This post summarizes the leading free internet platforms and websites available to the public to learn about the latest news and events … with a focus on politics and government.

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Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

The name Wikipedia is a portmanteau of the words wiki (from Hawaiian meaning “quick”) and encyclopedia. It is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers through a model of open collaboration and a wiki-based editing system.

PBS News is the primary daily, breaking and special news producer for PBS.

It is the consolidator news brand within News Hour Productions LLC, a wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary of WETA that produces PBS News Hour, PBS News Weekend and Washington Week with The Atlantic; primetime and daytime breaking news and political specials; and documentaries. PBS News also maintains a robust footprint across digital and social platforms, including YouTube. PBS News Hour is co-anchored by Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett.

It serves as public television’s marquee news program and features the latest news, analysis, field reports from around the world, and live studio interviews and discussions. For nearly 50 years, millions have turned to the nightly broadcast for the solid, reliable reporting that has made News Hour the most objective and credible news programs on television. PBS News Weekend is anchored by John Yang. Jeffrey Goldberg is the moderator of Washington Week with The Atlantic, the longest-running primetime news and public affairs program on television.

Source: website

The Conversation is a network of nonprofit media outlets publishing news stories and research reports online, with accompanying expert opinion and analysis.  Articles are written by academics and researchers under a Creative Commons license, allowing reuse without modification. Copyright terms for images are generally listed in the image caption and attribution.

Its model has been described as explanatory journalism. Except in “exceptional circumstances”, it only publishes articles by “academics employed by, or otherwise formally connected to, accredited institutions, including universities and accredited research bodies”

Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan[2][3] research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in six basic areas: background information, issue positions (via the Political Courage Test), voting records, campaign finances, interest group ratings, and speeches and public statements. This information is distributed via their web site, a toll-free phone number, and print publications. The founding president of the organization was Richard Kimball. Kimball became president emeritus in 2022, when Kyle Dell was announced as the new president of Vote Smart.

PVS also provides records of public statements, contact information for state and local election offices, polling place and absentee ballot information, ballot measure descriptions for each state (where applicable), links to federal and state government agencies, and links to political parties and issue organizations.

Source: Wikipedia

The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are distributed to its members, major U.S. daily newspapers and radio and television broadcasters. Since the award was established in 1917, the AP has earned 59 Pulitzer Prizes, including 36 for photography. The AP is also known for its widely used AP Stylebook, its AP polls tracking NCAA sports, sponsoring the National Football League’s annual awards, and its election polls and results during US elections.

By 2016, news collected by the AP was published and republished by more than 1,300 newspapers and broadcasters. The AP operates 235 news bureaus in 94 countries, and publishes in English, Spanish, and Arabic. It also operates the AP Radio Network, which provides twice hourly newscasts and daily sportscasts for broadcast and satellite radio and television stations. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, paying a fee to use AP material without being contributing members of the cooperative. As part of their cooperative agreement with the AP, most member news organizations grant automatic permission for the AP to distribute their local news reports.

Source: Wikipedia

National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national syndicator to a network of more than 1,000 public radio stations in the United States. It differs from other non-profit membership media organizations, such as the Associated Press, in that it was established by an act of Congress.

Funding for NPR comes from dues and fees paid by member stations, underwriting from corporate sponsors, and annual grants from the publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Most of its member stations are owned by non-profit organizations, including public school districts, colleges, and universities. NPR operates independently of any government or corporation, and has full control of its content.

Source: Wikipedia

States Newsroom is a network of affiliates we created and independent partner news sites that we support. Every newsroom is led by a veteran local journalist with deep knowledge of the state’s political history and media landscape who oversees a staff of experienced capital reporters. Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect the states.

Our nonprofit newsrooms combine relentless reporting and insightful commentary to connect people to the state leaders and government policies that affect their daily lives.

Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack is headquartered in San Francisco.

Substack users include journalists, subject-matter experts, and media platforms.

In 2019, Substack added support for podcasts and discussion threads among newsletter subscribers.

Authors can decide to make subscribing to their newsletter free or paid, and to make specific posts publicly available to non-subscribers.

Substack provides legal advice to its writers through its program Substack Defender.

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