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Ask HN: Is there a service that summarizes news for the last week or month?

16 points by paulz_ ↗ HN
Lately I'm finding keeping up with the news is taking up more time than I'm comfortable with. I've tried cutting back and checking less often but when I did that I become misinformed about some of the news due to missing context / important stories along the way leading up to the day I happened to check it.

A lot of the news content I consume feels speculative and addictive. A lot of hand wringing about what might happen, whereas if I could just wait and read the story at the end of the week or month I could consume the news in one article / summary instead of a slow trickle over many days / articles.

Basically, I want to batch my news consumption down to one day so that it isn't a constant distraction. I've been googling around for this but I'm having a really hard time finding something along those lines. I would definitely be open to paying for a service like this. Have any HN users found a service like this or a better solution than what I'm describing?

Thanks.

17 comments

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angersock
https://www.nytimes.com/subscription/hd/1041.html

We used to call them the Sunday paper.

paulz_
That model is actually very close to what I'm looking for. I'd prefer for it to be digital but would be open to other mediums. I do worry a little that one newspaper would leave me with blind spots / the same context problems but I've honestly never consumed news that way so I don't know.

I wonder if Sunday papers are still a summary of the weeks news or if they assume some prior knowledge.

hellbanner
>I've honestly never consumed news that way so I don't know. >I wonder if Sunday papers are still a summary of the weeks news or if they assume some prior knowledge.

Is this a real account?

paulz_
>Is this a real account?

Haha, yes. I guess that does sound strange. I've grown up consuming news via the internet. It always seemed like a faster / easier way to get news rather than buying a magazine or newspaper.

I would be open to using an older format like a newspaper, but I worry that they may have the same problems because I cannot find an online service like this provided by newspapers (NYT used to have a weekly summary but it has been discontinued for example).

hellbanner
"Important stories" what kind of news are you missing out on that has such an effect on you?

I think you need a break from the news.

paulz_
So I've tried this as well to great effect. I can see objective positive benefits in my life when I stop consuming news all together. I've considered going this route and "taking a break" permanently.

I feel sort of guilty doing that though, like I'm being a bad citizen by not being informed about what is happening in the world.

I've also tried just batching it down to one day with the current news sites I visit but I found it surprisingly difficult to understand the context of what was happening based on the news of that day.

Ideally I'd like to have my cake and eat it too. Only spend a little time per week or month reading the news but be as informed as someone who was consuming the slow trickle of the same news every day throughout the month.

hellbanner
Yeah, if you commit thoughtcrime by not staying in sync with the zeitgeist you will be kicked out of the tribe, kind of like a bad fork on a blockchain.
HenryTheHorse
How would that be different from reading the New Yorker or Harper's or The Economist? Not only do they pick the most newsworthy stories of the previous week, they also editorialize, comment, qualify, elaborate and explain. Pretty neat!
brudgers
The Economist
dasboth
I'll second this. Switching from browsing news sites daily to just reading The Economist (in print, not online) has made me feel no less well-informed, if sometimes a few days out of date, but much less stressed about "keeping on top of the news", which is a losing game.
dragonwriter
> Ask HN: Is there a service that summarizes news for the last week or month?

Yes, a weekly or monthly news magazine. They've fallen out of favor in the last couple decades, but there are still a few around.