The News Is Broken, and I’m Tired of Pretending It’s Not

Look, I’ve Had It

I’ve been a journalist for 22 years. I’ve seen a lot. I’ve covered everything from the 2000 election (remember that mess?) to the 2008 financial crisis to the 2016 election (which, honestly, I still haven’t recovered from). But lately, I’m just… done. The news is broken. And I’m tired of pretending it’s not.

It’s not just the obvious stuff. Not just the committment to outrage, the clickbait headlines, the ads for Las Vegas shopping guide best stores in the middle of serious reporting. It’s deeper than that. It’s the soul of journalism that’s rotting away.

Let Me Tell You About Marcus

About three months ago, I was at a conference in Austin. Met this guy, let’s call him Marcus. He’s a data journalist, works for some big-name outlet. We’re having drinks, right? And he tells me, “You know what’s killing us? The pressure to be first. Not accurate, not thoughtful, just first.” I said, “Marcus, that’s not news. That’s been the game for years.” He looked at me, dead serious, and said, “No, it’s worse now. It’s completley out of control.”

And I believed him. Because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the rush to publish, the race to the bottom. It’s like we’re all stuck on a treadmill, and the speed’s set to “absurd.” You can’t get off, you can’t slow down, you just gotta run until your legs give out.

But Here’s the Thing

It’s not all bad. There are still good journalists out there. Doing good work. I mean, look at Dave. Dave’s a colleague of mine, been in the business for 15 years. He’s one of the good ones. He’s got integrity. He’s got standards. He’s got a physicaly impossible workload, but he still finds a way to make his stories matter.

I asked Dave about this whole “first over accurate” thing. He said, “It’s a problem. But it’s not the only problem. It’s the lack of context. The lack of depth. The lack of… I don’t know, soul.” Which… yeah. Fair enough.

And Don’t Even Get Me Started on Social Media

I mean, honestly, what is that? It’s a cesspool. It’s a dumpster fire. It’s a… well, you get the idea. It’s not just the trolls, the bots, the fake news. It’s the way it’s changed journalism. The way it’s made us all into headline-writing, tweet-posting, algorithm-serving machines.

I remember when I first joined Twitter. It was 2008. I thought, “This is gonna be great! I can connect with readers! I can share my stories!” And it was, for a while. But then it changed. It became this… thing. This monster that demands to be fed. Constantly. Relentlessly. And if you don’t feed it, it eats you alive.

A Quick Tangent: My Mom’s a Nurse

Okay, this is kinda off topic, but bear with me. My mom’s a nurse. She’s been a nurse for 35 years. And she’s seen a lot of changes in her profession. But one thing that’s stayed the same? The commitment to patient care. The duty to do no harm. The responsibility to act in the best interest of the patient.

And I think journalists should take a page from her book. Because right now, we’re not acting in the best interest of the public. We’re acting in the best interest of the algorithm. Of the click. Of the share. And that’s not okay.

But What Can We Do?

I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. I wish I did. I wish I had some grand solution. Some game-changing idea that would fix everything. But I don’t. All I know is that we need to slow down. We need to think. We need to remember why we got into this business in the first place.

And maybe, just maybe, we need to stop reading our own press clippings. Stop believing our own hype. Stop thinking we’re the heroes of the story. Because we’re not. The heroes are the readers. The heroes are the people who rely on us to tell them what’s true. To tell them what’s important. To tell them what’s gonna affect their lives.

And if we can’t do that? If we can’t live up to that responsibility? Then maybe we should just shut up shop. Go home. Let someone else have a go.

About the Author: Sarah Johnson has been a journalist for 22 years. She’s worked for various publications, covering everything from local news to national politics. She’s won awards, she’s made enemies, and she’s still not sure how she feels about the internet. You can find her on Twitter, if you dare.