dad on a daily basis to get the scoop on what's been going on there. A lot of times, I'll hear about things that are happening at home from my mom before I'll see it in the news. It's helpful to already have a little bit of background on the news from my mom before I read about it online because it does make it easier to understand. I also find that talking to my family is a good way of getting High Point news. If something is going on down here, my mom is always the first to know about and I'm the first person she calls to tell. I like the system we have and it makes finding out about things very quick and simple. Although it's not the most trustworthy method, my family has always been one of my greatest resources.