TV news programs and print news have a hard time these days competing with the light speed of Internet news reporting. And while Twitter can be a fluff source of information for celebrity gossip and silly Internet trends, the little blue bird can also be likened to the modern version of the messenger pigeon. Except this blue messenger pigeon works a whole lot faster. (Just ask anyone following the events in Ferguson, Mo., where they have been looking for news on the subject lately.)
Islamic State destroys Jonah’s Tomb in Mosul, Iraq http://t.co/QhBd3a9QjLpic.twitter.com/fAcS5ULLzr
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) July 25, 2014
1. Huffington Post – @HuffingtonPost
Twitter Bio: internet lovers | sleep believers | news addicts | big font obsessives | greek yogurt fans
Followers: 4.37M
Need for Feed: HuffPo is often accused of just recycling and spitting out news from other sources. But they aggregate the best news, and not everyone has time to read every paper. HuffPo gives your phone little golden buzzes of news.
White House adviser says Republicans might try to impeach Obama over immigration strategy: http://t.co/xr1EwjdIy1pic.twitter.com/qZHWuUGtxz
— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) July 25, 2014
2. Reuters Top News – @Reuters
Twitter Bio: Top and breaking news, pictures, and videos from Reuters.
Followers: 4.68M
Need for Feed: The UK news outlet is an international source for news. It transmits its stories in various languages, and is respected worldwide for its reporting.
#AJOpinion: Whose life is more valuable? The Israeli or the Palestinian? – by @gatharahttp://t.co/wS9lX6pyA0
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 25, 2014
3. Al Jazeera English – @AJEnglish
Twitter Bio: Al Jazeera English, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Follow @AJELive for breaking news alerts.
Followers: 2.01M
Need for Feed: The same news story comes out differently based on who is telling it and what country they are telling it from. There are many great non-American news sources. Unfortunately, they are not typically translated into English. Al Jazeera, a news source based out of Qatar, offers its news in many different languages, one of them being English. At the very least, following Al Jazeera English will yield a different perspective on the news.
Photo: Flight escorted by F16 jets back to Toronto for emergency landing due to ‘unruly passenger’ – @CBCTorontohttp://t.co/eJnSXBkTmn
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) July 25, 2014
4. Breaking News- @BreakingNews
Twitter Bio: Download our new iOS and Android apps to control the breaking news you want to see.
Followers: 6.77M
Need for Feed: Breaking news is a strictly mobile device news source. It picks the biggest breaking stories and buzzes them out in little tweets.
Check out the viral video that has North Korea’s dictator losing his shit http://t.co/P5BBmSzbyW
— The Young Turks (@TheYoungTurks) July 24, 2014
5. The Young Turks – @TheYoungTurks
Twitter Bio: Hosted by @CenkUygur &@AnaKasparian. Watch TYT Live weeknights 6E/8P onlinehttp://bit.ly/TYTlive & tweet #tytlive. Be a TYT member – http://tytnetwork.com
Followers: 89.7K
Need for Feed: The outbreak of the Internet has given independent creators new opportunities previously reserved only to large organizations, and news reporting is one of them. The Young Turks can be found reporting news on various Internet platforms, including Sirius Satellite Radio.
Study: Military men under 40 are are three times more likely to suffer erectile dysfunction http://t.co/3sXtquvjk9
— Salon.com (@Salon) July 25, 2014
6. Salon.com – @Salon
Twitter Bio: Providing fearless political journalism and cultural analysis since the dawn of the digital era. We’re also at http://www.facebook.com/salon
Followers: 392K
Need for Feed: Salon is great not just for news reporting, but also culture.
French Government: The wreckage of Air Algeria has been located in Mali (Translated) http://t.co/cCqx04OqBYpic.twitter.com/tB0jwhJAsM
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 25, 2014
7. BuzzFeed News – @BuzzFeedNews
Twitter Bio: A news wire for the social web. Reporting by @michaelhayes and@weeddude and others.
Followers: 119K
Need for Feed: Like an ever growing child that won’t stop eating, BuzzFeed keeps feeding itself so much buzz that it keeps getting bigger. While BuzzFeed is mainly known for pop culture and comedy reporting, it also does a respectable job in reporting the news.
Roger Goodell To NFL Players: ‘Murdering Your Wife Will Result In Automatic 4-Game Suspension’ http://t.co/vzOBoDPeXDpic.twitter.com/0wi4sD2bdH
— Onion Sports Network (@OnionSports) July 25, 2014
8. The Onion – @TheOnion
Twitter Bio: America’s Finest News Source. Subscribe on YouTube:http://bitly.com/xzrBUA
Followers: 6.03M
Need for Feed: It’s fake news. It’s meant to make you laugh, or reflect on the irony of certain situations. But mainly to make you laugh.
An artist in Japan is arrested for distributing plans to create 3D prints of her vagina. http://t.co/8syElP7ZHspic.twitter.com/iGefVvwCay
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 25, 2014
9. The Daily Show – @TheDailyShow
Twitter Bio: Jon Stewart and The Best F#@king News Team. Mon-Thurs at 11/10c on @ComedyCentral. Full episodes, videos, guest information. #DailyShow
Followers: 2.6M
Need for Feed: A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Sometimes listening to the news can be depressing, and humor can be that spoonful of sugar to help digest the sadness of what we see reported on the screen.
Yesterday after winning his first British Open, Rory McIlroy became the third-youngest golfer to win 3 of the 4 major tourneys! #newgolfking
— Teen Kids News (@teenkidsnews) July 21, 2014
10. Teen Kids News – @teenkidsnews
Twitter Bio: Emmy Winning TV News show for Kids by Kids
Followers: 1008
Need for Feed: The Internet exposes youth to almost everything. While it’s important for kids to know what’s going on in the world, adult news can be too graphic or too complicated. Teen Kids News offers an abridged version of the news, as told by kids.
There you have it—a drop from an ocean (or at least a sizable lake) of good Twitter feeds for the news. How about you, Paste readers … what are some other good Twitter feeds for people who love to read the news?
Madina Papadopoulos is a New York-based freelance writer, author and regular contributor to Paste. You can follow her on Twitter.