i’m a fan of bbc for facts but for commentary it’s harder. i use a lot of canadian sources that include the cbc but are also smaller independent magazines, one of which distributes a daily email that sums up the five major national newspapers including their views and representations as well as the goings-on themselves. maybe you can look around the independent press scene for their web publishing. the email i mentionned (maisonneuve) … its regular publishing isn’t primarily a news service (localised “general interest” sort of magazine) but it does employ independent/freelance journalists to maintain this service which makes me super happy/informed. essentially, it gets me the news minus the cheap, spiteful puns of biased (left or right) news reporting, but mentions the biased delivery, and links it, in case i’m interested.

Just curious, Kinders - can’t say I’ve noticed the sarcasm to which you refer. Any recent examples that I might have missed? Personally, I draw a distinction between news items that appear in the main paper, and articles, especially those in G2, where I expect some opinions. The Guardian also regularly publishes articles by writers whose opinions are likely to get up the noses of a large part of their readership, which I reckon is no bad thing, not just because it saves them the trouble of buying the Mail, but because it’s good to have your own prejudices questioned. Well, mine at any rate.

As to your question about alternatives, I don’t know one. I subscribe to The Week, which is a bit like the daily email mentioned by Jessia in that it summarises news etc from British, European & American press, but a) it’s weekly and b} it’s hard copy only, not online.

I’m talking about news items rather than articles and opinions; it doesn’t seem so bad now. I had some examples but I’ve lost them now.

But here’s a story that - while it’s hardly groundbreaking news - begins with a tone of smugness I’m not keen on:

“When paparazzi have a crisis of conscience over the wellbeing of their celebrity prey, events have clearly reached a serious level. So it is with Britney Spears, the troubled pop star and America’s favourite tabloid fodder, who was back under psychiatric evaluation in a Los Angeles hospital last night after the latest in a series of highly publicised meltdowns.

As the singer’s family and manager bickered over the right to direct her treatment after a court-ordered commitment into mental health care, a British photographer who has quit the chasing media pack warned the hounding could kill her. …”