Fox News is basically a terrorist organization. It’s even starting to get banned in several countries around the world. CNN is a more reputable source but even they have hosts, pundits, and various talking heads who share their opinions. Gone are the days of the wholesome 6 pm evening newscast, where facts came first, and ratings were a distant dream.
As such, it’s clear that most people have a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to the news. Aside from the fact that it’s only bad news that ever makes headlines we’ve gotten to the point where there is so much opinion mixed in, so much spin, that it’s hard to find an objective viewpoint. Sadly, in America, the best place to get your news is the BBC.
But what if we changed that? What if we created a news platform that only reported the news and never gave an opinion one way or the other? What if we created a newspaper that didn’t have a slant or an agenda? One that wasn’t owned by a corporation or media mogul. One that wasn’t beholden to advertisers or subscriptions? A totally free decentralized paper, created by and disseminated by a collection of individual journalists, by the people, for the people. Would that work?!
I think it might. We’re already seeing a shift in journalism with power going from editors to the content creators themselves thanks to the rise of newsletters and platforms like Substack that aim to turn creators into stars with their own followings. Throw together a conglomerate of the best reporters of our generation, start a new virtual paper that spans the entire political spectrum, and maybe we’d be on to something. At the very least it can’t be much worse than our current options.
When I was in high school I was actually a big advocate of the opposite approach, preferring to start a newspaper built entirely around editorials and opinion pieces. I called it V.I.P. because not only was it for very important people but it was also driven by “Voices In Print”. My rationale was simple. Facts are too basic. Boring. You can get those elsewhere. The real intrigue comes from hearing analysis. From digging deeper. From finding out what the story really is. I think that approach had merit but it would never work in today’s day and age. Not when everyone has an angle. Not when everyone has an agenda. Not when fake news, echo chambers, and disinformation can swing elections. So now we instead turn to the opposite approach. The basic, boring approach. One that only puts forth facts with no window dressing whatsoever. It may not be sexy. But it also may be the Future of Journalism.
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