If you follow the news at all, you will probably run into news aggregators at some point or another. Once the pariah of the media world, news aggregators today are important public servants. Most news aggregators filter through the volumes of news articles to select the information most pertinent to an industry. Furthermore, news aggregators keep industry players informed through a series of blogs, emails, and other services. Even the free news aggregators are profitable, based solely on voluntary donations and other services.

There was a time that news feed aggregators were not viewed kindly. While mainstream news aggregators appeared only after the Internet did, mainstream journalists scoffed at news aggregators. They saw those who worked for aggregators as lazy journalists. These so called lazy journalists did not do field work or hold interviews, and did not appreciate sound bytes.

In the past few years, there has been a growing respect by news aggregators because they filter through information. This is especially important for executive audiences who lack time. Using RSS aggregators and a little old fashioned research, news aggregators sift through thousands of articles and blog posts. They then send out a newsletter or another service to executives, and strive to give them a fair and balanced view of the issues of the day.

News search aggregators tend to cluster in industry centers. For instance, commodity and derivative news aggregators are based in Chicago, the largest center of commodity trading. Environmental news aggregators tend to be based in the Bay Area or the Pacific Northwest, where there is a concentration of environment related reporting. There are other such clusters that exist throughout the United States.

So if you are ever in a hurry and need information now, search for a news aggregator to use. Far from lazy journalists, a news aggregator actually performs a service. They let you digest information.