From: fedora@fea.st   
      
   On Fri, 02 Jan 2026 10:29:55 -0500, Noah Sombrero    
   wrote:   
      
   >   
   >How I navigate information overload and a landscape of untruths. And   
   >what I will be reading and listening to in 2026.   
   >Julius Strauss   
   >Jan 2   
   >   
   >We’re being hit from all sides.   
   >   
   >We have an American president who says he executed ‘a powerful and   
   >deadly strike against ISIS terrorist scum’ in Nigeria on Christmas   
   >Day. In fact the US missiles landed in a field in the wrong part of   
   >the country and killed no-one.   
   >   
   >Then there is a Russian president who says he is liberating a   
   >neighbour from a neo-Nazi regime. In reality he is pulverising a   
   >country with a Jewish leader whose only fault is that he wants to join   
   >the democratic West.   
   >   
   >And we have the likes of Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Tik-Tok and X.   
   >Each have set their algorithms to promote febrile and antagonistic   
   >content while scaling back on fact-checkers.   
   >   
   >Each outlet competes for our attention by pumping out ever more   
   >eye-catching content - mostly short-form video - and then monetising   
   >the time we spend ogling their offerings.   
   >   
   >How on earth are we humans supposed to reach the safe terrain of truth   
   >when we are constantly slogging through a minefield of fakes,   
   >falsehoods and misleading narratives, an increasing proportion of   
   >which are produced by machines?   
   >   
   >The first challenge we have is dealing with the sheer volume of   
   >information targeting us.   
   >   
   >In my lifetime we have gone from spending days curled up in a corner   
   >with a book to living in a chronic state of overstimulation - drinking   
   >from an information firehose.   
   >   
   >Perhaps our thumbs are becoming more horizontally dexterous and our   
   >neck muscles better at supporting a slight downwards tilt of the head.   
   >   
   >But our beleaguered brains, engineered for an age when we saw as many   
   >images in our whole lives as we now see on any given morning, are   
   >struggling.   
   >   
   >My response to this unwanted development is that I jealously guard the   
   >pathways to my attention and set up as many roadblocks as I can. I   
   >never scroll Instagram, Facebook, X or Tik-Tok.   
   >   
   >My social media interaction is limited to posting occasional updates   
   >on Wild Bear Lodge, my bear-viewing operation in Canada, or flagging   
   >up posts like this one.   
   >   
   >As for my phone I treat it as I would a violent cell-mate with whom I   
   >am doomed to cohabit but regard with the utmost suspicion.   
   >   
   >I never take my phone into the bedroom - an old-fashioned alarm clock   
   >serves time-keeping duties - and I don’t look at it before my morning   
   >coffee. I endeavour to keep it face down. Sound notifications,   
   >needless to say, are off.   
   >   
   >Lastly I spend four clear months a year deep in the Canadian   
   >wilderness. At such times my phone is neglected for hours,   
   >occasionally days, at a time, as I happily pad along wilderness paths.   
   >   
   >But when I do engage - and, after all, one of my jobs is writing about   
   >things going on in the world - how to separate truth, from spin, from   
   >outright falsehood?   
   >   
   >First off I tend to give greater credence to those who have actually   
   >spent time on the ground.   
   >   
   >In my time I have known dozens of foreign correspondents who have   
   >worked in the Middle East. Not one of them thinks that what the   
   >Israelis are doing in Gaza, for example, is anything other than   
   >egregious.   
   >   
   >The digital world may be chock full of Israel apologists and those who   
   >would have us believe that the only problem is Islam, but vanishingly   
   >few reporters who have been to the Palestinian territories share that   
   >view.   
   >   
   >As a former Moscow correspondent I - and my ilk - have spent years in   
   >Russia. While there may be differences in the nuances of our opinions,   
   >not one of us thinks Putin’s attack on Kyiv was in any way justified.   
   >   
   >And yet the bromide that ‘Netanyahu is only doing what is needed’, or   
   >‘Putin has a point’ creeps into conversations in pubs the length and   
   >breadth of the UK. In Hungary, where I spend a deal of time, both are   
   >the dominant narrative.   
   >   
   >Why?   
   >   
   >The answer, of course, is that misinformation, disinformation and   
   >propaganda have become so good, so believable, so available and so   
   >insidious, that they offer a nourishing culture for those inclined to   
   >see the world in terms of conspiracy.   
   >   
   >I cringe every time I hear someone say ‘I do my own research’. What   
   >they really mean is that they allow Google, Facebook, Apple, Instagram   
   >or some other search engine or aggregator to select what they see for   
   >them.   
   >   
   >And each of these platforms will serve up just exactly what makes   
   >their billionaire owners the most money.   
   >   
   >Those among us who say they entirely distrust the mainstream media -   
   >and there are plenty of good reasons to be critical - have, in effect,   
   >handed the keys to their beliefs to a bevy of tech companies.   
   >   
   >So how can we then put together a daily menu grounded in fact,   
   >informed by experts, and sifted for falsehoods? The first is to   
   >recognise that - at some level - we have to trust others to curate our   
   >inputs for us.   
   >   
   >It is fine to browse the shelves of a bookshop and pick something odd   
   >that takes our fancy. But when it comes to keeping up with what is   
   >happening in the world we have to trust others to do some of the heavy   
   >lifting for us.   
   >   
   >What other option do we have? When I teach journalism classes (which I   
   >have for the last five years) I tell my students never to get their   
   >news from Google, Facebook or Apple.   
   >   
   >Instead they should turn to trusted mainstream news sources. They are   
   >far from perfect, but they are professional, and are held to certain   
   >standards.   
   >   
   >I would even rather they watched Fox News than used Google. At least   
   >they are then watching a product that says what it is on the packet   
   >even if it is laden with falsehoods.   
   >   
   >Anyway. This is not really what prompted me to write this post in the   
   >first place.   
   >   
   >What I really wanted to do was to share some of the sources of   
   >information - news outlets, podcasts and the like - that I do allow   
   >into the closely-guarded ante-room of my attention.   
   >   
   >In return, I would like to know what you are reading and listening to.   
   >   
   >General news newspapers, magazines & websites I subscribe to   
   >   
   >The Financial Times. My first port of call in the morning. It is   
   >expensive but it is a clever and high-quality product that I don’t   
   >feel I can do without it.   
   >   
   >The New York Times. Still among the best news outlets in the world and   
   >relatively cheap for what you get. If you want comprehensive and   
   >high-quality foreign policy and US coverage and are on a budget this   
   >is the one to go for.   
   >   
   >The Washington Post. I look through it most days. A subscription is   
   >cheap. It is not in the same league as the first two, but has some   
   >interesting takes.   
   >   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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