There’s something wrong with the press. To be honest, there’s something wrong with the media as a whole. We live in an age where polarization drives profitability, and the
recent changes at The Washington Post signal that it’s not coming to an end anytime soon.
Last week, the Post laid off 300 of its 800 staffers, which many called a
“bloodbath." The majority of the cuts came from the metro section, the international section, and the daily podcast department, leaving most of the mainline news intact.
Jeff
Bezos also said that data will drive The Washington Post's future. What he is referring to, and clarified in that statement, is that it would rely on data detailing what its audience is
reading, and that will dictate what they focus on.
I don’t really like that statement.
The data, in this case, impressions and pageviews, more than circulation numbers, can be
manipulated. Journalism is a higher calling, and it should be empowered to report on topics that are valuable to all of us. They should be fair and balanced, always representing both sides
of a story. Unfortunately, we live in a world where “fair and balanced” and a calm, sane middle ground do not drive impressions. To get pageviews, you present a controversial
or polarized opinion, and that drives eyeballs.
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Allowing The Washington Post to have its journalistic approach influenced by “the data” as presented is
dangerous. It will shift the content from fair and balanced to one side or the other. The current political climate does not benefit anyone, and trying to balance it out by moving further
in the opposite direction does no good. IT simply fans the flames, creating a situation in which more arguments arise, more polarized opinions are required to break through, and it feeds its own
vicious cycle.
Polarization also breeds fear. Fear of saying what is on your mind because you don’t want to be on the opposite end of an opinion placed by someone in
power. Operating in fear is not how you successfully survive.
I realize that newspapers are challenged. That has been a media narrative since the late 90’s.
Printed news is already outdated, the internet is far more accessible, with quality content available at no cost. The internet is also a source of much of the outrage and angst because it allows
opinion to spread like fact, but that genie is out of the bottle, so to speak. There’s not too much we can do about it at this point.
For the news to survive, it has to be held to
a standard of reporting the facts and providing the basis for people to read and draw their own conclusions. That may not be what drives impressions and pageviews in the short term, and any data
that is used to dictate the direction of a news organization should avoid being focused on the short term and instead play the long game. I sincerely hope that The Washington Post and
other media outlets are able to play that long game and remain focused on the facts, regardless of where that takes them.