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Ask HN: What are some reasonable right-leaning news sources?

24 points by shepherdjerred ↗ HN
Hey all!

I'm a person that generally identifies with the US democratic party. I subscribe to the New York Times, but I know that like all news sources it is biased and republicans sometimes call it unfair to their party/beliefs.

I'm looking for a reputable right-learning news source to help balance out what I'm exposed to and help me be better informed; something that is like a NYT equivalent for republicans.

Does such a news source exist? Preferably it would be well-known and moderately-right, with a decent app/website so that I can easily read it.

39 comments

[ 5.1 ms ] story [ 113 ms ] thread
Pakdef
I used to think the same way, but I ended up finding a more central source instead... NPR is probably my favorite.
WheelsAtLarge
The wall street journal. It leans right but not to fantasy land. I think it's trustworthy since investors need to trust their news sources to make valid investments. If they start to get burned by what they read they would abandon it ASAP.
thelastknowngod
I read Bloomberg and listen to their podcast as well. I am often in strong disagreement with the writers or guests being interviewed.

Al Jazeera's English broadcast is actually quite good for showing an outside, more neutral view of the world (unless the story relates to Qatar) too.

prox
Isnt the Economist generally a bit more on the conservative side?
lanbanger
I've seen the Economist describe itself as "fiscally conservative, socially liberal"
WheelsAtLarge
That's how I would describe myself. And I am a fan of the Economist.
threatofrain
The WSJ, Economist, or Bloomberg will not help you understand modern American conservatism. That's the conservatism of the early Bush years.

You should check out Fox News, OAN, Newsmax and the NY Post (& Sky News for foreign outlet). It doesn't matter if they are accurate — what matters is that they are popular, and thus they represent the heartbeat of modern American conservatism.

WheelsAtLarge
>You should check out Fox News, OAN, Newsmax and the NY Post (& Sky News for foreign outlet).

Good point, at one time I thought that these news sources were the drivers of conservative thinking but what they are are reflectors of what people that consume them want to hear. They spread the word but ultimately they are popular because they know what their audience wants and they are willing to offer it.

mrweasel
> The WSJ, Economist, or Bloomberg

That is because those publications are are economically right-leaning, but not socially (or simply not focused on those aspects). We tend to view right and left as just one thing, but people, publications and political parties can hold for instance left leaning financial opinions, but be right wing in immigration.

tablespoon
> The WSJ, Economist, or Bloomberg will not help you understand modern American conservatism. That's the conservatism of the early Bush years.

They represent the business faction of the coalition, which was dominant (at least until recently), and has the most resources to spend on propaganda. There are other factions (e.g. religious social conservatives).

Trump also seemed to kick of a realignment, which scrambles a lot of the old understandings.

TradingPlaces
WSJ Opinion is fantasy land. Reporting is top notch.
keyle
Reading the international press can be valuable to get a different view on the same topic. The US is certainly well documented from the outside in.

The bbc, the French press also has English editions, etc.

Anything but the Murdoch media.

BurningPenguin
I want to add DW (Deutsche Welle) and Reuters. They're considered neutral by normal people. Reporting is "matter of fact" style and if they give an opinion on anything, they will clearly mark it as "opinion" in the title or category.

EDIT: Also FAZ, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", which is considered conservative-liberal. They have English version too.

wizwit999
DW is not at all neutral on international news.
BurningPenguin
Can you clarify?

They may be biased to the German point of view. Just like any other news agency in other countries. But other than that, they're as neutral as humans can be. Of course, Russia and Turkey aren't very fond of them. But i'd say we all know why...

DrinkWater
That's utter bullshit. Do you have a source or even examples of their biased reporting?
bilekas
Isn't that something of an oxymoron? /jk

The wall street journal is maybe a good go to. Their Ed OPs can be really good sometimes.

ivraatiems
I feel your pain on this. I am quite progressive and it's frankly increasingly difficult to find right-wing sources that aren't so far outside my reality that I can't parse them. Here are some good ones:

The WSJ - the NYT but right-leaning. Fantastic news quality and very conservative editorial section.

Fox News is worth reading just to see how things are being spun. Their news section is trustworthy at least to the extent that they don't straight-up lie. Comparable to CNN/MSNBC on the left.

The National Review for conservative but not Trumpist opinion and some news. Comparable to Vox on the left.

