[sray]

This reminds me of And the Rock Cried Out, a short story by Ray Bradbury. The story revolves around two American tourists who are in South America when the US and much of Europe is wiped out by nuclear attacks during the Cold War. With the US in rubble, everyone is out to get the tourists as payback for all of the terrible things America has done in the past.

Anyway, they eventually meet a man named Garcia who offers them help. They're shocked, since everyone else wants them dead. Garcia explains:

Do you read the papers? Of course, you do. But do you read them as I read them? I rather doubt that you have come upon my system. No, it was not exactly myself that came upon it; the system was forced upon me. But now I know what a clever thing it has turned out to be. I always get the newspapers a week late, from the Capital. And this circumstance makes for a man being a clear-thinking man. You are very careful with your thinking when you pick up a week-old paper.

That always stuck with me for some reason.

[jurjenh]

I like that. I may use it next time someone hassles me for reading week(s)-old newspapers.

I've always maintained that it gives the news a chance to mature, so it becomes a lot easier to separate the filling from the meat, but the flip side means missing out on the leading edge (forecasts of storms / shortages) that may prove to be very important.