Commenting on the Daily Digest (by Duane Shank)
More than a year ago, I posted a piece asking for comments from the readers of the Daily Digest. There were many useful ideas, and I've modified the Digest accordingly. I'm now about to leave for a week's vacation, and thought I'd ask again. The Daily Digest is now being received by more than 25,000 people. So, I thought I'd solicit your opinions.
What makes up the Digest? I use the following U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor , USA Today, and the McClatchy news service (including its regional papers). For Canada, the National Post and the Globe & Mail. For an international take, BBC and The Guardian. For the Middle East, Haaretz and al Jazeera. And, if a story is breaking in a specific part of the world, I'll look at news sources from that country. The news I try to cover coincides broadly with Sojourners' platform -- war/peace, poverty and budget priorities, the environment, consistent ethic of life issues, human rights, marriage and family, religion in general, and faith and politics in particular.
What do you think, both of the range of sources and topics? Are there important sources I'm not using? Important issues I don't include enough? If you'd like to comment, just post in the comments for this blog post. I'll read them all and respond as possible.
Duane Shank is the senior policy adviser for Sojourners. Sign up to receive Duane's daily news summary via e-mail.
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Comments
The news digest online is excellent, but the version that gets delivered to my inbox is perfunctory. I would enjoy a longer version delivered by e-mail. If you need to scale back some of the fancy HTML stuff to make that happen, I'd be all in favor of that.
Posted by: aquaman | August 8, 2008 12:21 PM
I like the range of sources you use and the way you present them. If I want to read something in more detail, it is easy to click on the source you embed in the paragraph about the topic.
Thank you.
C.R. Dickson
Posted by: C.R. Dickson | August 8, 2008 12:46 PM
I enjoy the short blurbs. They give me enough information to determine if i want to learn more. Maybe you could add a major Black weekly like the Afro-American or the Defender and a major Latino weekly. They may have some different perspectives
Posted by: Jerry | August 8, 2008 12:52 PM
I would add "justice" to the range of topics, although it is implicit in many of the others.
A valued part of my daily news intake. Thanks and I hope you had a relaxing week off.
A. J. Vielbig
East Lansing MI
Posted by: A. J. Vielbig | August 8, 2008 12:58 PM
I look forward to the daily presentation of three headline items. I have added some of the journals to my favorites list for further searching or for when you are out of town. Thanks!
Posted by: Ken | August 8, 2008 1:25 PM
I find it helpful to read your digest. Thanks for sending it to me.
Posted by: William Anderson | August 8, 2008 1:32 PM
I enjoy reading the news articles on line.
A few other resources you didn't include that I look at to get a broader perspective at times. The English version of Deutsche Welle, The Nation and Tikkun. Church World Service also sends out news blurbs, so they certainly could give some opinions on a number of topics as well.
Peace. Rev. J
Posted by: Anonymous | August 8, 2008 1:43 PM
i really like it...I'd love it if there were maybe 6-10 stories brought up to the email page, rather than putting most of the content on the click-to page.
thanks for your work...it's awesome!
Posted by: miles harbur | August 8, 2008 2:48 PM
i really like it...I'd love it if there were maybe 6-10 stories brought up to the email page, rather than putting most of the content on the click-to page.
thanks for your work...it's awesome!
Posted by: miles harbur | August 8, 2008 2:48 PM
In reading the lists of your international newspaper sources, I might add the writings of Robert Fisk of the (UK) Independent to your list. Many of us trust his on the ground reporting from the middle east as a fair barometer of what is really happening from the people's eyes.
(perhaps you already use him as a source and I've missed him when you do. I'm only reacting to your list)
Thank you for all you work.
Posted by: Deborah Dakin | August 8, 2008 3:03 PM
I do enjoy your quick glance at the news. It is
interesting and if I want more news about it I can always check it out. Thank you for your good work.
Posted by: Joan Pricoli | August 8, 2008 3:06 PM
I am a gig fan and can't complain. However, if you are looking for a different style a Drudge type page could be good - lots of space to put up more subjects.