I'd avoid the NY Post because it's essentially a tabloid. Also avoid OANN, Newsmax, Breitbart, the Federalist, etc., they just don't live in the same universe as anything true. Any source that seriously flirts with the idea of the 2020 election being stolen wouldn't share enough reality with you to be worth your time.

prosaic1988
Americanaffairsjournal.org is fantastic. Some of the best long form media output from a vaguely center-right viewpoint that provides an angle on american politics that frankly has an international feel since it certainly doesn’t feel anything like american media. Other than that, drudge report is still required reading in right wing american circles, so not a publisher exactly but you’ll get a feel for things. All best consumed with RSS (I like feedly, personally).
beej71
This isn't what you're asking for, but related: I've found that syndicated news agencies like AP, Reuters, and AFP tend to have more neutral raw news feeds. Probably because they sell to the left and right.
LittlePeter
https://ground.news reports news and their left/center/right coverage. I guess you can extract some right-leaning news sources from there.
xtiansimon
It seems the conservative political movement is bifurcated—-fiscal conservatism and culture war. First, I question if any single media outlet can give voice to both reason and passion. Second, The conservative culture war zealots are fast and loose with facts and cynical conspiracy thinking. I’ve not heard here any remarks saying one or other outlet are better with facts.

For my part I follow NPR. I appreciate good writing, but that’s not a substitute for false statements.

robtani
Zerohedge is technically more libertarian. Most articles I've come across there end up checking out and not fake news. I often find they're also surprisingly early to publish a story. But of course, WSJ is the gold standard for good reputable reporting!
the_third_wave
"Right-wing" and "Left-wing" are not good descriptors to classify political opinions as is well-demonstrated by the "red wave" in the UK during the Brexit votes where traditional "left-wing" voters moved en-masse to the "right-wing" Tory party, the rapid move of (traditionally socially conservative, fiscally progressive) Hispanic voters from the Democrats to the Republicans and similar phenomena. What is usually dubbed "right-wing" or "extreme right-wing" by "progressives" is more akin to national conservatism, that what is usually dubbed "left-wing" or "extreme left-wing" is more akin to intersectional identity politics and social/political deconstructivism.

So, to rephrase the question, what are some good US-based national conservative new sources? The Daily Wire's "Morning Wire" [1] netcast comes to mind for a reasonably objective view on daily news as seen from a national conservative perspective. For a more "traditional left-wing" perspective I'd have a look at Spiked Online [2] and their netcasts ("The Spiked Podcast" and "The Brendan O'Neill Show"). Spiked is a British publisher and as such are wont to go deep into things which might be of less interest to US-based readers/listeners but they are a good example of how "Right" and "Left" just don't make sense any more seeing as how they would have been squarely on the Labour ("left") side in the Thatcher years but now are considered to be "centre-right" or "libertarian". The BBC was mentioned but I'd not consider this to be a reputable "right-wing" or "conservative" source, the are more neutral/centrist with a globalist tendency. As to the likes of the traditional (or "legacy") cable news providers I tend to stay away from these since essentially all of them are more "show" than "news" - the whole formula of "cable news" does not appeal to me since it has to keep up the pressure since "the show must go on".

[1] https://open.spotify.com/show/3YMFdNqoNtVcCBKSUvjr8n

[2] https://www.spiked-online.com/

mikymoothrowa
Non American, but I’ve been using realclearpolitics to get aggregated views on things from both the sides.

I’m surprised most americans get their news from one single source, worse yet from a single late night talk show.

I also follow really good speakers/shows from both “extremes”.

brudgers
I subscribe to the New York Times

Did you mean "another right leaning news source"?

tablespoon
>> I subscribe to the New York Times

> Did you mean "another right leaning news source"?

That is both incorrect (the NYT can be right of you but left of center) and non-responsive to the original question.

tablespoon
> I'm looking for a reputable right-learning news source to help balance out what I'm exposed to and help me be better informed; something that is like a NYT equivalent for republicans.

I don't think you're going to be able to find a opposite-polarization doppelganger like that. My impression is that the right invests less in day-to-day news, and more in ideas and opinion.

The Wall Street Journal is the closest thing that I can think of to the right-leaning New York Times, but my understanding is their newsrooms are both very liberal: it's just that the Wall Street Journal is more professional so it doesn't show as much. I'm not sure if it would get around the selection biases of left-wing media [1]. It's opinion pages mainly reflect the business faction of right, so it's not a complete picture.

[1] E.g. with all the recent news about abortion, I recently learned that pro-life groups would regularly hold marches in Washington on the scale of the 2017 Women's March, but you'd never know about it given the relative press coverage.

chockablocker
I read a lot of the right wing news on Zerohedge for a balanced media diet. If it's important it'll show up there.

In general I'd suggest looking into reading the news outlets that have produced scoops that turned out to be true after initial denials. Lately that would be the NY Post and the Daily Mail (the sections reporting on the US).

JohnDeHope
AntiWar.com is always reliable. As political fashion changes it goes from left-wing to right-wing. At the moment I suppose opposing war is more of a right-wing "isolationist" position. Wait a few years and it'll be left wing again.