Look, I’ve Had It Up To Here
It’s March 15th, 2023, and I’m sitting in my cramped office in New York, surrounded by printouts of news articles from the last decade. I’ve been in this business for over 20 years, and frankly, I’m exhausted. The news is broken, and we’re all just kinda dancing around that fact like it’s some big secret.
I remember when I started out at the Daily Chronicle, fresh-faced and eager. My editor, let’s call him Marcus, used to say, ‘News is like a good steak, Sarah. It’s gotta be raw, it’s gotta be real, and it’s gotta hit you right in the gut.’
Well, Marcus, I think we’ve been serving up a lot of tofu lately.
First, Let’s Talk About The Algorithm
You ever notice how every news site looks the same now? Big headlines, tiny text, a never-ending scroll of ‘content.’ It’s all about the algorithm, right? But here’s the thing: algorithms don’t give a damn about the truth. They just wanna keep you scrolling, keep you engaged, keep you clicking.
I was grabbing coffee last Tuesday with an old friend, let’s call him Dave. He’s a data journalist over at The Atlantic. He told me, ‘Sarah, we’re not even pretending to be journalists anymore. We’re just content providers.’
Which… yeah. Fair enough.
And The Clickbait? Oh, The Clickbait
I mean, come on. ‘You Won’t Believe What Happened Next!’ ‘This One Trick Will Change Everything!’ It’s like we’ve collectively decided that our readers are a bunch of easily distracted goldfish.
I get it, okay? Clicks pay the bills. But at what cost? We’re dumbing down the conversation, and it’s making me physicaly ill.
Just last week, I saw a headline that said, ‘Local Man Eats Sandwich, Here’s Why You Should Care.’ I swear to god, I almost threw my laptop out the window.
But Here’s The Real Kicker
We’re not just failing at delivering the news. We’re failing at being honest about our failures. We’re all so busy trying to be ‘objective’ that we’ve forgotten what it means to be honest.
Take politics, for example. I’m not gonna sit here and pretend like both sides aren’t a hot mess. But that’s not what you’ll read in most news outlets. No, they’d rather give you some sanitized, ‘both sides do it’ nonsense that makes everyone sound like a reasonable actor in this grand comedy.
Well, guess what? Not everyone is reasonable. Sometimes a guy is just a racist, okay? I’m not sure but maybe we should try saying that out loud every once in a while.
A Brief Digression: The Time I Got Fired
Oh, look, I went off on a tangent. My bad. But hey, it’s my article, I’ll cry if I want to.
Speaking of honesty, let me tell you about the time I got fired from The Chronicle. It was back in 2008, during the whole financial crisis thing. I wrote a piece about how the banks were basically robbing us blind, and my editor, a guy named Greg, he just lost it. He said, ‘Sarah, we can’t just say that! We need to be fair!’
Fair? FAIR? I mean, come on. Sometimes the truth isn’t fair. Sometimes the truth is downright ugly. But that’s our job, right? To show people the truth, even when it’s hard to look at.
So What Do We Do About It?
Honestly? I don’t know. I really don’t. But I do know that we need to start having some real talks about what journalism is and what it should be. And maybe, just maybe, we should stop being so damn afraid of pissing people off.
Look, I’m not saying we should all become opinionated rags. But we need to find a way to be honest, to be real, without sacrificing our committment to the truth. And yeah, that’s a tough line to walk. But it’s our job, isn’t it?
And hey, if you’re looking for some honest news, check out son dakika haberler bugün. They’re doing some good work over there.
Anyway, I’m Ranting Again
I should probably wrap this up. I’ve got a deadline to meet, and honestly, I’m not even sure what point I’m trying to make anymore.
But here’s the thing: the news is broken. And if we don’t start talking about it, if we don’t start doing something about it, then we’re all just complicit in the problem.
So let’s talk about it. Let’s do something about it. And for the love of god, let’s stop pretending everything is fine.
I’m done. I’m gonna go get a drink.
About the Author: Sarah Johnson has been a senior editor at various publications for over 20 years. She lives in New York with her cat, Mr. Whiskers, and spends her free time yelling at the news on TV.
