I haven't read any news in 5 years
Hey Reader,
happy slow Sunday.
Today I want to point out journalists and journalism. I see them gatekeepers of a healthy society. When we say that all lies come to light, the credit often goes to journalists. However flawed the profession, it serves as a leash on narcissistic bad actors.
Good journalism comes with a certain ethos. The pursuit of truth and objectivity. A journalist, in principle, will seek to understand a story with utmost regard for its veracity.
Truth is the Holy Grail of journalism.
There is a certain degree of respect associated with the best journalists. Take war correspondents, for example. I’ve always thought of them with awe. Men and women willing to travel from conflict to conflict for the sake of the truth. If I could display such blatant courage only once in my life… let’s just say journalism, at its best, is humanity at its best.
That being said, I don’t read the news. Haven’t read almost any for the last 5 years. Even when I do, I soon regret it. You could say I’m uninformed, although I could fire right back that you are misinformed. It’s a classic play on words that points to a glaring reality - there’s isn’t very much good journalism. The news today is a storm.
An emotional shit storm.
It’s not that we have fewer excellent journalists in total - there are more than ever before - but that they are harder to hear. Their news stories are drowning. In content. Most pieces that pass for journalism today are written by content writers. People whose job is to write a number of words, not a number of words that amount to a true report.
Where a good journalist serves only as a vehicle for the facts (in principle), a good content writer’s role is to drive a narrative. To tell a story. Not as it is, but as it should be to drive the most clicks, engagement, and outrage. That is a content writer's principle, their bread and butter.
Truth takes a distant 2nd place to the need of keeping the content machine well greased and churning.
That’s it.
Click.
Engage.
Outrage.
… and don’t forget to share.
Two Questions
Who writes the news you read?
One Quote
“I became a journalist because I did not want to rely on newspapers for information.” - Christopher Hitchens, the author of The Letters to a Young Contrarian
Stay slow,
Marin
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Marin Mikulic
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