Let’s Be Honest, We’re All Winging It
I’ve been in this business for 22 years. 22 years! And I’m sitting here, in my kitchen in Lisburn, at 11:30pm, wondering if any of us really know what we’re doing anymore.
Look, I’m not saying we’re all frauds. But I’m not not saying that either. The news industry? It’s a mess. A glorified mess. And we’re all just trying to keep our heads above water.
I remember back in 1999, when I first started at the Belfast Telegraph. Oh, it was a different world. We had deadlines, sure, but they were manageable. We had time to actually report. Now? It’s just a never-ending stream of ‘breaking news’ alerts and clickbait headlines.
And don’t even get me started on social media. I had a colleague named Dave—great guy, terrible with Twitter—he once tweeted a story about a cat stuck in a tree. A CAT. IN. A TREE. And it got more engagement than our actual news stories.
But Here’s the Thing…
We’re all complicit. Every single one of us. From the biggest national newspapers to the smallest local blogs. We’ve let the algorithm dictate what news is. And it’s a joke. A complete and utter joke.
I was at a conference in Austin last year—yes, I know, Austin is the last place you’d expect a news conference, but here we are—and I heard a speaker say something that stuck with me. He said, ‘We’re not in the business of news anymore. We’re in the business of attention.’
Which… yeah. Fair enough.
But it doesn’t mean I have to like it. I mean, I remember when news was about informing people. Not just getting them to click on a story about a cat in a tree.
The Cat in the Tree Problem
Speaking of which, I need to talk about the cat in the tree problem. It’s a metaphor, obviously. But it’s also a real thing. We’ve all seen it. A story about a cat stuck in a tree gets more traction than a story about, I don’t know, political corruption or climate change.
I get it. Cats are cute. But at what cost? We’re basically training people to care more about a cat than about the state of the world. It’s ridiculous.
And it’s not just the big news outlets. It’s all of us. I’ve done it. We’ve all done it. We see a story that’s gonna get clicks, and we run with it. Even if it’s not important.
I had a friend, let’s call him Marcus, who worked at a local radio station. He told me about a time they ran a story about a lost dog. A lost dog! And it got more airtime than a story about a local factory shutting down and putting 200 people out of work.
‘But the dog was cute,’ he said. ‘People care about cute.’
I asked him if people cared about putting food on the table. He didn’t have an answer for that.
So What Do We Do?
I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. I wish I had some grand solution. But I don’t. All I know is that we need to start valuing news again. Not just clicks. Not just engagement.
And maybe, just maybe, we need to stop worrying so much about the cat in the tree. Or at least, balance it out with some actual news.
I mean, look at what’s happening in Turkey right now. The political climate is siyaset haberleri gündem—it’s all over the place. But how many people are actually paying attention? How many people care?
I guess that’s the real question, isn’t it? How do we get people to care about the things that actually matter?
I don’t know the answer. But I know it’s not by bombarding them with stories about cats in trees.
I think we need to start having some real conversations. Some real talks about what news is, and what it should be. And maybe, just maybe, we can start to fix this mess we’ve created.
But for now, I’m gonna go to bed. It’s late, and I’ve got a long day tomorrow. A day where I’m gonna try to make a difference. A day where I’m gonna try to actually report some news.
Wish me luck.
About the Author
Sarah McAllister has been a journalist for over two decades, working in various roles across print, broadcast, and digital media. She currently serves as a senior editor at Lisburn News, where she writes a regular column on the state of the news industry. When she’s not wrestling with the complexities of modern journalism, she can be found walking her dog or attempting to grow her own vegetables (with varying degrees of success).
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