RSS is useful for getting news

by Posted on

Have you been finding it difficult to find news lately for… some reason? Worried you’re missing important articles? RSS is a digital standard that has been around since the dawn of time (or at least 1999), and is still going strong.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is really simple. An RSS feed takes all new entries on your favourite website as they go up and serves them to you in a convenient list. You need not worry about missing an important news story, because they’re all there!

The first step in joining the RSS club is to choose an RSS reader. This is a piece of software or app that takes your RSS URLs and tracks them for you. There are web-based readers, readers for computers, even readers for your phone.

Some of the most popular options are:

  • Feedly
  • The Old Reader
  • Feeder
  • Firefox (yes it has an RSS reader built in!)

Now to find some RSS feeds to add to your reader! Lots of places offer RSS. Sometimes you’ll see an RSS icon which you can click on to access the feeds on a website.

Many Australian news websites offer RSS feeds of their news:

  • Sydney Morning Herald – https://www.smh.com.au/rss/feed.xml
  • The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/rss
  • ABC News – http://www.abc.net.au/news/feed/45910/rss.xml
  • SBS Australia – https://www.sbs.com.au/news/topic/australia/feed
  • News.com.au – https://www.news.com.au/content-feeds/latest-news-national/
  • The Conversation – https://theconversation.com/au/articles.atom
  • Crikey – https://www.crikey.com.au/feed/ (articles behind paywall)
  • BuzzFeed Australia – https://www.buzzfeed.com/au/index.xml?country=au
  • The Shovel – http://www.theshovel.com.au/feed/

Government sites often have RSS on their media release feeds, examples

  • Defence – https://news.defence.gov.au/feed
  • ATO – https://www.ato.gov.au/rss.aspx?category=145
  • Department of Education Skills and Employment – https://ministers.dese.gov.au/releases_rss
  • Classification Board – https://www.classification.gov.au/rss.xml
  • Takeovers panel – https://www.takeovers.gov.au/_include/xml/rss/rss_new_content.xml
  • AFP – https://www.afp.gov.au/feed/media-releases
  • ACT Government – https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/functions/functionality/media_release_rss_feeds/latest_minister_media_releases_rss
  • ACCC – https://www.accc.gov.au/rss/media_releases.xml
  • StaySmart Online – https://www.cyber.gov.au/alerts/feed
  • Reserve Bank of Australia – https://rba.gov.au/rss/rss-cb-media-releases.xml

Webcomics use RSS

  • XKCD – https://xkcd.com/rss.xml
  • Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal – https://smbc-rss-plus.mindflakes.com/rss.xml
  • Sarah’s Scribbles – https://tapas.io/rss/series/2007
  • Dinosaur Comics/Qwantz – https://qwantz.com/rssfeed.php

Podcasts work because of RSS

  • Please Explain (SMH) – https://www.omnycontent.com/d/playlist/88b564ea-a9a6-4751-910a-a5d800019396/111d8251-9a05-4c76-bcf0-ab84002d2024/e23e2275-2bcf-4868-b394-ab84002d2037/podcast.rss
  • Trust Me I’m An Expert (Conversation) – http://theconversation.com/au/podcasts/trust-me-podcast.rss

Youtube channels have RSS (hard to find though)

Weird niche feeds:

  • UN News – https://news.un.org/feed/subscribe/en/audio-product/taxonomy/term/the-lid-is-on/audio-rss.xml
  • World Trade Organisation – http://wto.org/library/rss/latest_news_e.xml
  • WHO news – https://www.who.int/feeds/entity/mediacentre/news/en/rss.xml
  • WWF – http://feeds.feedburner.com/WWFStories
  • OPEC Reference – http://opec.org/opec_web/en/basket.rss
  • NATO – https://www.nato.int/cps/rss/en/natohq/rssFeed.xsl/rssFeed.xml
  • Have I Been Pwned – http://feeds.feedburner.com/HaveIBeenPwnedLatestBreaches

Video game blogs:

  • VICE – https://www.vice.com/en/rss/section/games?locale=en_us
  • IGN – http://feeds.ign.com/ign/games-all
  • Kotaku – http://kotaku.com/rss
  • Gamasutra – http://feeds.feedburner.com/GamasutraConsolePCNews
  • Polygon – https://www.polygon.com/rss/index.xml

Published by Lachlan