STAY INFORMED

Today’s political environment is very complex. Unlike an election year, when the goals and necessary actions are relatively clear, citizen activists now have an array of choices about how they want to spend their time and energy to do good.

The first step in determining your approach to personal action in 2025 is to be well informed. Keep up with the news and the resulting priorities for activism. It is best to have a good sense of the “lay of the land,” and then you can narrow your focus to areas that resonate for you. These personal decisions are not static, they will likely change over time depending on a range of factors. Below are some tips for staying informed in a way that will help guide your activism journey.

SPEND DEDICATED TIME EACH DAY READING FROM A RANGE OF QUALITY SOURCES

Substack authors:
We highly recommend any of the options below. There are many other good Substack authors but these are our current favorites. They cover news as well as offer guidance on actions and much-needed inspiration.

  • Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Craven - This weekday newsletter gives you easy, effective political actions to take to stave off despair, effect positive change, and elect true public servants.

  • Hopium Chronicles by Simon Rosenberg - You’ll find expert commentary here from a 30-year veteran of US politics. Hopium provides strategies to defeat MAGA, tell our story more effectively, and ensure freedom and democracy prevail. It also offers live events - and all sorts of Hopium!

  • Today's Edition by Robert Hubbell - Hubbell provides a reflection on today's news through the lens of hope.

  • The Message Box by Dan Pfeiffer - This newsletter, from a former senior advisor to Barack Obama, is for people who want to defeat Donald Trump and MAGA extremism.
    *Note that Simon and Robert offer regular meetings for paid subscribers which are informative and inspiring. They are a great opportunity to be in virtual community with like-minded people.

Major news outlets:
Unfortunately, many mainstream news sources have capitulated to some degree to the pressures of the MAGA movement and its perceived impact on their bottomline. We recommend any of the news outlets below.
Guardian US - The Guardian covers American and international news for an online, global audience.
ProPublica - ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force.
MeidasTouch News - MTN is a pro-democracy news network. It has quickly established itself as one of the most viewed news networks in the world. MeidasTouch is independently owned and operated.
Democracy Docket - The leading digital news platform dedicated to information, analysis and opinion about voting rights and elections in the courts.
The New York Times - While the Times is far from perfect, there is value in following what is being reported in the mainstream news, and it is the least bad choice for that objective.

Note: We recommend that you spend little (or no) time watching TV news.
Mainstream news networks, with the exception of PBS, are geared toward capturing as many “eyeballs” as possible to maximize profits. This profit incentive leads to hyperbolic reporting which is often biased and anxiety-provoking. Plus, watching TV news is a very inefficient use of your time (a valuable resource for the movement!) as you are a captive audience and cannot actively choose topics of your own interest.