Posted by: Carlton Currie | August 8, 2008 3:12 PM
You might consider widening your net to non-English papers (European?), some of which have English versions available, I believe - French could even include some of the media from Africa.
Are there also other, non-European, sites as well (Russian?, Japanese?, Latin American?, African?, Western Asian? . . .) with content of quality to be of general interest?
. . . .
Including those with a particular geographical focus other than the Americas, Europe & the Middle East, which have content of interest to the wider world.
Posted by: m b | August 8, 2008 3:18 PM
Dear Duane,
Since Sojouners is Ecumenical I thought you might try using one of the following resources: CNS (Catholic News Service), CWN cwnews.com (Catholic World News; A daily report and analysis from an indepentant perspective.), NCR (national Catholic Reporter), and/or more articles by Catholics on "God's Politics Blog".
Thank you for keeping me in touch with the latest news.
Posted by: Mary Lou Bornhorst | August 8, 2008 3:33 PM
Thanks for your stuff! My irritation is that some time ago the items in the "What's new on the blog?" space began to be printed in a pale yellow, and I can't read them! Don't know if the difficulty is with your format or my machine....
Posted by: dave | August 8, 2008 3:40 PM
I appreciate and value your daily digest. Thank you. And have a good vacation!
Posted by: Mary Jo Stouffer | August 8, 2008 3:47 PM
I wish you would list your source. When I quote your information sometimes I am asked for my source and it would be great to know exactly where the information was coming from. But I do love your stuff.
Posted by: Stefanie Pollard | August 8, 2008 3:54 PM
I wish you would list your source. When I quote your information sometimes I am asked for my source and it would be great to know exactly where the information was coming from. But I do love your stuff.
Posted by: Stefanie Pollard | August 8, 2008 3:54 PM
I read the Daily Digest just about every day even when I am on travel. I find it an excellent way to stay abreast of what is happening. My personal interests are immigration, human trafficking, poverty, and justice. My wife and I are coordinators for Justice and Peace for our religious order within the Catholic church and the Digest really helps us stay up to date.
Thanks!
Posted by: John Dimmock | August 8, 2008 4:51 PM
I love the short blurbs. I could use a few more of them. I'm always able to click on one and read more in depth when I have time. Most importantly, I trust your choice of stories and the integrity in your comments!
Posted by: Paul Yoder | August 8, 2008 5:16 PM
I agree with aquaman. I think it would be great if the three headlines were elaborated upon just a bit more. Otherwise, it makes more sense to just check-out the blog. I get both the verse and voice and the daily digest, and if I happen to be away from the computer for a couple of days, I go back and read the verse and voice, but simply delete the digest. I don't mean to be too critical...I really appreciate what you offer us.
Posted by: lurkersanonymous | August 8, 2008 5:35 PM
Duane,
I really appreciate your time, energy, and efforts. I find your 'news updates' especially relevant when I am on the run and need a glimpse of the news. Although I am interested in the various topics, war, poverty, racism, etc., I am particularly interested with the issue of "immigration." Also, how about some sources in Spanish, i.e. Mexico and Latin America?
Keep up the good work!
Peace
Posted by: Jose L Gutierrez | August 8, 2008 7:43 PM
I would like to see the digest I get when I click on the underlined blurb on the bottom of the page be the "Daily Digest" And I like the suggestions for adding an African Camerican perspective and a Latino perspective (an Asian one too would be good). The Catholic news sources look good too, but don't expand to them before you add a Latino and an African source.
Posted by: Elizabeth Reynolds | August 8, 2008 8:25 PM
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Richard Robison | August 8, 2008 9:53 PM
I like it to the way it is. Thanks for your good work.
WRH
Posted by: William R. Hoyt | August 8, 2008 10:07 PM
As others have said, I'd like more blurbs on the original e-mail, so that I can understand more from that source. One other suggestion I have is regarding when you click on the link to the longer list (a new web page). I cannot tell you how many times I have clicked on a story on that new page, closed it, and kicked myself because I had closed down the whole source page. I hope I am making sense. Basically, my request is that you work the technology so that each link on the blurbs list will open a new window in which I can read the story - rather than opening directly in the same window. Then, when I am done reading a story, I can close that window, and my source list will still be available to choose from....
