Avoid the Slow Train in a Fast News Era
Avoid the Slow Train in a Fast News Era
Nicholas Berlette/ Unsplash
Top Story: On the Slow Train in a Fast News Cycle
You no doubt heard the news: Trump won the New Hampshire GOP primary.
But the truth is, that isn’t really the news.
Anyone scrolling Twitter these past few days knows the real news.
Trump is very, very vulnerable.
The lackluster support from college-educated white women, mainstream Republicans and independent voters suggest that Trump’s faithful following isn’t just dwindling, it’s looking — even at this early stage — less likely it can realistically hand him a 2024 victory.
Do we know this for sure? No.
Is there a real shift in how folks paying attention to this election on a granular level are thinking about the upcoming general? Yes.
Hate Twitter all you want. But for those who have befriended reliable Twitter messengers (And there are some) the conversations Tuesday night and Wednesday morning were insightful and — for lovers of Democracy— hopeful.
So why are outlets like The New York Times the last to know?
Maybe because while a lot of us — in this rapacious news cycle — were already digging into what used to be a Day 3, 4, and 5 story, The New York Times was stilling hanging out in a Day 1 story, covering New Hampshire like a horse race — one taking place in the 1990s.
On Wednesday, reporters mulled over Haley’s next steps, her money hunts, and her dress — as if any of that matters to the REAL STORY: Will 2024 mark the end of our democracy.
Doing news the old way may be easier and more comfortable for legacy media outlets. But it’s also embarrassing and bad for business.
It’s no surprise that newspaper readership is down, trust in media is at an all-time low, and The Los Angeles Times is laying off workers.
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How to Report Like it’s 2024 — Not the 1990s
Avoid a Day 1 story, when your readers are already on Day 4, thanks to social media and the speedy news cycle.
Add value. Sure you need the who, what, when, and where. But you also need to give readers context. Tell them what the facts really mean to the larger story they care about.
Cultivate sources who can quickly put events into perspective.
Add national and historical background.
Stay focused on the larger story. Whether you are covering the local school board race, a state supreme court ruling or your town hall, efforts to erode away at the truth, democratic norms and personal freedoms are what journalist need to be most vigilant about covering.
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Our Staff
Executive Editor Kyle Spencer
Managing Editor Christen Gall
Our Board of Advisors
Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability
David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy
Lisa Graves, founder and executive director of True North Research
Connor Gibson, founder of Grassrootbeer Investigations
Maurice Cunningham, retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and author of Dark Money and The Politics of School Privatization.
Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College, founder of Faculty First Responders and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe distinguished professor of history and public policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America
Ralph Wilson, founder of the Corporate Genome Project and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
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