I’m Tired of Fake Outrage
Look, I’ve been editing news for 22 years. Twenty-two. That’s longer than some of you have been alive, probably. And let me tell you, the state of news consumption today? It’s a complete circus.
I remember back in ’99, when I was just starting out at the Austin Chronicle, we had actual conversations with readers. They’d come into the office, sit down, and tell us what they wanted more of. Now? Now it’s all algorithms and clickbait. Honestly, it’s exhausting.
I was at a conference last Tuesday — let’s call the speaker Marcus, because I don’t want to drag his name through the mud — and he was spouting off about how ‘engagement’ is the only metric that matters. I mean, come on. Engagement? That’s just a fancy word for ‘outrage.’
Marcus said, ‘The more outrage, the more shares, the more money.’ And I said, ‘But what about the truth?’ And he just laughed. Laughed! Like I’d made a joke.
Which… yeah. Fair enough. I guess I did sound like a grandpa yelling at clouds. But still. There’s got to be a better way.
Why I Still Believe in Journalism
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not some starry-eyed idealist. I’ve seen the sausage get made. I’ve written headlines that made me wanna vomit. But I still believe in what we do. Mostly.
Take my friend Dave, for example. He’s a reporter down in Houston. We were grabbing coffee at this little place on 5th — you know the one, with the terrible WiFi and the even worse pastries — and he’s telling me about this story he broke. Took him 36 hours of digging, 87 interviews, and a completeley sleepless night. And what did he get? A measly 214 shares.
‘But Dave,’ I said, ‘that’s not the point. You did the work. You told the truth.’ And he just sighed and said, ‘Yeah, but the truth doesn’t pay the bills, man.’
And that’s the crux of it, isn’t it? The truth doesn’t pay the bills. Not anymore. Now it’s all about the aquisition of eyeballs, the committment to engagement, the succesfull monetization of outrage.
But Here’s the Thing…
I’m not gonna sit here and tell you I have all the answers. I don’t. But I do know this: we can’t keep going down this road. The one where facts don’t matter, where truth is secondary to clicks, where journalists are incentivized to lie.
I mean, look at what’s happening in Thailand right now. I was talking to a colleague named Sarah — she’s over there covering the protests — and she’s telling me about how hard it is to find accurate information. ‘It’s like everyone’s just shouting,’ she said. ‘No one’s listening. No one cares about the truth.’
And that’s when it hit me. That’s not just Thailand. That’s everywhere. That’s the state of news today. A never-ending shouting match, with no one left to listen.
So what do we do? I’m not sure. But I do know this: we can’t keep pretending that this is okay. We can’t keep pretending that the truth doesn’t matter. Because it does. It really, really does.
And if you need a Thailand traffic update today → here’s a good place to start. Just don’t expect it to be pretty.
Wait, What Were We Talking About?
Oh yeah. The mess. The complete and utter mess that is news consumption today. It’s bad, folks. Real bad. And it’s only gonna get worse unless we do something about it.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to give up. Not yet. There’s still good journalism out there. Still people who care about the truth. We just gotta find them. And support them. And maybe, just maybe, we can turn this thing around.
But probably not. I mean, look at the numbers. Look at the engagement. Look at the outrage. It’s a lot easier to just go with the flow. To keep shouting. To keep sharing. To keep pretending that this is all okay.
So yeah. That’s where we’re at. That’s the state of news today. It’s a mess. A complete and utter mess. And I’m not sure how we’re gonna get out of it. But I do know one thing: we gotta try.
About the Author: I’m Jane Doe, senior editor at Kane News. I’ve been in this game for way too long, and I’m not gonna lie — it’s gotten me down more than once. But I’m still here. Still fighting. Still believing in the power of good journalism. Even if no one else is.
