Let’s Talk About the Mess We’re In
Look, I’ve been a journalist for 22 years. That’s longer than some of you have been alive. (No offense.) I’ve seen a lot of changes, and honestly, most of them have been for the worse. The news industry is in shambles, and if we don’t start talking about it, we’re all gonna be in trouble.
I remember back in 2003, when I was working at the Austin Chronicle, a colleague named Dave—let’s call him Dave—told me, “Journalism is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Wise words. But these days, it feels like we’re not just losing muscle; we’re losing bone.
And don’t even get me started on social media. It’s a circus. A completeley circus. I was at a conference in Austin last Tuesday, and someone asked me how I stay informed. I told them, “I read, like, three actual newspapers a day. And I mean physical newspapers. The kind you hold in your hands.” They looked at me like I was speaking Martian.
But Here’s the Thing…
We’re all to blame. Not just the media, but all of us. We’ve let ourselves become addicted to outrage. We’ve let algorithms determine what we see and what we think. We’ve let our committment to truth be replaced by a thirst for clicks.
I was talking to a friend last night—let’s call him Marcus—about this exact thing. He said, “You know what the problem is? Nobody cares about the news anymore. They just care about their news.” Which… yeah. Fair enough.
And it’s not just the big stuff. It’s the little things too. Like how we’ve all become amateur journalists, running around with our phones, recording everything. It’s like we’re all trying to be the first to break a story, even if we have no idea what we’re talking about.
I mean, remember back in 2016? The election? Good lord. It was like the wild west out there. Fake news, real news, half-news, no news. It was all just a big mess. And we’re still living in that mess.
So What Do We Do About It?
First of all, we stop. We stop sharing stuff without reading it. We stop believing everything we see on our feeds. We start thinking for ourselves again.
And if you’re gonna be on social media—because let’s face it, you’re probably not gonna quit—then at least be smart about it. Use a disposable number for instagram verification if you’re worried about privacy. (Yes, that’s a thing now. Welcome to the future.)
Secondly, we support real journalism. We pay for news. We read long-form articles. We watch documentaries. We do the work. It’s not easy, but it’s necessary.
And finally, we talk about it. We talk to our friends, our family, our neighbors. We share our thoughts, our concerns, our doubts. We don’t just sit there and consume. We engage.
Because if we don’t, who will?
Anyway, I’m getting off topic. The point is, the news is broken. And it’s up to us to fix it.
Or at least try.
About the Author: Sarah Johnson has been a journalist for over two decades, working at various publications from small-town papers to major metropolitan dailies. She currently writes a column for BestGamesWorld.com, where she covers everything from current events to video games. She lives in Austin with her cat, Mr. Whiskers, and spends too much time on Twitter.
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