WHAT IS NEWS?

The editor of The Christian Science Monitor, recalling his first day in Journalism 101, confirmed that he will never forget the moment when a white-haired professor stalked among the desks and then asked the question calibrated to change the students’ lives, delivered with perfect pitch and timbre: ”Who decides what is news?”

Everyone gave all manner of foolish answers until the professor cleaved the classroom like a sword stroke: “You do.” 

The statement was meant to impress, intimidate, and awe. The students were the gatekeepers. The responsibility seemed a burden and a solemn oath. Today, it is also a fallacy. In the internet era, journalists like Sappenfield don’t control the news. You do. 

You now have more choices and more voices competing for your attention—some good , some not so good. We now know which article you click n. We still play an important role, but all this demands that we cater more to you. 

That’s not always bad, Sappenfield adds, but it means  that journalists have to write things that buyers will read or the journalists will soon be unemployed, as many of them now are. Sappenfield appreciates the challenges they face—an acute and acutely reckless case of what is happening across the news industry. Yet we we keep reading and listening.