Posted by: Cecelia | August 8, 2008 10:10 PM
You might add The Jerusalem Post to your sources.
I read it for many years until I decided I could no longer afford it.
I appreciate your news updates! Good job!
E.B.
Posted by: Elizabeth Brown | August 9, 2008 12:07 AM
Dear Duane,
I like your range of resources and topics very much. Along with Cecelia, I have a problem with maneuverability between the various links once I've openend the digest. Yet a larger problem for me is that to access the digest from the intro page takes quite a long time..sometimes a minute or more after clicking on the link.
Hope these technical issues can be worked out.
Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Barbara Carol
Posted by: Barbara Carol | August 9, 2008 2:15 AM
It is a great service, I look for it whenever I read the mail. I love the range of topics you cover. Please continue it.
Posted by: William Coffey | August 9, 2008 9:41 AM
This is about your often many fine articles. I can't print them for diuscussion sue unless I print all the comments whihc ends up being a ton of printing papere. Suggestion: Develp a way to let us print an article with all the comments. Any suggstions?
Posted by: Ted Johnstone | August 9, 2008 10:08 AM
I, too enjoy the digest but with all of the mergers in the media I would caution you to be aware of the editorial perspective of your sources.
Posted by: Don Noble | August 9, 2008 10:18 AM
Thanks for asking! Two additional resources could be the National Catholic Reporter and Commonweal.
Maybe it is my mistake, but sometimes I would like to copy an article and I get all the other articles as well. It is a waste of paper. If my mistake, please tell me what I am doing wrong.
Harry J Bury
Posted by: Harry J Bury | August 9, 2008 10:31 AM
I really like the digest. The only thing I think would make it better is if you had a link to follow if we wanted more details about one of your news briefs.
Posted by: Walt Simmerman | August 9, 2008 1:53 PM
Duane,
The National Catholic Reporter's Joan Chittister, John Dear and Thomas Gumbleton are always exellent from a progressive Christian POV.
Thank you and keep doing what your doing. God Bless.
David
Posted by: David Paul Brown | August 9, 2008 3:27 PM
I am very appreciative of the breadth and depth of what you send us. Your hard work to give a balanced exposure to what is happening around the globe is really wonderful. I see by your list of resources that you have chosen 2 Canadian newspapers that, while national in their distribution, are editorially representative of a fairly similar perspective. Had you considered the Toronto Star which is widely read online around the globe, as a balancing influence? Their coverage is very inclusive, international as well as local and would offer a more complete reflection of Canadian life and views.
Posted by: gt | August 10, 2008 4:18 PM
Posted by: Jerry:
Maybe you could add a major Black weekly like the Afro-American or the Defender and a major Latino weekly. They may have some different perspectives.
Posted by m:
Are there also other, non-European, sites as well (Russian?, Japanese?, Latin American?, African?, Western Asian? . . .) with content of quality to be of general interest?
. . . .
Including those with a particular geographical focus other than the Americas, Europe & the Middle East, which have content of interest to the wider world.
Posted by Elizabeth Reynolds:
And I like the suggestions for adding an African Camerican perspective and a Latino perspective (an Asian one too would be good).
I agree with this sentiment. I do feel, however, that race issues are usually handled as Black-and-White with just a side mentioning of other races/ethnicities, as if their experiences (of racism, economic hardship, etc.) are the same as African Americans (or Latinos if issues of immigration are the focus). Asian and Asian American perspectives and news (with the exception of Asian countries when they are struck with natural disasters and Asian countries that are not Japan, China, or Korea), I feel, are most lacking or overlooked or lack access.
Perhaps if there were a broader range of world news, I would be more interested in the Daily Digest and look at it more often. Right now, I rely more heavily on other daily digests I receive elsewhere.
Posted by: jeanelle | August 11, 2008 4:31 PM
Posted by: Jerry:
Maybe you could add a major Black weekly like the Afro-American or the Defender and a major Latino weekly. They may have some different perspectives.
