All About the Clicks
Elevating the Standard of Media
I’m pretty frustrated with the New York Times. I grew up in New York City and have always loved the paper, considering the Gray Lady the definitive news source. But lately, increasingly for the last few years actually, she’s disappointed. Too often I see NYT resorting to clickbait titles for their articles and opinion pieces. It’s gotten so bad there’s a hilarious Twitter account called the New York Times Pitchbot with seemingly outlandish story ideas but sometimes it’s difficult to tell what’s real and what’s satire.
If it’s not the article titles, it’s the clickbait topics and angles that the NYT chooses to print. There have been about a half-dozen shoddy articles promoting the mirage of peace negotiations for the Ukraine war that throw out misinformation of Putin’s intentions, willingness to negotiate, and strawman prescriptions that sound good to the ear but are practical nonstarters.
This past weekend there was a ridiculous opinion essay about Taylor Swift in which, among other things, the author speculated as to whether or not she is gay. How is rampant speculation of Swift’s sexuality newsworthy for any major paper let alone the New York Times? It seems trivial — and it should be beneath the dignity of one of the nation’s top publications — but if we are to judge by the pattern of clickbait articles, it appears to be their current business model. This only serves to highlight the shocking sliding of standards in the pursuit of readers, viewers, and clicks.
The chase for eyeballs and ad revenues is a powerful force. In fact, it’s the lifeblood of media and the media landscape seems to be constantly in flux these days. Media companies are trying to figure out how to survive, but it seems they have decided they cannot do so without selling their soul at times. I think there are other options. It’s clear to me that newsrooms can make better choices about what news they choose to cover and how they represent that news.
At minimum, there is an expectation that the media learn from their mistakes. Maybe the most egregious of errors was covering all of Donald Trump’s nonsense. Trump is of the school of thought that any press is good press and 2016 proved that to be true. Now, after everything he has done, the media largely refuses to cover him in an honest way. This recent headline is a good example:
We are living in some of the most precarious times of our democracy and this headline reads like theater review. This is not a joke; he is attempting to intimidate, evade, and flood the zone with lies, distractions, and disinformation. Similarly, this was seen recently as well:
Despite what Trump and MAGA supporters want to believe, reality exists and it is not up for interpretation. If the venerable New York Times cannot accept and admit that, I am at a loss. This kind of nonsense casts a shadow on everything published in one of the last remaining print outlets that still supports quality journalism. But if they are willing to say these things, how can we trust their reporting in other areas? More troublingly, how can we trust lesser media outlets?
Why it Matters: Venerable newspapers and the media play a large role in shaping public opinion. Consequently, they must be held to a standard of reporting and avoid sensationalization, false equivalencies, and feel-good superficial reporting, merely to acquire and maintain a following. If a publication cannot meet that basic standard, I am ready to unsubscribe in protest. Individually it won’t register. But cumulatively, it has an impact. Because money talks.
I am considering canceling my subscription to the NY Times for the same reason. It has become a major disappointment, with its failure to report on the numerous threats to our democracy.
The real stolen election was in 2016, with daily front page coverage of "but her emails!", while tfg's ongoing, well-known fraudulent business practices were buried or ignored, and his constant lies were never called out as lies for a very long time.
Now there's incessant mentioning of President Biden's age, with no discussion of tfg's barely different age. And there's no discussion of President Biden's accomplishments and skilled handling of the many foreign issues and relationships, which the tfg is too stupid, too incompetent and too ignorant to even begin to address.
I'm supporting smaller, and (I hope) more accurate publications. I just hope enough people are paying attention to actuall facts so that our country survives this threat from the fascists, formerly known as the Republican Party.
Thank you. Finally saying it. Good Journalism is out there it is just that the big fish with the click bait are now selling their souls for the almighty dollar instead of reporting the facts. Just the facts. I don't want their opinions. I want the fact. If the sun is up, say so, even if trump says it's not. Get the picture media? Stop trying to "well let's look at both sides of this " there's no such thing as alternative facts. That's called a lie.