How do know what’s going on in our community, the communities next door and the rest of the world? Most of us rely on the traditional new gathering and distribution establishment (ie, CNN) to provide us information. In some occasions that source can have real value. But in others it can really under deliver.

Over the past few years I’ve begun to seek additional news sources to stay informed. I’ve subscribed to the WSJ, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur Mag, Wired, Fast Company, Business 2.0, and Inc. I learned an enormous amount by reading these publications. But the most valuable new source I’ve developed over the years is citizen news.

Blogs, videologs, podcasts, and social news sites provide a wealth of news that the networks ignore or simply never hear about. They also provide great coverage on very niche topics while giving you opinions that the networks are afraid to express.

I thought I’d share the news sources that I find most valuable to my tastes and interests:

• Digg.com — social news site
• BoingBoing — obscure but entertaining news
• TWiT’s This Week in Tech podcast — great tech news discussion
• CNET’s Buzz Out Loud podcast — more tech news discussion
• BusinessWeek’s podcasts
• NPR’s podcasts
• A ton of blogs — complete list is here