Last year it dawned on me that shift to trending news had significantly narrowed the kind of news I read. So, this year I made a media diet resolution to ween myself off of social media algorithms and, to help keep me on track, I’m trying to find five interesting stories each day from somewhere other than a viral news list.
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- “Israel official doubted Palestinian protest icon, her family” (Associated Press) – Michael Oren, a former ambassador to the U.S. and a deputy minister for Netanyahu, admitted that he led a secret investigation that sought to discredit the Ahed Tamimi who has become a visible face of Palestinian protests against Israel. Oren told the AP he doubted the Tamimi family are actually Palestinian because of their appearance. “The children were chosen on the basis of their external look, to look Western, freckled, and blond-haired,” Oren said.
- “At Davos, outsourcing giant Infosys prepares for closing borders” (Washington Post) – The Indian-based company, which employs 200,000 to provide things like IT and customer support, sees the tide of history shifting. “Nations across the world are going to become very nationalistic,†said Ravi Kumar S., Infosys president and deputy chief operating officer. “It’s kind of a counter narrative to globalization: the talent pools will have to be very localized.â€
- “Security, stability called top priorities in Xinjiang” (China Daily) – You know who else is building a wall? The chairman of the Chinese region of Xinjiang has said he wants to build a new “Great Wall” around its 3,800 mile border as protection from Uyghur militants.
- “India’s switched-at-birth babies who refused to swap back” (BBC News) – A separated-at-birth yarn with a heartwarming twist.
- “All Good Magazines Go to Heaven” (New York Times) – The world’s largest magazine collection, the Hyman Archive in London, got its start as a way for MTV Europe producers to prepare for celebrity interviews. Because of course it did.