News you can actually use

As an avowed hater of email, it’s come as a great surprise to me that one of the ways I get my most interesting and thought provoking reading these days is through email.

We spoke this week with Marshall Kosloff, of the Lincoln Network, on the Civil Squared podcast about the changes in the news media landscape and the challenges of finding good information. We also spoke about the benefits that the internet age has brought to our media consumption. One of those benefits, at least at the moment, may be the newfound popularity of the newsletter.

Want solid data on parenting best practices and help navigating the COVID-19 crisis parenting decisions? There’s a newsletter for that! Baffled by what’s going on with the United States Postal Service and want to understand the implications for the election and beyond? There’s a newsletter for that! Feeling overwhelmed by the arguments on opposing sides of different political issues and want an unbiased breakdown of the facts? There’s a newsletter for that too!

The beauty of the internet age and the ability to make a profit off of subscription model means that for every niche interest you have, there’s probably someone else who cares deeply about it too and has the resources and the background to take you deeper. Some even do it for free!

Perhaps some of the solution to our concerns about finding reliable information and understanding the world around us is right in our inboxes. Here’s a few to get you started, but you also might consider checking out the top writers on Substack to see who’s covering the issues you care about.

The Thread Weekly – A free, weekly email on a single question that’s important in the current news cycle. They do the research for you to aggregate the arguments being presented and the best writing on those positions to learn more. Topics range from “Should we Reform Qualified Immunity?” to “Relief or Bailout? The predicament of additional funding for state and local governments.”

The Mail – A new, weekly pop up newsletter covering what’s happening with the USPS and how to understand the effects on the election in November and other important issues. This newsletter is free and will run weekly through November. There is a subscription option that gets you a monthly printed zine mailed to your home with greater coverage on issues like digital security.

ParentData – A bi-weeklyish, free newsletter by economist and parent, Dr. Emily Oster covering the latest data on pregnancy, parenting, and lately, a lot about COVID-19, as well as regular reading recommendations on all these topics.

Photo by Gemma Evans on Unsplash