2 ms·
Probably worth pointing out that the great hollowing out of journalism is a likely causal factor here. The chain of events went something like: 1. Web comes ou
by munificent 5y ago
Probably worth pointing out that the great hollowing out of journalism is a likely causal factor here. The chain of events went something like:
1. Web comes out and makes it trivial to distribute information for nearly free.
2. Users find enough "information" (in quotes because I mean "data that satisfies their instinctual desire to feel in the know" regardless of its actual value) on the web for free that they don't want to pay for their local newspaper anymore.
3. Dying paper subscriptions forces newspapers to go online. Even so and even with copious ads, their profit margins collapse.
4. The only news agencies that survive are national news because they can aggregate their journalism costs over a larger number of readers.
5. Bereft of money, local news agencies get bought up by conglomerations that produce "local" news which is a slurry of national stuff, press releases, and relatively low quality local reporting.
6. People stop reading the local stuff entirely since it's frankly just not good any more.
7. Now everyone is only clued in to national politics since national news sources rarely write about state or city politics.
- tomrod 5y agoHave you ever read the local rags from two, three decades back? Think Buzzfeed with no spellcheck. You had colorful characters, but I wouldn't argue the informational content is all that more hollow today than in that time period.
- Analemma_ 5y agoThere have been actual studies done showing a clear correlation between the decline of local news and an increase in municipal- and county-level corruption, so it's hard to argue they were entirely useless.
- munificent 5y agoYes, I have. :) Sure the writing quality wasn't always great, but it was a functioning conduit of information about what local politicians were up to. And, more importantly it wasn't drowned about by other information sources so a greater fraction of people actually consumed it and were clued in to what was happening in their city and state.
- kinjba11 5y agoI'm reminded of the 'Information Bubble' section in Wait But Why's 'A Sick Giant's essay. Essentially, once upon a time the big media outlets had an incentive to reach a broad audience. The biggest megaphone had to appeal across the political spectrum. Then, cable news, the Internet, etc. balkanized journalism. Everyone could easily shift themselves into whatever bubble they wanted to pretend was reality. https://waitbutwhy.com/2020/01/sick-giant.html https://waitbutwhy.com/2020/01/sick-giant.html