Subject: Re: Information sources.

From: [email-masked] (Jonathan Stump)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 18:21:35 GMT

Paul Zaccari (lziss2.lincroftnj.ncr.com!pwz) wrote:

: 	Hi

:  One thing I've learned not to rely on is Network News. Of all the 

tv: check out the evening news on CBN. its filled with religion, but 
youll see some surprising things. 

print: National Review, American Spectator, Reason, et al.

Jonathan

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 14 Apr 95 16:08:48 CST

> print: National Review, American Spectator, Reason, et al.
CBN news shows up in first half hour or so of 700 Club on the Family
Channel and on some local stations.  That portion does have some 
religious orientation, but religious issues are not the complete
focus by any means (tho the rest of the program mainly is).

The Washington Times has a weekly edition available nationwide by mail
and possibly on newstands.  Looks pretty good from the issues I've seen.
Sorry I don't have the  address handy.

The Wall Street Journal has good coverage of nationa and international
news, though feature stories sometimes betray liberal bias by some
reporters.

---

From: [email-masked] (William K. Bean)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 19:48:55 GMT

In <[email-masked]> lziss2.lincroftnj.ncr.com!pwz
(Paul Zaccari) writes: 

>	Hi
>
> One thing I've learned not to rely on is Network News. Of all the 
>information that a news stations should be delivering to us in the
half 
>hour allotted, why do they select things like "New York's new 
>anti-smoking law" or "The OJ Simpson trial". 
> Does anyone have an idea of where I can get information about
IMPORTANT 
>events and issues while the networks play "Electronic People
Magazine"? 
>You know, things that I might need to prepare for? 
>
> 				Thanks

Good discovery and good question.  Unfortunately, getting 
complete and accurate information is not a simple or easy 
process.

Various factors affect our ability to get complete and 
accurate information.  To begin with, some people are 
not people of good will and may have an incentive to lie 
in order to mislead us.  Even among people of good will, 
different people may have different understandings of what 
is true whether reporting facts or the meaning and 
significance of facts.  Furthermore, some people are better 
writers and speakers than others and are better able to 
convey what they understand.

I find that I must listen to a wide variety of people and 
read a wide variety of literature to get even a minimally 
clear understanding of events.  The more controversial the 
matter, the more I must listen and read.  In particular, I 
try to get the views of people who have different backgrounds 
and perspectives from mine.

With regard to news, I read the New York Times, the Wall 
Street Journal, the Washington Times, and occasionally the 
Christian Science Monitor.  (I live near Washington, D.C., 
but generally ignore the Washington Post except to scan 
the headlines of a colleague's paper.)  I listen to National 
Public Radio, Rush Limbaugh, Oliver North, and G. Gordon 
Liddy.  I watch "This Week with David Brinkley" Sundays on 
ABC. To know what is happening in Congress, I watch C-Span.  
My wife and I subscribe to about 30 magazines.  I follow 
several Usenet groups.  With regard to international events, 
I listen to shortwave radio.  Obviously, I don't do all these 
things all the time, but I try to get a wide variety of views 
on matters that I consider important.

But just getting information is not enough.  One must then 
sift the vast amount of available information to try to 
determine what actually happened or is happening and what 
to think about it.  (I'm not particulary interested in my 
"feelings" or anyone else's "feelings" about matters.)  To 
do that, I find it necessary to do more reading.  As a 
Roman Catholic Christian, I start with the Bible, the 
catechism, and papal writings, as well as other Christian 
literature.  I recently finished an overview of United 
States history and have started on The Art of War by Sun 
Tzu (translated by Thomas Cleary), The I Ching or Book 
of Changes (translated into German by Richard Wilhelm 
and into English by Cary F. Baynes), and Democracy in 
America by Alexis De Tocqueville.  (By the way, for fun, 
I'm finishing African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt.  
Reading this book feels like traveling through a time 
warp (I suppose; I haven't done it.), things have changed 
a lot in the last 100 years.) 

This long response may not be what you're looking for but I 
hope it's some help.  As you may have gathered, I don't think 
you can read any one or two things or listen to one or two 
broadcasts and have any hope of becoming informed.

Good luck.

Bill

---

From: [email-masked] (Hal Lillywhite)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 16:24:49 -0700

In article <[email-masked]> lziss2.lincroftnj.ncr.com!pwz (Paul Zaccari) writes:

>information that a news stations should be delivering to us in the half 

Were you under the misconception that TV news was actually in the
news business?  Sorry, they are in the advertising business.  They
sell advertising by offering entertainment loosely based on current
events.  The ratings rule and you better believe the editor is aware
of that fact.  TV broadcasts "news" stories based on how many
viewers they will attract.  They don't dare do a story which will
not hold viewers attention, people would change channels and not
change back.  (I hear CNN is better than the average TV news but
don't suscribe to cable so I can't say from my own experience.)

Unfortunately the same can be said, to a lesser extent, about all
our news sources.  Radio stations with a news emphasis are usually
better than TV.  Print is usually best of all because readers can
just skip what doesn't interest them, they don't have to change to a
competitor.  In my opinion, _U.S. News and World Report_ is the most
accurate single source available.  However if you really want to
stay informed don't trust any single source, get information from
several diverse sources.  This should include both "liberal" and
"conservative" sources since each tends to put a different slant on
things and publish different stories.

---

From: [email-masked] (Executive Protection Associates)
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 13:55:08

= = =  In addition to the info below also consider these open sources:

1.   TVRO live news feeds-echo  feed TO the network not FROM the network.
2.   Good old scanner radio.  Get the freqs for your local news gathering 
Orgs.   This was a good source of information in both the Los Angeles,
San Francisco, and Las Vegas Riots.  Real-time information, usually un-censored
with lots of yelling ;-)  When the Pres. is in town they do a good job of 
completely compromising ComSec ( with a little help from the local PD )  
really BAD, they use it like a telephone.
3.  Internet IRC Chat- again "real-time" info 
on Kobe quake, LA Earthquake, etc.
4.  Shortwave is great, so is monitoring the HF and 2m "Ham" channels.

  In short there are literally Hundreds of "channels" to obtain open source 
intelligence without relying on the network news.
++++++++++++++++++++++

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Karl J. Alsheimer) 
writes:

>: information that a news stations should be delivering to us in the half 
>: hour allotted, why do they select things like "New York's new 
>: anti-smoking law" or "The OJ Simpson trial". 
>:  Does anyone have an idea of where I can get information about IMPORTANT 
>: events and issues while the networks play "Electronic People Magazine"? 
>: You know, things that I might need to prepare for? 

>:                               Thanks

>Get yourself a portable Shortwave radio, tune-in to the World news. You 
>might also want to browse around on rec.shortwave.

- - 
Chris Hall, C.O.O. Executive Protection Associates, Inc
Providers of Worlwide Investigations, Off-Shore Services,
and Protective Services to the Fortune 500, the Entertainment
Industry, Business, and High Technology Corporations. Regional
Governor IAPPS < [email-masked] > Moderator the Bodyguard's List: 
<[email-masked] > and the bodyguard-101 e-course
++ Opinions Expressed are the author's and not E.P.A.I.'s ++

---

From: [email-masked] (Henry McDaniel)
Date: 15 Apr 1995 22:33:19 GMT

While the JPJA shouldn't be at the top of your list of overall
sources, I encourage you to pencil it in somewhere.  Especially
checkout the JPJA Surfboard.   See:

http://weber.u.washington.edu/~mcdaniel/

On WWW.

-McDaniel