This is fascinating analysis. I left journalism early in my career because of how poorly I was paid and how little the news company cared about its reporters. Moved into book publishing instead which has its own issues, but has been a stable place for me for over a decade. Now I'm working part time on the side to operate a local news Substack for my city, because that newspaper I used to work for over a decade ago went out of business in 2019 and nothing has replaced it besides Facebook groups and Nextdoor. Not journalism. I believe so strongly in the importance of local news for a free and flourishing society. But the business model is broken and the general public doesn't believe it matters enough to invest in it on a personal or governmental level. Lots of exciting independent enterprises springing up, but will they last? We shall see...
I agree with your analysis for the most part. However, I find that many people are not really interested in reading. They'll watch TV, or YouTube to get the "news". Some of us have long developed habits of reading. In fact I get annoyed when a producer switches to audio instead of text, because I can read faster than they can talk. That's why I subscribe to your substack and those of other journalists, and read news headlines from around the world. I want to be informed, have my assumptions challenged and read well written journalism like yours. Thanks for taking the time to write.
I too am a reader Neil, and in many ways I really just write for myself -- what I'd like to see out there! Appreciate that any of it resonates with someone else. Thanks for reading and writing yourself!
This is fascinating analysis. I left journalism early in my career because of how poorly I was paid and how little the news company cared about its reporters. Moved into book publishing instead which has its own issues, but has been a stable place for me for over a decade. Now I'm working part time on the side to operate a local news Substack for my city, because that newspaper I used to work for over a decade ago went out of business in 2019 and nothing has replaced it besides Facebook groups and Nextdoor. Not journalism. I believe so strongly in the importance of local news for a free and flourishing society. But the business model is broken and the general public doesn't believe it matters enough to invest in it on a personal or governmental level. Lots of exciting independent enterprises springing up, but will they last? We shall see...
Naomi, I'm very curious to hear how your local news Substack goes! Good luck and keep me posted.
I agree with your analysis for the most part. However, I find that many people are not really interested in reading. They'll watch TV, or YouTube to get the "news". Some of us have long developed habits of reading. In fact I get annoyed when a producer switches to audio instead of text, because I can read faster than they can talk. That's why I subscribe to your substack and those of other journalists, and read news headlines from around the world. I want to be informed, have my assumptions challenged and read well written journalism like yours. Thanks for taking the time to write.
I too am a reader Neil, and in many ways I really just write for myself -- what I'd like to see out there! Appreciate that any of it resonates with someone else. Thanks for reading and writing yourself!
"Journalists can’t futz around on the edges of fact" Isn't that all they do? : )