Anian

+1 for the Daily Show. How the hell do they manage to cover so many significant stories in a factual way while taking the piss out of everyone?

For more worldly stuff BBC World News is on at various times depending on your PBS station and BBC America.

Deeks

We like PBS news, they regularly present both sides to political discussions. And they're not "flashy, glamour" newscasts like most regular networks offer.

MostlyYank

US media is biased and most here know which way is who Plus, as Tom Wolfe mentions in his great The Right Stuff, US media seems to filter? information more than many other 1st world countries.

I like the BBC for factual reporting, although their take on it can be a certain way. Overall I prefer France24.

For great commentary I strongly recommend The McLaughlin Group on PBS. You get all sides and no bones about it.

Pete

nun

If you want a single US source I'd go for NPR. In the US is is seen as left of center......but only because the US has gone so far to the right.

However, with any US media outlet you will get a very American and biased view of the world......if I have to listen to the dogma of American Exceptionalism much longer I think my head will explode.

theOAP

If the OP would like to 'experience' the difficulties of getting quality viewpoints in the US, I would suggest they tune in to the BBC Parliament Channel (on Freeview) before they leave for the US. At 12:00 noon on a Sunday, they show CSPAN for 3 hours. The first hour (roughly) shows political speeches, Congressional hearings, etc. from the past week. After that, they broadcast CSPAN live, which on a Sunday morning consists of the latest topics in a 2 person panel format (opposing views with a moderator) with live phone-ins from listeners.

Although the topics are respectfully argued (except for the phone-ins) it's excellent prep for what you are about to encounter in terms of the diversity of viewpoints from opposing 'mainstream' sides that one finds in the US. (Note I said mainstream, as the participants usually do not represent the more prevalent, vociferous, and extreme political opinions.) The phone-ins are the key as they represent the fallout of US reporting/broadcasting.

As boring as the show is, this is the only time I have seen opposing views argued in a reasonably intelligent fashion on US television. But I enjoy it. It's a constant reminder of what I do not miss about US politics.

After viewing UK parliamentary committees (and even PM's questions), the idiotic Congressional hearings will leave you speechless.

sir_eccles

See also: the letters page of your local newspaper.

Bootle

You can The Times for Tablet in the US but it's basically the UK news. It's very good. I believe you can get The Guardian too. As for best overall coverage I would go with the Journal (Wall Street Journal). You can also get the print version of the Financial Times in most places (Barnes & Nobles in the suburbs have this in the News rack).

anro15

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations, an interesting spread! The Washington Post looked fairly good and it has an app for tablets too. Though it looks like I'll never fully remove myself from the UK news for the international bit.

Don't the Americans ever complain about the poor quality news?

Sally Redux

It's like frogs slowly being boiled or whatever that analogy is.

MarylandNed

I live in the DC area. US TV is a complete joke. I watch BBC World News and France 24 on cable TV. CNN occasionally. I also read the Washington Post sometimes. But really the internet is your friend e.g. web sites of BBC, Independent, Telegraph, Guardian, etc.

Bob

No, because they don't realise how spoon fed and rubbish it is.

Those that do, do like the rest of us and get it off the internet.

Anyone seen the new HBO show "Newsroom"? That's a pretty amusing look into things.

It's basically West Wing reset with a news anchor instead of a president.

sir_eccles

Technically they do but only about the news that the other end of the spectrum watch, because what they watch is the truth, everyone else is wrong.

FoxNews viewers will decry the biased reporting from "the liberal media" while the opposite end call FoxNews such things as FauxNews. I picture it something like this:

RICH

To the OP. If you want what you currently are used to, stick with online versions of those papers you currently read. There is no equivalent here. News is a commercial enterprise. They report what people want to hear, for ratings/ad revenue.

HighCountry

Chris Waddle?

HighCountry

BBC and Al Jazeera are probably the best fit. Good news depends on investigative journalism, which we see very little of these days.