Stay Informed About Current Events

Today's world is becoming more volatile than ever before. With so much at stake, it's a good idea to stay informed as to what's going on in your country and the World.

Steps

Keeping up with the news

  1. Watch the news (and current affairs). This seems simple, but it often isn't. News is becoming more and more biased to all different interests. The safest way to make sure you're getting the whole story is to watch several different stations. Don't limit yourself to the nightly news, watch 24 hour news stations as often as you can.
  2. Make sure you get a paper. Reading your local paper is great for staying current on issues close to you. Try to also get a paper from your closest metro area, as they often report on your state. Finally, subscribe to nationally circulated paper like the New York Times. With these you can get updates on what's happening across the country and often around the world.
  3. Subscribe to news and opinion magazines. Once you're up on all the issues, it's nice to get a broader idea of them. A great way to do this is by reading news magazines, such as Time, The Nation or Newsweek. These have many opinion essays, and articles that go into issues in more depth.
  4. Check news sites as often as you can. News sites are constantly being updated and usually have many more stories than you get on TV or even in a paper. Again, try to stay balanced with these. You can also sign up for tickers that pop up on your computer screen that show you the top stories. Email alerts are also good.
  5. Download a news reader app or RSS reader (Best News Reader, News 360, Pulse, Flipboard etc.) Customize it with both current events and historical events on topics important to you. Set aside 15 minutes each morning to view headlines of each topic in each category, and to pursue reading any high priority or worthy topics. Best News Reader android app categorizes news from every major section and brings you all the breaking news from the Google. Downloading this app will put you at a profitable side as it does not requires time for setting it up. It also has smooth and silky User Interface and is easiest to use.

Critically analyzing what you learn

  1. Stay balanced. Try not to close your mind to other sources. Even if you think the information you're getting is skewed, pay attention to the spin in order to understand more.
  2. Read books by top officials, pundits, and those in the know. Now more than ever the figures you see on the news and in politics are writing books. These are great to get their side of the story and an inside view of what they do. They may not always be riveting, but they're great for keeping informed.
  3. Talk with other informed people. Debate is a great way to test out your opinions. You can always learn something from a good debate, even if your opponent's views are completely different from yours. If you can't find people around you, join a forum to discuss issues. Most news sites offer forums or blogs that you can join and debate with other users. Reading blogs of regular citizens is also a great way to see other sides of the issues.

Tips

  • If you can't afford to subscribe to papers or magazines, your local library will probably have all the latest issues. If not, bookstores often let you read on the premises.
  • Make sure you have a good internet provider. Checking the news can be very frustrating on a slow browser unless you use RSS.
  • Get a good television package. Most offer several news stations that play all day and all night.

Warnings

  • Take everything you see in the media with a grain of salt. Remember that most news stations have a bias and what they report may not necessarily be fact.
  • Don't act like you know everything once you're informed.
  • Make sure you're actually interested in staying informed. If it's boring you, you're wasting your time and probably not getting everything you can out of it.

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