Today, everyone gathers their own collection of information sources. We all choose where to get our information and what websites, writers, and other content-producers to follow and trust. Someone should simply package this as an app with an attractive, user-friendly interface, and call it YourDaily or some such. But it can't be like Apple News, with only Apple-approved sources. It must be completely customizable by each user.
Note also that while I will sometimes continue to subscribe to journals like the ones listed, it is becoming much less important to do so. For me, there must be multiple writers, that I want to read, at any one source for me to subscribe. Why should I subscribe to The New York Times when I only want to read Bari Weiss. Luckily, she recently solved that issue for me.
While this has been coming for some time, what we are witnessing in 2021 is the disintegration and fragmentation of the opinion journalism business. If I want to read Bari Weiss, I no longer have to subscribe to The Times; if I want to read Glenn Greenwald, I no longer have to subscribe to The Intercept; if I want to read Andrew Sullivan, I no longer have to subscribe to The Atlantic. I can subscribe to all of these writers directly.
This is a power shift away from publishers and editors to individual writers. My thinking is that this will be healthy for the diversity of opinion available from high quality sources. These writers, and others, no longer have to appease their bosses (or their newsrooms). Sure, they are still answerable to their readers. But they can each individually decide how that will affect their writing.
The internet continues to displace the gatekeepers. And that is a good thing. I certainly don't need the likes of Dean Baquet and A.G. Sulzberger and their ilk to tell me what to read. Or importantly, what writers and opinions I must pay for. I don't even need Apple to give me a list to choose from. No, I'll make my own list, thank you very much.
Now for those of you who argue, but your information sources are not balanced, you are absolutely correct. So I do tend to follow the opinion headlines at The Times daily. For me, I'll read maybe one or two columns a week there – Or, until I hit my limit of free articles. Because I refuse to pay for routine condescension and disdain. I do the same with The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and several others. Because yes, it is important to hear the other side.
On balance I would argue that I read more left-of-center material than your average, supposedly well-read, left-of-center bien-pensant reads right-of-center material. Don't doubt me on this; just ask them. They sneer at the idea.