I think that's "taverna."

So if the media arm of the tentacle beast has been legally deemed opinion, does that make me legally obligated to treat it with liberal (snort) amounts of salt? Yes. I'll go with yes. Where else do I look for news then? Social media platforms? Nah - apart from issues with fines and data miners, there are way too many dead relatives on there. (Seriously, check that your alias is still breathing before sending a friend request, you rank steaming pile.) News aggregators? How many of the recommendations end up being ads in article form?

In an environment where one is bombarded with all this information, what other tack is there to take to maintain some awareness of the world? Am I to stick to documentaries and instructional videos? At least then, even when the dialogue echoes the spin of whatever side of the divide they're on (don't get me started on the captions), it's still fascinating to learn that cats, though they seek out other cats, are more selective of the company they keep; and it's just as interesting to see how much a simple terrace and ditch can do against more than just soil erosion.

I'm more inclined to keep in mind that these methods now used by the online equivalent of telemarketers (the credit card, embassy, and computer software sort) have been researched and implemented by firms that now find themselves under government scrutiny long before I noticed and was in a mood to point them out. Thanks for the reminder to keep an eye on what happens around e-books, and broadcast, and print - I have more of my own reasons to do so without prompting from anyone else's presumptions. (For a start, I'm not into Blues.)

Have to say, though, the news feed isn't all bad - looks like the beast couldn't kill off the indy creator shopping site after all.