> It's not official news unless it supports an establishment narrative.
You're so close that's it's annoying that at the last second you veered off into right field. There are two different things that you're confusing. There's capital-N news which is the purview of capital-J journalists; they create a verified bone dry account of events and statements made by those involved which is more historical record than something you might read with your morning coffee. You have always been able to find troves of this style of news but it's in the archives of news sites, not on the front page.
Then there's storytelling which is what people actually want. Someone takes all the news together and, adds some context both historical and cultural, and some basic production value to create a cohesive narrative. This is a good thing! We want this because it shows us how individual events are connected and the bigger picture.
It's the difference between reading police reports and local news articles and listening to a true crime podcasts -- the latter is waaaaaay more popular.
Confused, surely. To me that conflates contrived narrative with honesty. Reinforcing an overarching cohesive narrative comes at the expense of a true and coherrent one. The difference is that cohesion is necessarily consonant, where coherrence accepts dissonance in exchange for greater fidelity, or truth, the craft of actual reporting.
People (us) want what we can use, and sometimes indeed that's just a sense of actual shared community experience, but usually, it's more concrete. Like should I move my savings into a certain sector, my odds on finding a better job, should I sell my house now or wait, do I need to move to another state to get my kids a proper education, etc. This is what people use real reporting for. Journalists are not in posession of a bigger picture, and the ones who think they are believe so at the expense of their reporting.
Capital-M Media has become the inferior good, since as soon as people have alternatives, they switch away from it.
You're so close that's it's annoying that at the last second you veered off into right field. There are two different things that you're confusing. There's capital-N news which is the purview of capital-J journalists; they create a verified bone dry account of events and statements made by those involved which is more historical record than something you might read with your morning coffee. You have always been able to find troves of this style of news but it's in the archives of news sites, not on the front page.
Then there's storytelling which is what people actually want. Someone takes all the news together and, adds some context both historical and cultural, and some basic production value to create a cohesive narrative. This is a good thing! We want this because it shows us how individual events are connected and the bigger picture.
It's the difference between reading police reports and local news articles and listening to a true crime podcasts -- the latter is waaaaaay more popular.