What Will You Do Without ‘The News’?

A compelling look at its not-so-distant future.

My earlier attempts to discuss ‘Journalists’ and ‘Journalism’ may have had a few shining observations, but I can’t hold a flick of the Bic to “Post Journalism and the Death of News” (Martin Gurri). While my efforts primarily focused on the semantics of ‘personality’, and ‘job description’ abused in common parlance, Gurri’s article provides a detailed view of where “The News” is today, how it evolved to this place, and the dim future it faces. It also introduces spot-on observations from Andrey Mir, “Postjournalism and the Death of Newspapers”.

Some excerpts:

 “A funny thing happened to a handful of big-name news providers on the way to extinction. They ran into Donald Trump. From their first encounter in the 2016 Republican primaries, the largely liberal news media loathed Trump politically but loved the effect he had on readership and audience growth: what Mir labels the “Trump bump.”

“Covering Trump demanded a new style of reporting. The pose of objectivity was explicitly abandoned. A journalism of open advocacy replaced the old ideal of a journalism of facts. This, Mir rightly notes, was a knock-on effect of the web, a medium so overwhelmed by noise that even facts assume the aspect of opinion. Mir has christened this new style of shrill, self-righteous advocacy “post-journalism”—and he views it as a desperate gambit for survival.”

“Donald Trump may have been the P.T. Barnum of modern American politics and his White House the strangest show on earth, but everyone knows that eventually the circus folds its tents and departs, leaving the townspeople to resume their humdrum daily lives. Commodifying polarization without Trump may be impossible. Manufacturing anger under the soggy political aura of Joe Biden seems unlikely to generate a profit.”

If you find “The News” one of the essentials to assessing your priorities and direction, you may find this piece a useful contribution to your toolbox of information and understanding.

BW

Thanks for reading this far. Don’t forget to do your Digit Exercises below!