O1-Defining News

 The news, a consistent fixture in our society that's influenced our culture from its inception. From public hearings in the 15th century, the first printed newspapers in Germany circa 1605, to our current age of social media and trending topics, the news has been integral to our daily lives. But what is the news? Is it political, entertaining, serious? Well, I think the news can be any information a person would be interested in hearing, regardless of the topic. 

For me, when I wake up, technically the first thing I do is check the news. Whether that be news about the gaming industry, events happening in my community, or when my favorite music artists are dropping an album, all of those topics fall under the news category to me. To some people, those topics aren't “news”, but depending on how invested you are, it totally can be. The term “news” can have a serious or large-scale connotation, but it depends on perspective. If the updates about a certain topic matter to an individual, then it's at least news to them.

But in a day and age where we have more access to news coverage than ever before, whether that be local, national, global, mainstream, or niche, the news has become more overwhelming. We are bombarded by headlines constantly; as soon as you open X, you see multiple trending topics vying for your attention. In an article written by Andy Lee Roth, he discusses the impact social media algorithms have on the news and what gets shared, quote,

“Many Americans are unsure whether Google News, Apple News, or Facebook do their own reporting, further illustrating how the impacts of algorithmic recommendation systems on news are subtle, if not completely invisible, but also consequential to the public’s access to news and information.”

So even when we have more access and autonomy about what news media we consume, we are still beholden to an algorithm that rewards engagement above all else. The algorithm demands engagement; the news has to hold an audience's attention. Gone are the days of feel-good local stories making the main page; these platforms want to keep you scrolling, keep you consuming news even if it's misinformed or dramatized. Tweets containing falsehoods were 70% more likely to be retweeted than truthful tweets; misinformation or “fake news” is so common on X that they recently implemented community notes to combat it, which sometimes contains misinformation! So yes, anything can be news, but what becomes “the news” has greatly shifted over the past decade. What we see is beholden to an algorithm, what the people who own these platforms want us to see. Now more than ever is a good time to step back and discover what news matters to you personally and seek it out on your own accord. Look beyond the trending tab or the first page of The Washington Post and dive deeper into topics that don't get algorithmic approval.