The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

Post by vanderZwan » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

sejtnjir wrote: post #343

vanderZwan wrote: post #180

Somewhat surprised that there is no mention of The Correspondent yet. The Dutch version has been quite successful for quite a few years now, and they're launching an international version later this year[0][1]. (Having said that, the authors of De Correspondent sometimes come across as oblivious to how their world views are shaped by living in the cultural bubble that is the Randstad[2]. There is a certain arrogance…

I subscribed to the Correspondent based on the proposition of in depth quality journalism until it decayed into long form leftist outcry and nothing else. I wonder if this type of decay is inevitable.

Post by weaklearner » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 3:35 PM UTC

jiggunjer wrote: post #277

enumjorge wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do agree that paying too much attention to the crazy that’s going on is not constructive or healthy. But you can definitely overcorrect. If you completely disconnect you have no data with which to make your decisions come election time. A lot of what’s happening in politics does affect you directly. Changes to tax code, the budget, deregulation of industries (e.g. net neutrality). And some of it may not affect you…

The Supreme Court example isn't very good, because you can't act on the outcome in a sensible democratic way. A better example would be news that brings X to attention, so you can voice concern to the government. Or in the case where politicians are the focus of attention, it can affect your voting choice. E.g. the internet filter law proposal in Europe. It's not practical for me to review every individual piece of l…

Post by tptacek » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 3:56 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #250

tptacek wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a reductive and misleading summary of what journalists do. Every blogger on the Internet also writes, with varying degrees of training and success. What reporters do that bloggers don't is reporting --- surveying and cultivating sources, visiting places, making a zillion phone calls, working with fact checkers (itself a tedious job that has little to do with the craft of writing). That's the job of a reporter…

I don’t disagree with your first paragraph. As to your second, I think that’s part of the problem: those people with first hand knowledge are often relaying a sound bite, a piece of packaged narrative. And the journalist doesn’t know enough to really add anything to that narrative. That may be a limitation of journalism, but I question whether given that limitation, journalism is a useful vehicle for educating the pu…

Post by fsloth » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 4:21 PM UTC

mike00632 wrote: post #200

fsloth wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, how does watching news help anyone’s plight, precisely?

You can't do anything if you're not even informed about it. There are numerous examples of the public giving enormous amounts of money and relief to victims of, for example, natural disasters.

Post by jammygit » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 4:35 PM UTC