Look, I’m Gonna Say It
I’ve been in this game for 22 years. That’s right, I started back when people still called it ‘journalism’ to your face. I’ve seen alot change, but one thing’s stayed the same: we’re all just winging it. That’s the dirty little secret of the news industry.
I remember back in ’03, at a conference in Austin, this guy—let’s call him Marcus—stood up and said, ‘We’re not in the news business, we’re in the storytelling business.’ We all laughed. But he was right. And that’s both the beauty and the tragedy of what we do.
Take last Tuesday, for example. I was at the office, and this intern—kid’s name is Dave—comes up to me and says, ‘Mr. Thompson, how do you know what’s news?’ I looked at him, and I said, ‘Dave, we don’t. We just kinda… make it up.’
But Here’s the Thing
We’re not evil masterminds pulling strings. We’re just people. People who make mistakes. People who have biases. People who sometimes have to file by 11:30pm and just need to get something—anything—on the page.
I mean, take my friend Lisa. She’s a great reporter, but last month she filed a story about a ‘massive’ protest. There were, like, 214 people there. But she needed to hit her word count, so she made it sound like the French Revolution. And her editor let it slide because, hey, ‘massive’ sells papers.
And don’t even get me started on the aquisition of our local paper by that hedge fund. They came in, fired half the staff, and said, ‘You’ll just have to do more with less.’ Which, honestly, is like telling a baker to make more bread with less flour. It’s just… yeah.
But What Can You Do?
Well, for starters, you can stop treating us like oracles. We’re not. We’re just folks trying to make a living. And sometimes, we get it wrong. Sometimes, we let our biases show. Sometimes, we just don’t have time to fact-check everything.
And look, I’m not saying you should trust everything you read. But maybe, just maybe, give us a break. We’re not out to get you. We’re just trying to make sense of this crazy world, same as you.
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But Enough About Me
I could go on, but I won’t. I’ve said my piece. I’ve ranted, I’ve raved, I’ve probably said too much. But that’s okay. Because at the end of the day, that’s what we do. We talk, we write, we publish, we move on.
And if you’re a reporter reading this? Hey, keep doing your best. Keep trying to get it right. And for the love of god, proofread your work. Committment to accuracy is all we’ve got.
And if you’re a reader? Keep questioning. Keep pushing. Keep holding us accountable. Because that’s the only way we’re gonna get better.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a deadline to meet. And by meet, I mean panic about for the next 36 hours.
About the Author: John Thompson has been a senior editor at various publications for over two decades. He’s seen the industry evolve, devolve, and somehow survive. He’s not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but he’s gonna keep writing about it anyway. When he’s not editing, he’s probably complaining about the news industry on Twitter.
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