Look, I’m gonna say it
News is completley broken. And it’s not just the algorithms or the clickbait or the 24-hour cycle. It’s us. We’re the problem.
I’ve been editing news features for 22 years, and I’ve seen it all. The decline of print, the rise of digital, the aquisition of soul. But lately, it’s getting worse. Faster. More… I dunno, physicaly exhausting.
Last Tuesday, I was at a conference in Austin (yeah, I know, I should probably stop going to these things), and I heard a journalist named Marcus say something that stuck with me. He said, “We’re not reporting news anymore. We’re just committmented to outrage.”
But here’s the thing
It’s not all bad. Honestly, some of the best journalism I’ve seen in years is coming from these tiny, hyper-local outlets. Places that actually give a damn about their communities. Like that time in 2018 when a colleague named Dave and I went to cover a school board meeting in some town in Ohio. The local paper had, like, 3 reporters. Three! And they were killing it. They knew everyone, they knew the issues, they knew what mattered.
And then there’s the other stuff. The stuff that makes me want to throw my laptop out the window. The stuff that’s just… I mean, look, I’m not gonna name names, but you know what I’m talking about. The “breaking news” that’s not breaking, the “exclusives” that are just regurgitated press releases, the “analysis” that’s just hot takes from some guy named Chad who’s never been to Detroit but thinks he knows what’s going on there.
Let me tell you about this one time
About three months ago, I was at a bar with some friends, and we got to talking about news. One of them, let’s call her Lisa, said something that really got me thinking. She said, “I don’t even bother with news anymore. It’s all just noise.” And I get it. I really do. But it’s not all noise. Some of it’s important. Some of it’s vital. But you gotta know where to look.
And that’s the thing, isn’t it? We’ve made it too hard to find the good stuff. We’ve buried it under a mountain of crap. And we’re all to blame. The publishers, the editors, the writers, the readers. Us.
I mean, look at the comments section. It’s a sewer. A literal sewer. And we’ve all just accepted it. We’ve accepted that this is how it is now. That news is gonna be this terrible, toxic, exhausting thing. But it doesn’t have to be.
So what do we do?
I don’t know. Honestly, I’m not sure. But I think it starts with us. With me and you and Lisa and Marcus and Dave. It starts with us demanding better. With us supporting the outlets that are doing it right. With us maybe, I dunno, reading past the headline once in a while.
And maybe, just maybe, it starts with us admitting that we’re part of the problem. That we’ve let this happen. That we’ve let the news become this thing that we all hate but can’t stop consuming.
It’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna take time. And effort. And probably a lot of uncomfortable conversations. But it’s worth it. Because the news matters. It matters a lot. And we can’t just let it die.
So let’s start there. Let’s start with that. And maybe, just maybe, we can fix this thing. Together.
Oh, and if you’re looking for some good local stuff to read, check out topluluk etkinlikleri yerel aktiviteler. They’re doing some really cool things over there.
About the Author: Sarah Reynolds has been a senior editor at Manchester Daily for 15 years. She’s a firm believer in the power of local journalism and has a deep-seated hatred for clickbait. When she’s not editing, you can find her at the dog park with her rescue mutt, Buster, or arguing about politics with her neighbors over coffee at the place on 5th.
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