Posted by m:
Are there also other, non-European, sites as well (Russian?, Japanese?, Latin American?, African?, Western Asian? . . .) with content of quality to be of general interest?
. . . .
Including those with a particular geographical focus other than the Americas, Europe & the Middle East, which have content of interest to the wider world.
Posted by Elizabeth Reynolds:
And I like the suggestions for adding an African Camerican perspective and a Latino perspective (an Asian one too would be good).
I agree with this sentiment. I do feel, however, that race issues are usually handled as Black-and-White with just a side mentioning of other races/ethnicities, as if their experiences (of racism, economic hardship, etc.) are the same as African Americans (or Latinos if issues of immigration are the focus). Asian and Asian American perspectives and news (with the exception of Asian countries when they are struck with natural disasters and Asian countries that are not Japan, China, or Korea), I feel, are most lacking or overlooked or lack access.
Perhaps if there were a broader range of world news, I would be more interested in the Daily Digest and look at it more often. Right now, I rely more heavily on other daily digests I receive elsewhere.
Posted by: jeanelle | August 11, 2008 4:33 PM
I love the posts. My only suggestion for content would be more articles on women and girls living in developing countries and in the Middle East. I would love more on how human rights and poverty issues particularly affect women and girls. Articles could include issues facing women and girls or programs that are doing a great job of addressing those issues. Thanks for considering this request.
Posted by: Lisa | August 11, 2008 4:38 PM
(with the exception of Asian countries when they are struck with natural disasters and Asian countries that are not Japan, China, or Korea)
I meant to say "(with the exception of Asian countries when they are struck with natural disasters and Japan, China, or Korea)."
Posted by: jeanelle | August 11, 2008 4:39 PM
The National Post in Canada is a very right wing paper founded by Conrad Black (now in jail for white collar crookery). A better source would be the Toronto Star. It has the largest circulation and a well developed sense of social justice. The Star came to our aid when we started a program for the homeless at our church 14 years ago. It awarded us a laurel and gave our chief detractor (a Toronto councillor who tried to shut us down) a dart.
The Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) is also a good source.
Posted by: Dennis Bruce | August 11, 2008 6:45 PM
good stuff duane.how about a discussion on single payer health insurance?..marshall blondy,m.d.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 12, 2008 8:32 PM
I love the digest. My only complaint is that I do wish the article links and synpopses came directly in the email, rather than adding the step of going to another website first. That's probably the number one thing that keeps me from using the digest more.
Occasional links to more in-depth, big picture analysis would be nice, the kind of stuff one might find in Harper's, The New Republic, the NY Times Magazine, or the NY Review of Books. First Things as well. Truthdig.com, Politico, WSJ, The Economist, the Times (timesonline.co.uk), and Asia Times (atimes.com) are also interesting sources for news and commentary. The blogosphere also seems to have some worthy commentators who are reinventing journalism.
Thanks!
Posted by: Rob O. | August 13, 2008 12:35 PM
Not everyone can work, there aren't jobs for all who can, and that the social safety net was shredded during the Clinton administration. The money that once went toward family stability and enabling the poor to work their way out of poverty now goes straight into covering some of the cost of the past quarter century of annual "tax relief" for the richest. As a result of our welfare "reform", the infant mortality rate among America's poor now exceeds that of some Third World nations, and the life expectancy of our poor has fallen below that of the more modern nations. In short,. not only have these policies-of-choice caused tremendous suffering, but they kill.
Under the best circumstances today, the poor are used as super-cheap workfare labor, increasingly used as temporary replacement labor. This has done much to pull down wages for most of the working class, to eliminate workers' rights and protections, and to break unions.
Why aren't these things being brought up to our politicians? Why aren't we asking the candidates for their plans concerning America's unemployed and unemployable? With so many people suffering right here in the States, why is the subject of reinstating a (legitimate, non-punitive) welfare system (for the poor) simply off the political board?
Posted by: DHFabian | September 22, 2008 8:16 PM
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