The Death of Journalism

Do you dread watching the News? Turns out you are not alone. But, there’s more to it than you think. Let me explain.

We’ve been on a string of bad news since 2017. The world has upchucked a never-ending supply of natural disasters, lingering covid variants, riots, exploding urban crime & property destruction, a war in Ukraine, Chinese sabre rattling, mass shootings in schools, inflation, a quasi-recession and gas prices over $5 a gallon. And, that’s just in the last year.

It’s no wonder our attention span is now reduced to about 48 hours. We are exhausted and there is growing suspicion that the future only holds more bad news.

You would think that with all this bad news that people would be glued to the news networks. Not so. (See ratings chart at end of article). In fact, people are unplugging from the news in record numbers.

Watching the perfectly coiffured David Muir (ABC), with his furrowed brow, tease up the next segment of bad news before the commercial break makes me want to vomit. Like waiting for the results of your blood work at the Doctor. You know it’s gonna be something bad, but just how bad is it, Doc?

A new study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has some answers. Turns out, this combo platter of fatigue and dread is not good for ratings. Back in 2013, 72% of people tuned in to the television news at least once per week. Today that number has fallen to 48%. See the crashing teal blue line below.

See, the Blue (liberal) and Red (conservative) teams only agree on one thing. 92% of Blue team and 78% of Red team members agree the country is headed in the wrong direction. The problem is that nobody can agree on the right direction. As H. L. Mencken’s once observed,“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

Our political division is partially fueled by the news media. As Pastor Andy Stanley recently preached, “there is a lot of power to be preserved by keeping us divided”. Why? Because there’s a lot of money in suspicion, fear and division. Turns out, those emotions are very profitable for the networks.

See, during the Trump era, interest in the news was near an all-time high. CNN focused on all Trump, all the time. Turns out, all that Twittering was really good for their ratings. But, CNN literally killed the golden (orange) goose…and, perhaps, their brand.

When Joe Biden won the election, interest in the news crashed. Today, less than half of respondents (47%) say they are very or extremely interested in news compared with 67% in 2015. Roughly 42% of people sometimes or often avoid the news altogether. I’m in that camp.

According to the New York Times, CNN has drawn an average of 639,000 people during prime time this quarter. A single tweet from Elon Musk gets more views than that. It’s a 27 percent decrease in viewers from just one year ago. It trails MSNBC, which is down 23 percent in prime time during the same period.

Most people who avoid the news claim to be “worn out”. I get it. But a growing proportion (29%) of viewers now feel the news is no longer trustworthy. And, this perception varies widely by political leanings. About 20% of those on the left think the news is no longer trustworthy. But, 65% of those who lean right think the news is as trustworthy as gas-station sushi.

For those who identify as conservative, trust in the News has fallen almost ten-percentage points since 2015. On the left, trust has remained constant.

A recent Pew Research Center study reports that only 44% of American journalists believe their profession should give each side equal coverage. Really? I thought journalists were supposed to be fair.

Hey, before you finish reading this article, would you consider signing up a few friends or family members? It’s free and they can always unsubscribe. I’m not gonna blow them up with Spam, cause I’m not a complete jerk.

So much of what the networks produce today is curated news. It’s colored by “the purposes, beliefs, and loyalties of those who produce it: the informing class”, as Walter Kirn points out in his piece The Bullshit. One envisions high-brow cocktail parties in a Manhattan or DC penthouse, where members of the informing class cavort with elitist members of the ruling class. They’re drinking Manhattans or summer spritzers and eating canapés while a Harpist plays softly in the background. They’re laughing about why anyone would ever live in Oklahoma as they try to recall the name of their favorite college dive bar in New Haven. It’s no wonder so many of us are feeling duped.

In the US, 49% of people actively avoid the news because it negatively impacts their mood-or triggers their anxiety.

During the Trump era I found myself drifting back to local news. I’d rather watch a guy taste test a cheeseburger at a local restaurant than listen to the endless arguments of the informing class on the 24-hour networks. It’s like watching a married couple bicker about the toilet seat. It just makes everyone cringe. When more than half the available audience avoids your product because it makes them depressed, you have a problem.

It’s the reason why so many networks use taglines like “the most trusted name in news”, but that’s a very low bar. It’s like being the best restaurant in a Hospital.

I often write about the Tik-Tok generation or those kids under age 30. They’d rather give up UberEats than watch the television news. Yet this demo is the holy grail for television ad revenue.

This generation is addicted to, not surprisingly, the Chinese-owned vortex known as TikTok. It’s more addicting than Camel unfiltered lung darts.

That’s why it’s the fastest growing social network, reaching 40% of 18–24 year olds. TikTok is Google and Apple’s most popular app. According to SensorTower it has generated about $208 million in fees for the two companies.

Not surprisingly, 15% of the Tik-Tok generation uses the platform for “news”. Although much of that “news” is just a 19 year-old influencer’s opinion of the news and not source material from any reputable source. So our most impressionable generation is subject to the interpretation of their fav influencer-and, of course, China. Kinda disturbing, huh? For more context, read Ezra Klein’s NYT article Tik-Tok May Be More Dangerous Than It Looks.

To give you some idea of what “news” is like on the Tik-Tok platform, here’s a recent video for the Blue team. It got over 430,000 likes. Here’s a recent Tik-Tok video for the Red team. This is what your kids are calling “news”.

You might think that people are subscribing to news and paying for content. Maybe. About 17% of people worldwide “pay” for their news from sources they trust. But, there are signs that the subscription model is in trouble. With the looming recession, paid sites are already seeing attrition in their subscribers. If you’re gonna cut your personal spending it’s likely the first thing to go. And, today’s paid news subscriber has the temperament of a toddler who missed his/her/their nap. Subscribers use their subscription as a proxy to express themselves. As I’ve learned, I am only one improper pronoun away from someone unsubscribing….and, I’m completely free.

But, perhaps all that distrust opens the door for independent writer’s like me. Unpaid, unaffiliated observers of the world with no editorial board or advertisers to anger. We are becoming the new, digital town square as two newspapers per week go out of business.

I’m not worried about losing my job at The Washington Post because I didn’t follow the company style book. I’m not worried about losing advertisers or getting uninvited from elitist cocktail parties with my brothers and sisters from Skull & Bones at Yale. So, maybe this loss of trust is a good thing after all. We shall see.

My writing is intended to be a conversation. That means you have to participate. C’mon, I know you have an opinion on the television news. Let’s hear it. Nobody will show up at your door or cancel you. Tell me what you think, below. I’ll respond, even if we disagree with each other.

One quick favor, if you enjoy my writing would you subscribe for a few friends or family members? Just add their email below. It’s free and they can always unsubscribe. We already have 10,000 subscribers and a lot more casual readers. You can really help me grow and get the attention of some larger print outlets. Your help would mean a lot to me .