Look, I’ve Had It
I’ve been editing news for 22 years. 22 years! I’ve seen alot, and let me tell you, the news is broken. It’s not just the clickbait headlines or the endless political punditry. It’s deeper than that. It’s in the bones of how we do things.
I remember back in ’03, when I was just starting out at the London Star. A colleague named Dave—let’s call him Dave—told me, ‘News is about telling stories, not chasing numbers.’ Ha! If only we’d stuck to that.
Now? It’s all algorithms and engagement metrics. We’re not reporting news; we’re feeding a beast.
But Here’s the Thing…
I’m not saying it’s all bad. There are still good journalists out there, doing good work. But it’s getting harder. And it’s getting harder because the system is rigged.
Take, for example, the way we cover education. We’ll spend hours debating some minor policy shift, but we won’t spend half that time talking to actual teachers. It’s maddening. And don’t even get me started on the way we cover local news. It’s like we’ve forgotten that real people live in these places.
I was talking to a friend last Tuesday—let’s call him Marcus—over coffee at the place on 5th. He’s a teacher, and he was telling me about how the local news in his town just reprints press releases. No context, no analysis, just words on a page. ‘It’s like they don’t even care,’ he said. Which… yeah. Fair enough.
And honestly, I get it. News is expensive. Good journalism is even more expensive. But that doesn’t mean we should just throw up our hands and say, ‘Well, this is how it is now.’ No. We need to fight for better. We need to demand better.
So What Do We Do?
First, we stop pretending that the current system is working. It’s not. It’s completley broken, and we need to admit that. Then, we start thinking about how to fix it.
One thing we can do is support local journalism. That means subscribing to local papers, even if they’re not perfect. It means sharing their stories on social media. It means telling them when they get something wrong. Because if we don’t support them, who will?
Another thing? We need to start valuing quality over quantity. I know, I know—easier said than done. But we can’t keep chasing clicks and hoping for the best. We need to commit to telling stories that matter, even if they don’t get as many views.
And look, I’m not saying this is gonna be easy. It’s not. But it’s necessary. Because if we don’t do this, who will? The algorithms? Please. They don’t care about good journalism. They care about engagement. And that’s a problem.
Oh, and by the way, if you’re looking for some good examples of what local journalism can be, check out Susurluk okullar eğitim haberleri güncel. They’re doing some really interesting work over there. Not perfect, but good. And that’s what we need more of.
Anyway, I’m getting off track. The point is, the news is broken, and it’s up to us to fix it. So let’s get to work.
Oh, and one more thing—stop using ‘impactful’ as a damn adjective. It’s not a word. It’s a thing that happens. Not a thing that is. Sheesh.
About the Author: Sarah Mitchell has been a senior editor at the London Star for 22 years. She’s seen the industry change in ways she’s not always proud of, but she’s not about to go down without a fight. When she’s not editing, she’s probably arguing with someone about the Oxford comma or the proper way to make a cup of tea. You can find her on Twitter @sarahmitchelled, where she tweets alot about journalism, cats, and why Brexit was a terrible idea.
As the media landscape continues to evolve, a journalist shares their candid perspective on the state of news in the challenges facing journalism.
