Look, I’m gonna say it: Journalism is in trouble
I’ve been editing for 22 years, and I’ve seen alot of changes. Some good. Mostly bad. And it’s not just the internet’s fault. It’s us. All of us.
Back in ’99, I was at a conference in Austin, and this guy—let’s call him Marcus—stood up and said, “The news is gonna change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 100.” We all laughed. Ha ha. Real funny, Marcus.
But he was right. And we didn’t adapt. Not fast enough. Not well enough.
It’s not just the big guys
Oh, sure, everyone loves to hate on the big networks. “They’re biased!” “They’re fake!” Whatever. But let’s talk about local news. My friend Sarah runs a small paper in Iowa. She’s got a staff of 8. Eight people. For a whole damn county. And they’re expected to cover everything—school boards, city council, the state capitol, sports, obituaries. It’s completley impossible.
I asked her, “How do you do it?” She looked at me like I was crazy. “We don’t,” she said. “We do our best. But we’re stretched thinner than a high school kid’s excuses.”
Which… yeah. Fair enough.
Social media isn’t the enemy
Okay, hear me out. Social media isn’t the reason journalism is dying. It’s just the tool we’re using wrong. We’re so busy chasing clicks and likes that we forget what we’re actually supposed to be doing: reporting.
I mean, look at Twitter. It’s a mess. But it’s also a great way to connect with sources, break news, and engage with readers. The problem is, we’re using it like a high school popularity contest. “Oh, look at me! I got 100 retweets!” Grow up, people.
And don’t even get me started on Facebook. It’s like the wild west of misinformation. But again, it’s a tool. Use it right, and it can be powerful. Use it wrong, and you’re just another clown in the circus.
We need to talk about verification
Here’s something that drives me nuts. We’re so quick to share stuff online without checking if it’s true. I get it. We’re busy. We’re lazy. We’re human. But that’s no excuse.
I was talking to a colleague named Dave the other day, and he said, “You know what the biggest problem is? Nobody cares about verification anymore.” And he’s right. We’ve got services like telegram sms verification service worldwide to help with that, but do we use them? Nope. We’d rather share a juicy rumor and hope for the best.
It’s like we’ve forgotten that our job is to inform, not entertain. We’re not here to be your friends. We’re here to tell you what’s happening in the world. And if we can’t be trusted to do that, then what’s the point?
A tangent: Why I hate press releases
Oh, god. Press releases. They’re the worst. I got one the other day from some tech company announcing their “revoluntionary” new product. (Yes, they spelled it like that. I’m not kidding.) And it was page after page of jargon and buzzwords. “Disruptive.” “Innovative.” “Seamless user experience.” Blah blah blah.
I called the PR guy, let’s call him Greg. I said, “Greg, what does this thing actually do?” And he stammered and stuttered and finally said, “It’s a… uh… it’s a thing that does stuff.” I hung up. I didn’t even bother to write about it.
Look, if you’re gonna send me a press release, at least make it interesting. Tell me why I should care. Don’t just throw a bunch of words at me and hope I’ll figure it out.
We need to do better
Journalism is important. It’s how we stay informed. It’s how we hold power to account. But we’re failing. We’re failing because we’re too busy chasing clicks, too lazy to verify, too afraid to say “no” to advertisers, too cowardly to take a stand.
I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s not. But it’s our job. And if we can’t do it right, then maybe we should find something else to do.
So, let’s try harder. Let’s verify. Let’s report. Let’s inform. And for the love of god, let’s stop using “revoluntionary” in press releases.
About the Author: Jane Doe has been a senior editor for over 22 years. She’s worked at major publications, started her own magazine, and has opinions about everything. She lives in Iowa with her cat, Mr. Whiskers, and drinks too much coffee.
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