Everything you think you know about how news and the media work is probably a little bit wrong. Or maybe a lot wrong. It's not just about "fake news" or some shadowy group of people pulling strings in a basement in New York. It's weirder than that. It’s about money, speed, and the fact that your brain is basically hardwired to click on things that make you angry.
The reality? The news business is terrified.
The Attention Economy is Killing the Truth
Journalism used to be a high-margin business. You bought a physical newspaper, and the ads inside paid for the foreign bureaus and the investigative reporters who spent six months chasing a lead. Now? That model is dead. Most news and the media organizations are now fighting for scraps of digital ad revenue.
When you see a headline that feels like a slap in the face, that’s not an accident. It’s survival.
Take the "pivot to video" that happened a few years ago. Major outlets like Fox News, CNN, and The New York Times all started pouring millions into short-form video because Facebook’s algorithm promised them views. But the metrics were inflated. Publicly available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that newsroom employment dropped by 26% between 2008 and 2020. That’s a massive loss of institutional knowledge. When a newsroom shrinks, the first thing to go is the fact-checking.
The result is a feedback loop.
You click. They see you clicked. They make more of the stuff you clicked on. Even if it's junk.
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Why Social Media Isn't Actually News
We have to stop pretending Twitter (now X) or TikTok are news sources. They are delivery systems. There is a massive difference between a primary source and a curated feed. According to a 2023 study by the Pew Research Center, about half of U.S. adults get their news from social media at least sometimes.
That's a problem because algorithms don't care about the truth. They care about "engagement."
Engagement is a polite word for "outrage." If a story about a local council meeting is accurate but boring, nobody shares it. If someone posts a context-free 10-second clip of that same meeting where a politician looks like a jerk, it goes viral. The media then sees that viral clip and writes a story about the reaction to the clip.
This is what media critics call "circular reporting." It’s a hall of mirrors. You aren't seeing the event; you’re seeing the reflection of a reflection.
The Death of the Local Reporter
While we’re all arguing about national politics and what a celebrity said on a podcast, local news is dying in a ditch. This is arguably the biggest crisis in news and the media today.
- Over 2,500 local newspapers in the U.S. have closed since 2005.
- Research by the University of North Carolina’s Hussman School of Journalism found that "news deserts" are expanding rapidly.
- When local news dies, government spending goes up because there’s nobody watching the till.
Corruption thrives in silence. Honestly, if you want to know why your local taxes are high or why the park is a mess, don't look at cable news. They don't know where you live.
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Confirmation Bias is Your Worst Enemy
You think you're objective. You aren't. None of us are.
Psychologically, we seek out information that proves we were right all along. This is called confirmation bias. If you lean left, you’ll naturally trust a story from The Guardian more than The Wall Street Journal. If you lean right, you’ll do the opposite. News and the media companies know this. They have "audience segments." They know exactly what kind of adjectives will make their specific audience feel validated.
It’s a comfort thing. We want to be told we’re the smart ones and the "other side" is crazy.
How to Actually Read the News Without Going Insane
If you want to be a savvy consumer of news and the media, you have to treat it like a workout. It takes effort. You can't just sit there and let it wash over you like a Netflix show.
First, check the source. Is it a legacy organization with a legal department and a reputation to protect? Or is it a "pink slime" site? Pink slime sites are local-looking news outlets that are actually funded by political groups to push specific agendas. There are hundreds of them now. They look like the Lansing Sun or the Arizona Ledger, but they aren't real papers.
Second, look for the "About Us" page. If you can't find a physical address or a list of actual humans who work there, run.
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Third, distinguish between "Reporting" and "Opinion." This is where everyone gets tripped up. An op-ed in The New York Times is not the same as a front-page report. One is a person’s vibe; the other is (theoretically) vetted facts. Most people share opinion pieces as if they are news stories.
Don't be that person.
The Future of Media in the Age of AI
We’re entering a weird era. AI can now generate thousands of news-style articles in seconds. These aren't written by people who visited the scene or interviewed witnesses. They are synthesized from other websites.
This creates a "slop" problem. If AI writes an article based on an AI-written article that was based on a tweet, the truth gets lost in the static. We are already seeing "junk news" sites outperforming real journalism in search results.
It’s more important than ever to support the people who actually go outside and talk to people.
Actionable Steps for a Better Information Diet
Stop being a passive consumer. It’s making you stressed and probably a bit ill-informed. If you want to fix how you interact with news and the media, do these things starting today. It’s not hard, but it requires a bit of discipline.
- Pay for something. If a news product is free, you are the product. Your data and your outrage are what’s being sold. Subscribe to one local paper and one national outlet. Even $5 a month makes a difference in keeping real reporters employed.
- The "Wait 24 Hours" Rule. If you see a story that makes you want to scream or smash your keyboard, wait. Don't share it. Don't comment. Usually, within 24 hours, the "correction" or the "context" comes out. Most viral news is half-true at best in the first hour.
- Go to the Source. If an article says "A new study shows X," don't trust the article's summary. Click the link to the study. Read the abstract. Media outlets often blow scientific findings out of proportion for clicks.
- Diversify your feed. Follow someone you disagree with who is still intelligent and respectful. If you only see one perspective, you're living in a silo. You don't have to agree with them, but you should know what their best arguments are.
- Check the byline. Get to know specific journalists. Follow the people, not just the brand. If a reporter consistently gets things right and admits when they’re wrong, keep following them.
Real news is often slow, complicated, and a little bit boring. If it feels like an action movie or a soap opera, it’s probably not news—it’s entertainment masquerading as information.