How I follow the Iran war

A quick post today, as I juggle a vast pile of projects and horrendous travel (post to come): some friends asked me how I get news on the Iran war, so I thought I’d sketch out the practice.

Here’s my current system. Consider it an an hoc system of information/digital literacy practices.

One principle I follow in structuring all of this is that of the classic futures scanning method. I try to organize multiple, diverse perspectives. I also look into, or through, multiple schools of thought, disciplines, and methods. I’ve love to hear your suggestions in comments.

Websites

I regularly scan what I think of as top level news websites, including Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Al-Jazeera, the Guardian, and various continental European sources. These give me quick updates on events, while also serving as a useful glimpse into what various nations and organizations are thinking.  Some of these are free and open, while others I access through my university or pay for by subscription.

The Institute for the Study of War does solid, extensive information gathering.  I rely on them for other wars, too, like Russia-Ukraine.  The war’s Wikipedia page is solid for reference, frequently updated.

I also scroll through news sites and blogs in my RSS reader, Inoreader.  Old school and it works like a charm!

Today I found a new one, World Monitor, which I’ll test out.  Looks fascinating:

I don’t know what’s going on in the bottom left.

Email newsletters

I read a lot of newsletters in general, and appreciate some for news and analysis on the Iran war.  Among the most useful are those from Adam Tooze, Noah Smith, Bill McKibben, Doomberg, China Talk, and John Ellis.

Social media

There’s a good amount of useful and/or interesting content on X/Twitter (here’s me).  Many official announcements from around the world occur there, plus people sharing open source intel to various degrees of bias and nerdery.  In contrast, Bluesky is more useful for progressive, antiwar, anti-Trump commentary.

I also follow Trump’s Truth.social feed.  It’s an import source, of course, both for tracking Trump’s various thoughts as well as the presidency’s information strategy, although reading it gives me a headache.

Podcasts

I regularly listen to the better news podcasts, like Reuters and BBC, along with NPR for a quick headline sketch. I also listen to deeper, more analytical programs from various perspectives, such as School of War, Monocle’s Foreign Desk, Foreign Affairs, China Talk, Alternate Shots, Ones and Tooze, Times of Israel, Munk Debates, and Doug Henwood’s show.

Messaging apps

I follow several Telegram channels, which can be a swirl of news and rumors. I also connect with some friends and scholars there.

Individuals sharing and reaching out

All kinds of people ping me individually across just about any platforms.  Emails, Facebook DMs, YouTube comments, Signal notes, all cross my transom, as do in person conversations, sharing their thoughts and observations. I reach out to some individual experts for their views. I also try to stay in touch with friends, colleagues, and students in and near the war zones, again using whichever tech works for them.

What I’m not using

To keep up with the Iran war I’m not using anything in print (paper newspapers, magazines), as they either lag behind too much or are more easily accessed digitally. I don’t listen to the radio, although podcasts are close.  I continue to shun tv news as it offers nothing to me except time wasting and shallowness, but I’m considering checking in on Fox News, in order to get a better handle on Trump.  That will probably give me a migraine.

Some social media platforms aren’t very useful on this score. In my experience Mastodon doesn’t cover current news very much. LinkedIn tends to avoid politics. Some friends recommend YouTube commentaries and interviews but my schedule doesn’t let me watch them, especially one hour plus videos.

I haven’t looked into Tiktok for Iran war news because I don’t really use the app. As a good American I only use Whatsapp a little, and am not sure how to turn it to geopolitical information-gathering.

One possibility in my mind: we could do a Future Trends Forum session on the Iran war’s impact on higher ed. How does that sound?

How about you? Anything useful I’ve missed?