I would consider myself an avid web user, especially when it comes to consuming news media. I’m always interested in what is happening politically around the globe and how it relates to me and our nation. Right now, I see the crisis between Russia and Ukraine as the most pressing issue on the world’s stage, so I find myself reading through articles and Twitter notifications about what is going on in that area of the world to stay informed.

The news topics I like to follow the most are politics and professional/collegiate sports. Almost all of this news come from national/international headlines and storylines, so I rarely read news from my hometown (Kenosha, Wisconsin). If I do see news from my hometown, I normally find it on Twitter or other forms of social media like Facebook or Snapchat. I still have many friends and acquaintances that live in Kenosha, so if I need to find a scoop on local news, I often turn to those people. The lone exception came in the late summer months of 2020, when the Jacob Blake news broke and entered the mainstream media atmosphere, garnering interest from all major media outlets and even professional sporting leagues like Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.

Much of my political news comes from non-mainstream sources. A few journalists I follow for news are Steven Crowder and Jack Posobiec, as well as the website “The Daily Wire.” Most of the news I consume from these individuals and websites originate from Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, Rumble or their individual websites. I see these journalists as well-informed individuals from whom I can formulate a valid opinion with verifiable evidence to back my opinions. Most of the information I consume from these outlets comes from video/audio podcasts run by the journalists themselves and not much of their information comes from written media other than their sources.

For sports, I like to turn to networks like ESPN, CBS or Fox Sports when it comes to hard news in the sports world. For example, I first saw the reports that Tom Brady was going to retire from ESPN’s National Football League insider Adam Schefter on Twitter. But, for opinionated news, I like to listen to podcasters and YouTube creators like The Pat McAfee Show, Marc Luino, Kentrell Beecham and many more.

Almost all of my information on both of these topics, including even local news, comes from Twitter. I really enjoy using Twitter to find this news because almost all of these outlets that I have listed are “verified” on the social networking site, so I can trust that the news they are sharing is coming from them and them only, not a fake news site. Twitter is also a place where these outlets can be a little more personal with their audience. They can reiterate what they have covered or expressed as well as open new viewpoints and give immediate feedback to their audience instead of forcing them to wait for a new episode or new article to be released, which can take multiple days to do at times.