Miss-enlightened!

• Pros: They tend to target specific interests, and most are free.


• Cons: Content may only be updated monthly, and is not very broad.


• Suggested Site: Time Magazine: Has the same great content as the print version, plus many cool interactive features, and an archive!

• Pros: Most are updated daily, or at least several times a week. Many are free and have established reputations as reliable news sources.


• Cons: Many run the same story over and over again, only changing slight details as new information comes in, which can make it time consuming to find stuff you haven't already read if you have been following a story for awhile


• Suggested Site: The New York Times: Very comprehensive, and easy to search.

8) Search Engine: We use them for just about everything, why not news?

• Pros: It's easy to get a lot of results if you have specific search terms to look for.


• Cons: If you don't know exactly what you want the results can be frustrating and hard to sift through. Some of the search results may direct you to very unreliable content.


• Suggested Site: Google.com: If you search through their news section you are only directed to well known news sources; it is a great way to see what all the popular channels are saying about a certain topic.
  

• Pros: You can check the news from the same sites where you get email, music, and countless other things.
  
• Cons: Because the sites don't specialize in news, some may be very lacking in content. Some also redirect you to other sites, which is annoying!


• Suggested Site: Yahoo! News: You can search by key terms within this section of yahoo. They also are well organized, and easy to browse. Yahoo mostly uses AP News stories which is great because they tend to be pretty unbiased.

• Pros: They can be great if you are trying to follow a specific topic, and it is nice to be able to store and read it from your inbox.


• Cons: Some are infrequent, and it's hard to find a good one that has broad content. RSS feeds also do pretty much the same thing, but better!


• Suggested Site: Page One: A great way to keep up with what's going on in the literature community (if you can get past their awkward formatting).
  

• Pros: There are so MANY of them, and they cover pretty much every topic! The good ones are easy to read, provide a lot of information, and are cleverly written.


• Cons: Some don't verify their content, and can have unreliable information, or are mostly opinion (opinion isn't always a bad thing though). Some are very infrequently updated.


• Suggested Site: Radical Middle: The author tries to be unbiased (though it is obvious that he leans a little liberal), the topics are interesting, and he very dependably updates it once a month.

4) Online TV: this is the greatest internet trend ever!

• Pros: Commercial breaks are much shorter than on an actual tv (average is 30 seconds), you can watch specific programs whenever you want regardless of your schedule, some shows even provide extra content that they don't release to cable/satellite, and most are free!


• Cons: If you don't have a fast internet connection you might have loading difficulties. Some require you to download media players which isn't convenient if you aren't using the site frequently, and some won't run on things like cellphones or PS3 internet browsers.
  
• Suggested Site: Hulu: They stream live presidential addresses and legally show new episodes of "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" as well as some other popular talk shows. You can also catch up on your favorite sitcoms from almost any tv channel.

3) Discussion Boards: do more with your news than just absorb it!

• Pros: You can put your two cents in about pretty much any topic you choose, and you can have a back and forth converstaion with many people who all have a different and interesting take on things.
  
• Cons: A lot of what people say is propaganda, not based on any facts, and not backed up by any source or reason. Also some boards might not be well moderated, and occasionally on some forums people resort to personal attacks. Most sites also require that you create an account to participate which might be a nuisance if you don't plan on frequenting the site.


• Suggested Site: US Politics Online: This is a great site if you like debate and you don't get offended easily.

• Pros: You get a lot of information packed into a small amount of time, most are free, and they are a great alternative for people who like to listen to someone talk instead of reading text.


• Cons: You have to shop around a lot to find one that is interesting AND also has reliable information. If you have a slow internet connection you may experience loading issues, and the podcast you like might not run in a supportable mode for you mobile device.


• Suggested Site: Sxephil: He crams a lot of cool news into podcasts that are normally less than 5 minutes. He is also very funny, and talks about stuff that you don't readily find in other news forums.

1) Audio Podcast: News you can take with you- ANYWHERE!

• Pros: Most of these are compatible with just about any mobile device imaginable, which gives you the ultimate "on the go" experience. You can also find them on many different topics. You can also listen to podcasts with more than one host, and it is common to have group podcasts, so you might get more dimensions to a story.

• Cons: Some of the hosts are "just along for the ride" and don't have much to offer, and "like minded" people tend to hang out together so you might get people just agreeing with each other on issues. Podcasts also tend to be very opinion based, and can suffer from the Bill O'Reilly "loudest voice wins" problem.

• Suggested Site: This one I do not have a suggestion for, look around and find one that is right for you :)

The one thing that all these sources have in common is that they are not killing trees in order to be produced. If you care about the environment, switching to online media is a great way to live in a way that supports your beliefs.

If you enjoy the news you should also learn about RSS feeds, they make it easy to be up to date.

With all these wonderful options, there is no reason for anyone to not stay informed!