This is a much older problem with news journalism that predates even the Internet. Social media has amplified what John Birt identified back in 1975 as the 'bias against understanding' inherent in mainstream journalism. https://powerbase.info/index.php/Mission_to_explain
Useful analysis and very well put. I guess for a lot of us we like the thrill and the 'fight'. The key issue is that the accessibility of short form 'news' is widely viewed, however the long-form is far from mainstream. The powerful are using this asymmetry for their own ends. Its perfect for today's performative politics as you look as though you are doing something - when in reality you're not.
Excellent piece, feels unlikely things will change until commercial incentives for media organisations to generate views and clicks do. An obvious parallel (and perhaps inspiration?) to modern news is the explosive growth of Sky Sports News’s transfer market coverage from the mid 2000s. The rumour mill was much better at keeping punters engaged with 24hr rolling news than the actual (frustratingly infrequent) matches, and so it is with bubble gossip versus tangible implications of policy. Brexit in particular generated many Transfer Deadline Day style frenzies where Peston et al may as well have been wearing Jim White’s famous yellow tie as Parliament sat deep into the night, but clearly those votes had far more impact on our lives than whether Benjani had signed for Man City and so probably shouldn’t be covered the same way.
That Chesterton quote is so good. And still basically right on most things. Of course it matters indirectly whether Trump slaps tariffs on this or that country, but is it going to affect your behaviour? Stick to slow news: the live feeds only serve journalists and platforms hungry for clicks, and politicians trying to manipulate things.
This is a much older problem with news journalism that predates even the Internet. Social media has amplified what John Birt identified back in 1975 as the 'bias against understanding' inherent in mainstream journalism. https://powerbase.info/index.php/Mission_to_explain
Useful analysis and very well put. I guess for a lot of us we like the thrill and the 'fight'. The key issue is that the accessibility of short form 'news' is widely viewed, however the long-form is far from mainstream. The powerful are using this asymmetry for their own ends. Its perfect for today's performative politics as you look as though you are doing something - when in reality you're not.
Excellent piece, feels unlikely things will change until commercial incentives for media organisations to generate views and clicks do. An obvious parallel (and perhaps inspiration?) to modern news is the explosive growth of Sky Sports News’s transfer market coverage from the mid 2000s. The rumour mill was much better at keeping punters engaged with 24hr rolling news than the actual (frustratingly infrequent) matches, and so it is with bubble gossip versus tangible implications of policy. Brexit in particular generated many Transfer Deadline Day style frenzies where Peston et al may as well have been wearing Jim White’s famous yellow tie as Parliament sat deep into the night, but clearly those votes had far more impact on our lives than whether Benjani had signed for Man City and so probably shouldn’t be covered the same way.
That Chesterton quote is so good. And still basically right on most things. Of course it matters indirectly whether Trump slaps tariffs on this or that country, but is it going to affect your behaviour? Stick to slow news: the live feeds only serve journalists and platforms hungry for clicks, and politicians trying to manipulate things.