If you have any desire to get rid of Trump and see what’s going on in this world, look around for a browser extension that filters out any news that has to do with Donald Trump. After installing it, you can turn it on or off – so, don’t worry that you’ll miss an excellent toilet tweet. Just turn off the extension, and up comes his rant.
The filter is a nice break but be prepared for a bit of disappointment in the long run. One might think that if a newspaper is stripped of Trump articles, there would be news about the comedian who’s running Ukraine, at least one editorial on absolutely anything, or perhaps what Malala has been up to lately.
Instead, you’re going to learn from the national outlets that, just in time for allergy season, Pennsylvania bestowed the handsome “Snot otter” with the honor of being Pennsylvania’s official amphibian; Florida road workers demonstrated America’s respect for education by writing “Scohol” at a school crosswalk; and Colorado’s Cherry Hill Village (a 10 minute drive from Columbine) decided to rename a subdivision formerly known as “Swastika Acres.” Oh, and let’s not forget the parrot in police custody for snitching on drug dealers. (Police interrogating the bird say it’s not talking.)
The results from the browser plug-in mean one of three things: (a) the browser extension doesn’t work; (b) Trump has worked his way into almost every story in the world, or (c) Trump is the only person who can sell advertising on a news site, so all reporters got assigned to follow him. Even this article mentions his name eight times.
We did a test and came up with a top-10 and bottom-10 of news sites for people who might want to see what Trump hasn’t taken over completely. It involved turning on the filter, then Googling the names of the news sites to see how hard or easy it might be to link to their front page. If we could get there at all, we subjectively and unscientifically analyzed the value of the content.
BOTTOM 10
#10
CNN
You can get a 1-4-bedroom condominium starting at $2.5 million. What’s left includes a story about Alex Trebek’s post-chemo depression and a video game character whose teeth freak out some people.
#9
Chicago Tribune
Completely blank front page.
#8
LA Times
At least there’s a front page, but only entertainment news gets past the filter.
#7
Associated Press
You can purchase their Press Stylebook here, we found out. That’s the big news from the “top stories” page.
#6
Huffington Post
It doesn’t even show up when you Google it. Even though, according to Quora, HuffPost publishes 1,000 articles a day.
#5
BBC News
Good luck.
#4
The Economist
This was the biggest surprise. No articles whatsoever when landing on their URL. Not even advertising. And they aren’t an American publication.
#3
USA Today
Just a banner ad. For a brief second, the Kentucky Derby showed up.
#2
Time Magazine
Zilch.
#1
FOXNews
The worst. Predictably, there’s no way to get to this site with the extension turned on.
THE TOP TEN
#10
New York Times
The Grey Lady retains front-page articles about a sex cult trial and anxiety-inducing hotel rooms. It also presents a mini crossword puzzle. Not too bad.
#9
People Magazine
Assuming you have any idea about the celebrities they write about, you can find a link to their front page on Google.
#8
The Wall St. Journal
They are the first runner up. Their front page comes up on Google and has more than 100 headlines on their main web page even though Trump is filtered out.
#7-#1
Local News Sites.
Local news is our winner. If you want specific details from the front lines in America – how interracial violence impacts a neighborhood, how failing infrastructure causes explosions that make the temperatures rise 10 degrees in a 20-mile radius in just minutes, how people are reacting to the inequity of wages – then you want to go local. Plus, local news can be hilarious. You aren’t going to find Pizza Rat in the Miami Herald unless the story goes viral on YouTube.
It turns out Tip O’Neil was right. All politics is local. And maybe instead of a filter, the only way you can get rid of Trump is to talk to the person sitting next to you at the bar or your favorite diner.
