When Everything Is News-Pegged

It was in this time of relative quiet that Hari was able to write his first book of wide acclaim Chasing the Stream a work I discussed in some detail in that aforementioned July columnIn my July 2019 column quotThe Overproduction of Truthquot in addition to my primary point that the endless quantity of news being churned out inevitably comes at the cost of prioritizing quality or what is truly noteworthy I also drew attention to comments Sara Coello then of The Dallas Morning News had offered toamp160Columbia Journalism Review In that 2018 piece Coello was quoted describing how she at times had to write seven original articles per day and how she regularly produced more than a dozen pieces each week Commenting on this then and my assessment remains the same now I asked how a journalist could possibly be putting out informed reporting or commentary with that frenzied of a publication schedule This publication schedule comes about of course due to the fixation that many outlets have on pieces being as quottimelyquot as possibleCharles Krauthammer had sensed the tension between the frequency of writing and the thoughtfulness of the perspective therein when he was first offered his column at The Washington Post which began running in December 1984 He describes this in a 25th anniversary column entitled quotAn Anniversary of Sortsquot in 2009quotWhen Editorial Page Editor Meg Greenfield approached me to do a column for The Post I was somewhat daunted The norm in those days was to write two or three a week hence the old joke that being a columnist is like being married to a nymphomaniac as soon as you39re done you39ve got to do it againquotSo I proposed once a week First I explained because I was enjoying the leisurely life of a magazine writer and with a child on the way I was looking forward to fatherhood Second because I don39t have two ideas a week I barely have one as many of my critics no doubt agreequotThe first objection she dismissed as mere sloth Meg was always a good judge of character The second reason she boughtquotAlthough a few particularly able and specialized commentators such as Jonathan Turley are able to write both perceptively and constantly they are the exception This is not to say that those writers whose commentaries can be best described as quotbloggyquot and frequently miss the mark such as Jennifer Rubin39s would be remedied by a pared down publication schedule alone However the sheer frequency of their being hammered outamp160 often more than once per day certainly does not helpThere are few places more emblematic of that quotstate of maniaquot that Hari describes than Twitter which as I have previously discussed is also the place where many journalists today fritter away hours each day It is perhaps for this reason that Hari stated earlier this summer that he would be quotoff Twitter now until October Until then I am writing reading talking with friends thinking sitting in the sun Have a great summer everyone tweet less read more you39ll feel betterquotWith that said this is not akin to arguing that journalists or writers need to embrace fullscale Wittgensteinian seclusion leave the rest of the world behind and only emerge when they have something truly novel and profound to unleash upon the world In fact engagement with others39 works is often a prerequisite for inspirationBut Hari39s general approach to Twitter would likely also be appreciated by George F Will who in addition to priding himself on never himself having sent a tweet has discussed how quotThe brevity and the instantaneousness and the wide dissemination brings out the very worst in people of which it turns out to be a lotquot At least by the time a twiceweekly column would come around whether his or another39s enough dust would have settled to determine what deserves comment and what can be left to descend into obscurity Being glued to Twitter or having the sort of publication schedule described by Coello however results in considerable ink being spilled on the latter type of topicsIn sum a piece being called quotevergreenquot ie not specifically pegged to a news cycle should not be considered a borderline pejorative in the journalism world To quote the writer David Perell quotI place disproportionate weight on how old an article is If someone sends an article from two days ago I know it39s an impulsive share If someone sends an older article say from before 2011 it39s going to be goodquot In many cases exceptional analysis takes time So as much as it used to be a point of derision perhaps what was often said of Theamp160 Weekly Standard that if one read about a happening in its pages it had already taken place two weeks before ought not have been such a strike against it after allClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160amp160

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When Everything Is News-Pegged

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Erich J. Prince

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