Media Literacy Challenge #13: Long-form information

The Nomadic Blog

Notes and reflections on history and education

Nate Noorlander
July 31, 2026

This post is part of The Nomadic Professor’s 2026 Media Literacy Challenge: Read Smarter Online! Twice a month throughout 2026, America’s 250th anniversary year, we’re sharing one small skill to help you read better online—social media, YouTube, podcasts, newsletters, forums, magazines, journals, newspapers, and everything between. Follow along or join and enter the drawing to win free courses or Amazon gift cards—including a grand prize of lifetime access to all Nomadic Professor courses, or a $500 Amazon gift card. Learn more here.

Three rules of thumb I like to follow in my media consumption, and a few quick recommendations for good long-form media:

If it came via short-form—video clip, social media post, tweet, etc.—be skeptical, look deeper
If I don’t know much about it, resist the pressure to have an opinion
If I want to know, default to long-form media sources that provide perspective and context

A few sources that help me do that:

Tangle News: An independent and non-partisan group that tells you what the left is saying, what the right is saying, what others are saying, and what Tangle writers think about the issue, helping you to clearly contextualize and gain perspective quickly
Munk Debates: A civic engagement group trying to “help the world rediscover the art of civil and substantive public debate…on the big issues of the day”—lots of great, long-form debates from substantive thinkers there
Semafor: A media organization that works to separate reporting from analysis, and clearly label each, with “The News,” “Reporter’s View,” views from elsewhere, “Room for Disagreement,” and more

What are your own rules, and what do you pay attention to?

Media Literacy Challenge 2026 – Skill #13: Long-form information

Definitions

long-form information:

articles, podcasts, books, and videos that seek to discuss an issue with nuance, complexity, and context, without the constraints and incentives of short-form media

short-form information:

clips, posts, and tweets that give you bite-size pieces of information without necessary context, perspective, and nuance

Tangle News:

From founder Isaac Saul: “I started Tangle because I recognized that the news industry was broken. My work was getting published in a lot of different places, and I realized people trusted it not based on what I was saying — but based on where I was saying it. Readers on the left would trust nothing I wrote if it showed up in a conservative-leaning news outlet, and vice versa. This is how I realized just how strong the information bubble was. So I had a concept I wanted to execute: A newsletter where no matter who you were, you would encounter political opinions that you did not agree with. A genuine big tent media organization. That seemed healthy to me.”

Munk Debates:

From the Munk Debates: “Our mission is to help the world rediscover the art of civil and substantive public debate by convening the brightest thinkers of our time to weigh in on the big issues of the day…We are a program of the Centre for Civic Engagement.”

Semafor Media:

From Semafor: “The world’s first news platform designed to meet the moment we are in. Providing audiences with an unparalleled level of journalistic transparency through innovative new forms, cutting through the noise of the news cycle with smart, distilled views and exploring competing perspectives across borders for a curious, new global audience.”

Downloadables:

Starter kit

Number of seats	Discount	Purchase per seat
1	—	$249
2–4	–25%	$186.75
5–9	–30%	$174.30
10–19	–35%	$161.85
20+	–40%	$149.40

Number of seats	Discount	Subscription per seat
1	—	$30 / month
2–4	–25%	$22.50 / month
5–9	–30%	$21 / month
10–19	–35%	$19.50 / month
20+	–40%	$18 / month

The Nomadic Blog

If it came via short-form—video clip, social media post, tweet, etc.—be skeptical, look deeper

If I don’t know much about it, resist the pressure to have an opinion

If I want to know, default to long-form media sources that provide perspective and context

Tangle News: An independent and non-partisan group that tells you what the left is saying, what the right is saying, what others are saying, and what Tangle writers think about the issue, helping you to clearly contextualize and gain perspective quickly

Munk Debates: A civic engagement group trying to “help the world rediscover the art of civil and substantive public debate…on the big issues of the day”—lots of great, long-form debates from substantive thinkers there

Semafor: A media organization that works to separate reporting from analysis, and clearly label each, with “The News,” “Reporter’s View,” views from elsewhere, “Room for Disagreement,” and more