Yglesias looks at the role the audience plays in driving negative news stories. I would agree that people seem to want and yet hate the conflict they get, especially from cable news nets. This tends to focus news organizations towards conflict driven stories. In Yglesias' example, CNN is not-stop Nashville shooting, because the gun debate gets people fired up. Yet more kids this week have probably died on opioid overdoses, but there's no "conflict" there. The opioid epidemic is crushingly sad, but if there was a solution we could argue over, that argument would drive more coverage.
Which is why I don't watch cable news.
I do think he lets journalists - especially editors - off the hook for their role in driving clickbait headlines. In the Very Online Discourse, people will get outraged by a shared story with a horrible headline. If you actually read the story, it's not really saying what the headline suggests. Now, this is largely an audience problem, too. The editor no one will read a story titled "Worthy Canadian Policy Considered" but they will read "Trudeau Attacks Biden For Immigration Policy," even if Trudeau didn't attack Biden at all, but simply disagreed on part of the asylum process.
All of this is driven by our move online. While travelling last week (was it last week, Jesus), I stayed at Irish hotels who often provide old school newspapers made of actual paper. It dramatically changed how I read the news. Headlines, scan first graph, second graph, continue or stop. Not having to physically click on a link and let it load, meant I got a much broader exposure to the stories in the Irish Times or The Guardian.
Of course, we can't go back, but as an old man, I would like to yell at Social Media to get off my lawn.
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