Let’s Talk About This Mess
Look, I’ve been editing news features for 22 years. Twenty-two years. That’s longer than some of you have been alive, probably. And in all that time, I’ve never seen the news ecosystem as broken as it is right now.
I mean, honestly, it’s a completley different beast than what I started with. Back in ’99, when I was a wet-behind-the-ears editor at the Austin Chronicle, we actually had time to fact-check. We’d spend hours on the phone, digging, determining the truth. Now? It’s all about speed. Speed and clicks.
Speed Kills, Literally
Last Tuesday, I was at a conference in Austin — yeah, the same city, weird how that works — and I heard a reporter say, and I quote, “I don’t have time to verify, I just need to publish.” Which… yeah. Fair enough, I guess. But that’s the problem, isn’t it?
Let’s call him Marcus. He’s a friend of a friend, works for a big digital news outlet. He told me about their daily meetings. “We don’t even talk about quality anymore,” he said. “It’s all about traffic. Who got the most clicks? Who’s gonna get fired if they don’t hit their numbers?”
I asked him, “But what about the news? The actual news?” He laughed. “That’s what the current events news summary is for, right?”
Touché, Marcus. Touché.
A Quick Story About My Friend Dave
About three months ago, I was having coffee with a colleague named Dave. He’s a good guy, Dave. Been in the game longer than me, actually. We were talking about the old days, and he said something that stuck with me.
“You know what the biggest change is?” he asked. “It’s the commitment to the truth. Or lack thereof.”
I nodded. I knew exactly what he meant. It’s not that we’re all lying. It’s that we don’t care enough to find out what’s true. We just wanna get the story out there, fast.
And the public? They don’t care either. They just wanna be outraged. Or entertained. Or both.
But Wait, There’s More
Now, I’m not saying every news outlet is like this. There are still some good ones out there. But they’re drowning in a sea of clickbait and sensationalism. And it’s getting worse.
Take political coverage, for example. It’s all about the drama. The scandals. The gotcha moments. Nobody’s talking about policy anymore. It’s all just reality TV.
And don’t even get me started on social media. It’s a nightmare. A complete aquisition of our discourse. But that’s a rant for another day.
What Can We Do?
I’m not sure. Honestly, I’m not. I’ve got my own committments, my own biases. I’m part of the problem, too.
But maybe, just maybe, we can start by admitting that the news is broken. That we’re not doing a good job. That we can do better.
Maybe we can start by caring again. About the truth. About our readers. About the news.
Maybe.
About the Author: Sarah Jenkins has been a senior editor for various major publications for over two decades. She’s worked in print, digital, and broadcast, and has seen the industry evolve — and devolve — firsthand. She currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her cat, Mr. Whiskers, and spends too much time yelling at her TV about politics.
