I do rely on that, specifically in my case HN users posting big stuff even though it's not tech/startup/hacking news
Obviously by definition I'm lacking the information to disprove but I don't think I've missed anything I needed to know about. I've not been blindsided by any big events or anything
Yeah it does rely on other folks reading the news, people are already doing that though so no worries! I'd be surprised if even 1% of the world's news-available population decides to cut down (to point out also, this entire policy can be reevaluated in minutes if I find myself incorrect)
In any case I think the only news I actually needed to know over the past decade or so was regarding covid and that instantly got through the bubble without issue
For the sake of being on the same page my definition of needed in the case of news is: I need to act in some way to prevent negative results, or I can act on the information in some way that may lead to positive results for good people.
If you don't rely on that, good for you.