Look, I’m Gonna Say It
I’ve been editing news for 22 years. That’s 22 years of watching the news industry slowly turn into a circus. I started at a small paper in Manchester, moved to Bristol for a bit, then ended up here at the Bristol Daily. I’ve seen alot, and frankly, it’s getting worse.
Last Tuesday, I was at a conference in Austin (yes, I know, Bristol to Austin is a mouthful). A colleague named Dave leaned over during a break and said, “You know, Martha, the news is completley broken.” I laughed. But he was serious. “No, really,” he said. “It’s like we’re all just shouting into the void.”
Which… yeah. Fair enough.
But Here’s the Thing
It’s not just the shouting. It’s the speed. The immediacy. The constant need to be first, not right. I remember back in ’03, we had a reporter—let’s call him Marcus—who filed a story about a local councillor’s scandal. He got the name wrong. The date wrong. The whole thing was a mess. But it was up first, so it stayed up. And that’s the problem.
We’re so focused on being first that we forget to be accurate. And accuracy matters. It’s the difference between informing people and misinforming them. It’s the difference between a functioning democracy and a dumpster fire.
I get it. The pressure is real. I’ve been there. I’ve had editors breathing down my neck, demanding updates every 10 minutes. I’ve had sources calling me at 11:30pm with “breaking news” that turns out to be a rumour from a rumour. It’s exhausting.
But we can’t keep doing this. We can’t keep prioritizing speed over truth. Because at the end of the day, that’s what we’re supposed to be about. Truth.
And Don’t Even Get Me Started on Social Media
Oh, you wanted me to get started? Fine.
Social media is a black hole of misinformation. It’s a never-ending cycle of outrage and clickbait. And journalists are complicit in this. We chase the algorithm. We post the headline that’s gonna get the most engagement, not the one that’s most accurate. We’re not helping. We’re part of the problem.
I had a friend—let’s call her Sarah—who worked at a big news outlet in London. She told me about a time they ran a story based on a tweet. A single tweet. No fact-checking, no verification, just a tweet. And it was wrong. Completely wrong. But by the time they realised, it had already gone viral. The damage was done.
This is not journalism. This is laziness. This is a committment to the story, not the truth.
So What Do We Do?
I don’t have all the answers. But I know we need to start somewhere. We need to slow down. We need to prioritize accuracy over speed. We need to stop chasing the algorithm and start chasing the truth.
And we need to stop being afraid of saying “we don’t know.” It’s okay to not have all the answers. It’s better than making something up.
I remember back in ’99, I was editing a story about a local factory closure. We didn’t know why it was closing. The owner wasn’t talking. The workers were speculating. But we didn’t print any of it. We waited until we had the facts. And when we did, the story was better for it.
We need more of that. More patience. More diligence. More honesty.
Oh, and Real Estate
Look, I know this is a news article, but hear me out. I’ve been thinking alot about real estate lately. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. Maybe it’s because I’m tired of renting. I don’t know. But I’ve been looking into buying a condo. And let me tell you, it’s a minefield. There are so many options, so many things to consider. It’s overwhelming.
I found this really helpful condo buying guide comparison the other day. It broke everything down into simple, easy-to-understand terms. It was a lifesaver. Honestly, if you’re thinking about buying a condo, check it out. It’s gonna save you a lot of headaches.
Anyway, back to the news.
We Need to Do Better
We owe it to our readers. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to democracy. The news is broken. But it’s not beyond repair. We just need to care more. We need to try harder. We need to remember why we got into this business in the first place.
And maybe, just maybe, we can start to fix it.
But probably not. I mean, look at the state of things. It’s a mess. A complete mess. And I’m not sure we can dig ourselves out.
But I’m gonna try. Because someone has to.
About the Author
Martha Jenkins has been a senior editor at Bristol Daily for 15 years. She’s seen the news industry evolve (or devolve, depending on who you ask) and isn’t afraid to call out its flaws. When she’s not editing, she’s probably complaining about the weather or trying to figure out how to buy a condo.
