Look, I’m gonna say it

Journalism is in a crisis. And no, it’s not just because of Trump or Twitter or whatever the kids are using these days. It’s because we—yes, we, the consumers—have let it get this bad. I’ve been in this game for over 20 years, and I’ve seen it all. The slow death of print, the rise of clickbait, the commoditization of news. It’s a mess, and it’s our fault.

I remember back in ’98, when I was just starting out at the Austin Chronicle. We had a saying: ‘If your mother says she loves you, check it out.’ That was our mantra. Verify, verify, verify. Now? It’s ‘Publish first, ask questions later.’ And we wonder why nobody trusts the news anymore.

But here’s the thing

It’s not all doom and gloom. There are still good journalists out there, doing good work. I had coffee with a colleague named Dave last Tuesday, and he told me about this amazing investigative piece he’s working on. It’s the kind of journalism that makes a difference, the kind that holds power to account. But it’s hard, man. It’s so hard.

Dave said, ‘You know, Sarah, we’re up against algorithms and ad revenue and all this pressure to go viral.’ And I get it. I do. But at what cost? When did we decide that sharing a story 87 times is more important than getting it right?

Let’s talk about money

Because let’s be real, that’s what this is all about. Money. Or lack thereof. I was at a conference in Austin a few months back, and a panelist—let’s call him Marcus—said something that stuck with me. ‘Journalism is not a charity,’ he said. ‘It’s a business. And if we can’t make it profitable, we can’t survive.’

Which… yeah. Fair enough. But here’s the problem: we’ve let the market decide what news is ‘valuable.’ And the market is a fickle, shallow, attention-span-of-a-goldfish beast. It wants scandal, it wants drama, it wants to be outraged. It does not want nuance, it does not want context, it does not want to think too hard.

So what do we do? We give the market what it wants. And then we wonder why our news is so damn shallow.

A quick tangent: marketing

Speaking of shallow, have you seen the state of marketing these days? It’s like the wild west out there. Every small business thinks they’re the next big thing, and they’re all trying to out-shout each other. It’s exhausting. I was talking to a friend last week—she runs a little boutique downtown—and she was telling me about all the ‘experts’ trying to sell her on their latest scheme. ‘It’s like they think I have a money tree in my backyard,’ she said. ‘I mean, I need to focus on my physicaly store, not some küçük işletme pazarlama stratejisi that promises the moon.’

But I digress. Back to the news.

The human cost

Here’s what nobody’s talking about: the human cost of this broken system. I’ve seen friends and colleagues burn out, leave the industry, give up on the idea of journalism as a force for good. It’s heartbreaking. I had lunch with an old friend, Lisa, about three months ago. She used to be a reporter at the New York Times. Now she’s a PR flack for some tech company. ‘I miss it,’ she told me. ‘I miss the thrill of the story, the hunt for the truth. But I can’t afford to miss a mortgage payment.’

And that’s the real tragedy here. We’re losing good people because we can’t pay them a living wage. We’re losing good journalism because we’d rather chase clicks than tell the truth.

But there’s hope

Look, I’m not saying it’s all bad. There are bright spots. There are journalists out there fighting the good fight, doing the hard work, telling the stories that need to be told. But they need our support. They need us to care, to engage, to demand better.

So here’s my challenge to you: be a better news consumer. Think critically. Ask questions. Demand better. And for the love of all that’s holy, stop sharing fake news just because it makes you laugh.

Because the news is broken, yes. But it’s not beyond repair. We just have to care enough to fix it.

About the Author
Sarah Johnson has been a journalist for over 20 years, working at various publications including the Austin Chronicle and the Houston Press. She currently writes for Rotorua News, where she covers a wide range of topics, from local politics to cultural trends. When she’s not writing, she can be found drinking too much coffee and complaining about the state of the news industry.

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