You can read HN/reddit/others and see news others think is good. There are many services and apps like Flipboard which try and find the best news for you. Then we can just stick to one or a few news sources and go with that or possibly use RSS where you just become so overwhelmed you stop reading it.
Sometimes I see stuff on facebook news that I don't see on reddit. HN is mostly tech. Apps like Flipboard and Smartnews, while nice tend to gravitate to buzzfeed and businessinsider articles. Google and Yahoo news aren't much different. In fact the google news android app can leave you in the dark on some events and you wouldn't even know it. RSS is just too much to keep up with. Specific news sources like the NYT tend to be too broad.
There's an app named Flipboard Briefing which is actually decent but regular Flipboard just has too much content. Briefing has too little.
Is there a better way? There must be. I should say I am mostly interested in big events and tech news.
The AskHN is however a source of good discussions which can often provide you with new and useful insights into things.
The must read on the subject:
http://dobelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Avoid_News_Par...
http://dobelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Avoid_News_Par...
Last but not least, as you and posted articles confirmed, most of public news are useless. They are just copied from one source and have no information value for my life or better decisions. For me, AskHN category and comments from most people here is more valuable source of information.
I use Pocket to save longreads for my daily commute/downtime and it has proven to be the best way to catch up on things for me between devices. I know there are similar apps, I've just been using this one forever.
I try to follow journalists and writers I admire on Twitter, especially ones who err on the side of sharing news items/pieces worth reading, rather than devolve into the mudslinging that is trendy amongst writers #onthere.
I have only been reading HN for the past year but as a newbie to tech it has proven invaluable, and there's plenty of political/financial news that pops up now and then to at least keep me semi-coherent amongst colleagues and what is going on at work.
I find generally speaking the news to be really damaging to my mental psyche. Especially when I was in a newsroom at my previous job, it was not exactly a happy place to be reminded about every - single - mass shooting - and terrorist attack - and bad move by governments - daily, and eventually you either become completely numb to it or let it get to you. The latter happened to me, and other contributing factors led me to really question my involvement in media going forward. I'm definitely still addicted to my Twitter timeline, but I've found that, too, no longer makes me feel good, and am taking steps to only check it once or twice a day.
These get sent out weekly, so you do not have to worry about missing the big items in that specialization.
I don't think I'm missing anything, the relevant news come to you one way or another. Yes you'll have it like a day later but who cares? In the meantime you are free to do stuff.