NewsTrust.net - Blog: Global Economy

Last week, our featured topic was the Global Economy. As the global economic recession deepens, world leaders are facing many complex issues, to be discussed at the G20 Summit in April. In this News Hunt, our reviewers looked at the effects of the crisis on people across the world, and examined how President Barack Obama's administration and other governments plan to speed up recovery.

Our top news story was 'Dollar crisis in the making', Asia Times' third installment in a three-part series on China's moves to protect itself amid downturn in Western markets. Our top opinion, 'To save the economy, we need to stop saving' from Newsweek, argued that in order for the U.S. economy to rebound, Americans must stop hoarding and take more risks.

We reviewed 62 stories on the Global Economy throughout the week. Here is a sampling of the best news and opinion we found together:

News

Dollar crisis in the making, part 3
Asia Times
Scenes from the recession
Boston Globe
A world of trouble
GlobalPost
Finance minister gather ahead of G20 summit in April
Economist
UBS: A Swiss bank's shadowy operations
Newsweek

Opinion

To save the economy, we need to stop saving
Newsweek
The big takeover
Rolling Stone
The revenge of Karl Marx
Atlantic Monthly
The ongoing problems of 'stimulust'
Foreign Policy
An unprecedented abyss of economic and social turmoil
Bill Moyers Journal, PBS

The Global Economy: Most trusted stories (full listing)
The Global Economy: Most recent stories ( full listing)

Share Your Picks
This week, we're launching some cool new features to enhance your experience on NewsTrust: the 'Like' link and the 'Picks' list. Now you can select stories you like, and show them as 'Picks' on your profile page. To add a story to your 'Picks,' click the 'Like' link for that story. To view your Picks, click the 'Picks' tab in your member profile. To view another member's Picks, click the same tab in his or her member profile. To remove a story from your Picks, click on its 'Unlike' link. Once you've added stories to your Picks, you can share them with your community via RSS -- or in your own widget. Read more about these features on our separate blog post.

We'd like your feedback
This year, we've been working to improve the NewsTrust experience for all our members and visitors. And as our site evolves, we're seeking your insights, comments and criticisms. Below are some experiments we're considering for the coming weeks -- check them out and tell us which interest you!

Here are some ideas for your consideration:

• Community Picks – Earlier this month, we departed from our tradition of doing a News Hunt on a specific topic, and focused instead on the great news an opinion surfaced by our community. Next week we're planning to leave the featured topic open again -- with the goal of finding some of the best journalism on the Web on any topic. This will be a good opportunity to feature some of your Picks, as described above. See our full blog post about our new 'Like' link and 'Picks' tab for more.

• Bad Journalism – To promote the news literacy mission of NewsTrust, we'd like to contrast our best stories with our worst stories, as rated by our community. Though in the past, we've primarily used NewsTrust review tools to surface good journalism, they can also identify bad journalism - stories that are the inaccurate, unfair, superficial, or plain misinformation. By contrasting some of these problematic stories against quality journalism, we can all become more discerning news consumers.

• Best Video Journalism – Video news stories are becoming increasingly popular, but we don't review them as often as text articles. For this experiment, we would all spend a week honing in on the best video journalism on the Web, on any topic. The same experiment could also be done with audio journalism, either from radio or podcasts.

• Best News Blogs – As blogs continue to change the way we exchange news and information, we want to find some of the best reporting from bloggers. In this News Hunt, we want to focus on the scores of quality news blogs that often slip under our radar (both independent and mainstream).

• Upcoming Topics – We now have the following topics slated for April: Afghanistan, Taxes, Environment and Obama's First 100 Days. Please let us know if you're interested in co-hosting any of these, or if you would like to see another topic featured on NewsTrust.

Which of these ideas appeal to you most? To respond, please leave a comment here on the blog, or share them with our community on our public feedback page, or email us directly at community@newstrust.net with your thoughts.

This Week: Energy
Our featured topic this week is Energy, hosted by Mike LaBonte and Jim Lang. President Barack Obama and his administration are pursuing new energy policies aimed at cutting emissions and developing renewable sources. How are the media covering the dynamic between government and business as these policies are enacted? How will the economic recession affect the creation of new technologies and 'green' jobs? Help us find great journalism on Energy by reviewing a story (or submitting a new story) on our Energy topic page.