There are two major things wrong with journalism today. I suspect both of these things pay dividends to media outlets in the short term, but push consumers away in the long term.
First, bias of the reporter and/or media outlet. Truth is the sum of all facts. Media consumers shouldn’t have to read/watch a dozen sources to get a reasonable idea of what’s going on. The polarization we have today is a direct result of bias, both in traditional and social media.
Second is the sensationalism inherent to how media outlets get paid. Outlets are incentivized to portray extremes, even where extremes are either uncommon or even untrue. Like the TV journalist paddling a canoe through ankle-deep water after heavy rain, like the singular focus on isolated protests in LA.
Sensationalism in journalism is not new—“yellow journalism “ was coined in the mid-1800’s. News reports have always required critical thinking. That said, larger newspapers are held to higher standards than online sources, so we are better off as a region with a “paper of record”. The hollowed out Strib doesn’t serve that function that well. I liked their recent project around the 5th year anniversary of The Floyd uprising but generally the daily paper writes little of interest, relying on news feeds I can more completely read via my NYT or WSJ subscriptions.
There are two major things wrong with journalism today. I suspect both of these things pay dividends to media outlets in the short term, but push consumers away in the long term.
First, bias of the reporter and/or media outlet. Truth is the sum of all facts. Media consumers shouldn’t have to read/watch a dozen sources to get a reasonable idea of what’s going on. The polarization we have today is a direct result of bias, both in traditional and social media.
Second is the sensationalism inherent to how media outlets get paid. Outlets are incentivized to portray extremes, even where extremes are either uncommon or even untrue. Like the TV journalist paddling a canoe through ankle-deep water after heavy rain, like the singular focus on isolated protests in LA.
Sensationalism in journalism is not new—“yellow journalism “ was coined in the mid-1800’s. News reports have always required critical thinking. That said, larger newspapers are held to higher standards than online sources, so we are better off as a region with a “paper of record”. The hollowed out Strib doesn’t serve that function that well. I liked their recent project around the 5th year anniversary of The Floyd uprising but generally the daily paper writes little of interest, relying on news feeds I can more completely read via my NYT or WSJ subscriptions.