Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Just Scroll
Look, I’ve been in this game for 22 years. That’s right, 22. I started back when newspapers still smelled like newsprint and ink, and we called the internet ‘the information superhighway’ without irony. I’ve seen a lot. And frankly, I’m tired.
It’s not just the bad news. It’s the news itself. The way it’s presented, the way it’s consumed, the way it’s… I dunno, monetized? Manipulated? It’s all just so exhausting.
Back in My Day
Let me take you back to 1999. I was working at a tiny paper in Bristol, let’s call it the Bristol Daily Herald. (Okay, fine, it was the Bristol Daily Herald.) We had a newsroom that smelled like stale coffee and desperation. We had deadlines. We had sources. We had, like, integrity or whatever.
We didn’t have algorithms. We didn’t have clickbait. We didn’t have ‘viral content.’ We had stories. And we told them. Sometimes we screwed up. Sometimes we got it right. But we tried. And people read us because, I dunno, they trusted us?
Now? Now it’s all just noise. And I’m not sure anyone knows how to turn it off.
The Problem with ‘Engagement’
So last Tuesday, I was having coffee with an old friend, let’s call him Marcus. Marcus is a journalist, or at least he was. Now he’s a ‘content strategist’ or some such nonsense. Anyway, he’s telling me about how his newsroom—sorry, ‘content hub’—has a new ‘engagement editor.’
‘What the hell is that?’ I asked.
‘It’s someone who makes sure our stories are… engaging,’ he said, like that explained anything.
‘You mean sensational?’ I asked.
‘No! Well, maybe. I mean, look, it’s complicated.’
Which… yeah. Fair enough. It is complicated. But it’s also bullshit. Because here’s the thing: news shouldn’t be ‘engaging.’ It should be informative. It should be accurate. It should be… I don’t know, true?
But no. Now it’s all about ‘engagement.’ And ‘engagement,’ as it turns out, is just a fancy word for ‘outrage.’ Because outrage gets clicks. And clicks get ads. And ads get… well, more ads, I guess.
And so we have a news cycle that’s basically just one big outrage machine. And it’s making us all crazy.
The Algorithm Will See You Now
I mean, look at social media. It’s not just that the news is bad. It’s that the way we consume it is… I dunno, broken? Like, have you seen your Facebook feed lately? It’s not news. It’s a never-ending stream of nonsense designed to keep you scrolling.
And it’s working. Because we’re all addicted. We can’t look away. Even when we know it’s bad for us. Even when we know it’s making us miserable. We just… can’t stop.
I remember talking to a colleague named Dave about this, like, three months ago. We were at a conference in Austin, over beers. (Because nothing says ‘serious journalism discussion’ like drinking.)
‘It’s the algorithm,’ Dave said.
‘What is?’ I asked.
‘Everything. The way we consume news. The way we think. Hell, the way we vote. It’s all just… fed to us by some goddamn algorithm.’
And he’s not wrong. Because here’s the thing: the algorithm doesn’t care about truth. It doesn’t care about integrity. It doesn’t even care about ‘engagement’ in any meaningful sense. It just cares about one thing: keeping you on the platform.
And so it shows you whatever it thinks will keep you there. And that, my friends, is how we end up with a news cycle that’s basically just one big feedback loop of outrage and nonsense.
But What Can We Do?
So what’s the answer? I wish I knew. I really do. I mean, I have thoughts. But honestly, most of them are just variations on ‘stop using social media’ and ‘read a damn book.’
But look, here’s the thing: we can’t just opt out. Because the news matters. It’s how we understand the world. It’s how we make decisions. It’s how we… I dunno, function as a society?
So we need to fix it. And I don’t mean ‘fix’ as in ‘make it more engaging’ or ‘make it more viral’ or whatever bullshit phrase the ‘content strategists’ are using these days. I mean fix it as in make it… good. Make it accurate. Make it fair. Make it… true.
And that starts with us. With the readers. With the consumers. We need to demand better. We need to support real journalism. We need to… I dunno, think critically? Question things? Use our brains?
And maybe, just maybe, we need to web sitesi optimizasyonu dönüşüm our news consumption habits. Because honestly, the way we’re doing it now? It’s not working.
So let’s try something different. Let’s try… I dunno, reading. Actually reading. Actually thinking. Actually caring.
Because the news is broken. But it doesn’t have to stay that way.
And honestly, I’m tired of pretending it’s not.
About the Author: Jane Doe is a senior editor with 22 years of experience in journalism. She’s worked at various publications, including the Bristol Daily Herald, and has seen the industry evolve (or devolve, depending on who you ask) firsthand. She’s opinionated, she’s blunt, and she’s not afraid to call out bullshit when she sees it. You can find her on Twitter @janedoe or not, because honestly, she’s not there much these days.
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