We’ve Got a Problem, Folks
Look, I’ve been in this game for over 20 years. I started back in ’99, fresh out of uni, thinking I was gonna save the world one story at a time. Ha! That was so naive.
I remember sitting in the newsroom of the Liverpool Echo back then, surrounded by the hum of printers and the clatter of keyboards. It was chaotic, but it was alive. And honestly? It was better than it is now.
But let’s not get all nostalgic here. The news was never perfect. It was always biased, always flawed. But it was ours. And now? Now it’s a mess. A completley different kind of mess than it was back then, but a mess nonetheless.
Social Media: The Great Equalizer?
I was having coffee with an old friend last Tuesday—let’s call him Marcus—over at that little place on 5th. He’s a journalist too, been in the game about as long as I have. We were talking about how social media has changed everything.
“It’s democratized news,” he said, stirring his latte like he was stirring up trouble. “Anyone can be a journalist now.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, and anyone can be a surgeon if you give them a scalpel and a YouTube tutorial.”
He laughed, but I was serious. The problem isn’t that anyone can report the news. The problem is that no one is holding them accountable. And that’s a big, big issue.
I mean, think about it. Back in the day, if you wanted to break a story, you had to go through a gatekeeper. An editor, a producer, someone who knew what they were doing. Now? Now you just tweet it. And suddenly, it’s out there, spreading like wildfire, whether it’s true or not.
And don’t even get me started on algorithms. They’re designed to keep us engaged, not informed. So they push the most sensational, the most outrageous, the most clickable content to the top. And we eat it up like it’s candy. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Fake News: The Boogeyman of Our Time
I was at a conference in Austin about three months ago. A colleague named Dave stood up and said, “Fake news is the biggest threat to journalism today.”
I raised my hand and said, “With all due respect, Dave, that’s a load of crap.”
He looked at me like I’d just kicked his puppy. “Excuse me?”
“Look,” I said, “fake news is a problem, sure. But it’s not the problem. It’s a symptom of a much bigger issue. The real problem is that we’ve lost the public’s trust. And we did that to ourselves.”
I remember the look on his face. It was like I’d just told him Santa wasn’t real. But it’s true. We’ve spent years chasing ratings, chasing clicks, chasing whatever will keep us afloat. And in the process, we’ve sacrificed our integrity.
And now, when someone says “fake news,” it’s not just about outright lies. It’s about any news that doesn’t fit a certain narrative. It’s about any story that makes people uncomfortable. And that’s a dangerous road to go down.
But There’s Hope
Now, I’m not saying it’s all doom and gloom. There are still good people out there, doing good work. People who are committed to telling the truth, no matter what.
I was talking to a friend of mine last night—she’s a reporter for the Liverpool Daily. She told me about a story she’s working on. It’s about how smart home features property value in the area. It’s a great story, really interesting. But she’s having a hard time finding sources who aren’t just trying to sell something.
“It’s frustrating,” she said. “But I’m not gonna give up. I’m gonna find the truth, even if it takes me 36 hours.”
And that’s what journalism is all about. It’s about committment. It’s about determing what’s true, no matter how hard it is. It’s about telling the stories that need to be told, even when no one else wants to hear them.
So yeah, the news is broken. But it’s not beyond repair. We just need to remember why we got into this business in the first place. We need to remember that our job is to inform, not to entertain. And we need to remember that the truth matters.
And maybe, just maybe, we can start to earn back the public’s trust.
But honestly? I’m not holding my breath.
Anyway, that’s enough from me. I’m gonna go have a drink. Maybe two.
About the Author: Sarah Jenkins has been a senior editor for over 20 years. She’s worked for major publications and has seen the industry evolve—sometimes for the better, sometimes not. She’s opinionated, passionate, and not afraid to call out BS when she sees it. When she’s not editing, she’s probably complaining about the state of the world over a pint of Guinness.
