Toward Healthier Habits for News Intake

Tyler, a subscriber to my email newsletter, recently wrote me to ask how I filter my news intake. He was curious about how I keep a pulse on the goings-on in culture today and how I determine what news sources to read and trust. As a pastor, he feels overwhelmed at the thought of preparing sermons with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other (as the old saying goes).

I’m happy to share a few tips I’ve learned over the years when it comes to news and commentary, especially because this could come in handy if you find it difficult to stay on top of cultural developments.

But first, it’s best to address the matter of calling.

Question of Calling

We all have different callings in life, and I don’t presume your calling looks like mine. After observing Tyler’s life and ministry, perhaps I’d ask how he as a pastor finds the time to do so much counseling of his church members when he also manages to devote significant time to sermon preparation, or how he keeps his family a priority when his congregation has so many needs.

I’m a writer. First and foremost. I love preaching, teaching, leading, and serving, and the Lord has opened various doors for me over the years to exercise multiple gifts. For that, I’m grateful. But the core of my calling is to write, and if I’m to have something to write about, I must always be reading. Unless I fill the well, I have nothing to draw from.

So my reading and news intake is connected to my personal calling. No one should look at the number of books I read every year or the suggestions for news intake below and think they’re failing, somehow, because they don’t cover as much ground. Different callings.

With that caveat, here are habits I’ve found helpful in getting a grasp of the news and following cultural developments over the years.

1. Pick books over magazines and your phone.

If you have limited time for news and commentary, reach for a book before a magazine or before you start scrolling on your phone. I can’t stress this enough. The best thing you can do to stay on top of the news is to dig deeper into the state of our culture so you have a greater understanding of the world and a way of interpreting the day’s news. Study the climate, not just the weather.

Prioritize books that distill and unfold a sustained argument; don’t chase the ephemeral all the time, staying on top of whatever’s “current.” Scrolling is like jet skiing across the surface, and reading is like a deep underwater dive.

2. Pick print magazines over online-only resources (mostly).

I’m old-school in that I subscribe to magazines in print. I do so for three reasons: First, they’re handy on a plane when I’m traveling and convenient in the bathroom or tub. Second, print is usually superior because whatever gets printed most often represents the best of the magazine’s offerings. And third, print forces you to encounter news stories or articles the algorithm wouldn’t serve up. You turn the page and have to decide if you’re going to read, skim, or skip the next article.

I like the way The Week serves up news summaries and delivers bite-size morsels showing what columnists from different outlets said about what happened. World has long been established as a trustworthy Christian resource on events here and around the world. I’ve long appreciated the essays and book reviews in Christianity Today and First Things, and in Touchstone, which always make me think, even when I don’t agree. National Review is the flagship magazine for the neoconservative movement. The Atlantic and The New Yorker can be hit or miss, but even though they lean left, they usually include at least one or two great articles worth my time, and they help me see how different thinkers interpret today’s cultural developments.

3. Pick thoughtful and reasonable online writing over hot takes.

Avoid online-only outlets that are one-sided politically, with right-wing or left-wing takes that merely summarize other news stories in reactionary ways designed to give another hit to the addled online junkie. I don’t have time to name them all because they are legion. Skip them all.

In the realm of church, ministry, the arts, and cultural engagement, several online journals and sites have consistently helpful resources. The Gospel Coalition sets the standard here, but you can find terrific, thought-provoking long-form essays regularly at Mere Orthodoxy, devotional substance at Gospel-Centered Discipleship, and a mix of pastoral and practical helps at Desiring God.

It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to build and sustain an online platform with consistently good material, so you can expect every outlet to lay an egg once in a while. But most of the time, perusing these sites will serve up something nourishing.

4. Pick podcasts over cable news.

The dearth of intelligent, reasonable conversation on cable news is the best reason to avoid it altogether. It’s more beneficial to listen to podcasts on the go—in the car, doing household chores, mowing the lawn. (I hope my?Reconstructing Faith?counts as an edifying resource.)

For politically oriented podcasts from different perspectives, I dip into The Editors (National Review) and The Dispatch, as well as Matter of Opinion from the New York Times (featuring an always outnumbered conservative, Ross Douthat). I also appreciate great interviewers like Ezra Klein and Bari Weiss, and I’ll listen whenever the subject or guest intrigues me. Podcasts are one way to stay on top of cultural developments without feeling like you have to read all the news. (Here’s a counterpoint from Brad East.)

These are just a few principles I hope make for a healthier news and commentary intake. Whatever you do, be intentional. At all costs, avoid the dreadful “scroll” as your primary (or even secondary) news source. Look for sources that stimulate thought and reflection, and avoid any site or writer that confirms all your previous opinions. Get off the jet skis and go diving.

Trevin Wax is vice president of research and resource development at the North American Mission Board and a visiting professor at Cedarville University. A former missionary to Romania, Trevin is a regular columnist at The Gospel Coalition and has contributed to The Washington Post, Religion News Service, World, and Christianity Today. He has taught courses on mission and ministry at Wheaton College and has lectured on Christianity and culture at Oxford University. He is a founding editor of The Gospel Project, has served as publisher for the Christian Standard Bible, and is the author of multiple books, including The Thrill of Orthodoxy, The Multi-Directional Leader, Rethink Your Self, This Is Our Time, and Gospel Centered Teaching. His podcast is Reconstructing Faith. He and his wife, Corina, have three children. You can follow him on Twitter or Facebook, or receive his columns via email.