Well, one thing to consider is that the "filter bubble" is relative, to a degree. We are talking about news, for a mainstream audience. So, the old fashioned alternative is perhaps reading a single physical newspaper, watching 1 or 2 tv news shows and perhaps listening to one radio station, all of similar political bent. Compared to that, the variance of view points among my Facebook friends is likely still higher, as is, say the one among commenters of /r/worldnews or HN.
It is a bubble, of course. Most or all my Facebook friends are from the same age, same few countries and more or less similar economic background. Twitter and Reddit have their particular leanings and dogma. So, there is definitely a "filter bubble" compared to "the sum total of world opinions". But I'd still argue that there are more view points in that filter bubble than in the editorial voices within the press of a given country targeting a particular political affiliation. Perhaps not as much as there should be, given the possibilities, but still...
Very much agree. When I was a kid I watched one (and only one) of the three network news channels, read The New York Times + the local paper, and that was about it--this was before the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, so talk radio hadn't yet metastasized. It was hard to get alternative opinions in either direction, even if you wanted to.
Compared to that social media is a cornucopia/vomitorium of diversity. Alternate opinions are easy to find and sometimes hard to escape.
Managing to challenge ones preconceptions is always going to take work.
Also note that for someone getting their news from FOX News, the New York Times is a left-wing outlier. News is pretty terrible in Norway too, but I always feel like I'm in a sitcom whenever I visit the US/Canada. Where BBC and the Guardian appear as bastions against the establishment -- while they of course are very much mainstream.
On the other hand, I'm quite grateful to many of the Republican bloggers/commenters for offering their view on US politics -- it can be easy to forget that the US has a strong intellectual tradition, and while you'll find me agreeing with/quoting Chomsky or Klein more often than anyone on the other end -- there are quite a few voices on the right that have strong and interesting opinions on freedom, independence, commerce, curbing of federal powers etc.
Anyway, with HN being so dominated by the US in general, and Silicon Valley (including the part of SV that lives in NYC ;-) -- I find it can be quite a contrast to my other echo chambers...
I'm afraid I couldn't suggest anything similar that is more left leaning -- maybe https://zcomm.org/znet/ or http://monthlyreview.org/ (but I don't really follow either -- and they certainly can't compare in any meaningful way with hn).
It is a bubble, of course. Most or all my Facebook friends are from the same age, same few countries and more or less similar economic background. Twitter and Reddit have their particular leanings and dogma. So, there is definitely a "filter bubble" compared to "the sum total of world opinions". But I'd still argue that there are more view points in that filter bubble than in the editorial voices within the press of a given country targeting a particular political affiliation. Perhaps not as much as there should be, given the possibilities, but still...