I often find it hard to understand the news, these days. The
same event is, more often than not, reported in different ways: sometimes
diametrically opposite. I therefore find myself reading from multiple sources
to arrive at my own conclusion of what may have happened. I take the trouble of
doing that, but a lot of people either don’t have the time or the inclination (or
both) to do that.
Another thing that I find problematic is the noise in the
news. It is very hard to separate the facts out of the loud and theatrical
monologues, interrupted by bickering “panels”, that pass of as “News Hours”.
These typically seem to end in utter confusion and chaos.
A third issue is the cardinal issue of the separation of
church and state: in this case, the separation of opinion pieces from factual
news. I am unsure of what editorial authority means, but in my opinion, this
should not include colouring of news articles. The political views of the news
organisation may inform opinion pieces and editorials, but not the reporting of
news. News organisations, more than anything else, are a crucial pillar of
democracy and for prevention of tyranny. Trust in news organisations is
therefore critical, as we can see from examples all over. I think that it is
also crucial to have more than one news organisation (preferably the majority
of news organisations) which the vast majority consider as fair. The numbers
will help the news organisations reinforce each other in fairness of reporting.
Given the weight of responsibility, it is not enough to be fair; it is also
important to be seen as being fair.
Finally, there is the question of volume. TV channels have a
need to fill 24 hours of air-time and are available at the press of a button or
through apps in smartphones. Online news providers have Petabytes of space to play
around with to create articles useful and otherwise, and are ubiquitous.
Newspapers, on the other hand, must present news in 15-30 pages and are
delivered only once a day. A newspaper would therefore only contain news which
is actually newsworthy. To top it off, the once a day delivery of news means
that there is no room for the hourly cycle of outrage. People tend to be
efficient when they have less resources to work with.
I sometimes wonder if having everything free is one of the
problems. Charge content and service consumers by the byte and people will surely
prioritise. It is hard to miss the irony in publishing a rant on why content
should be charged, on a free to create/free to consume blog. Maybe these
thoughts are not worthy of public consumption. If they are, people may not mind
paying for it on a paid consumption platform.
