A Journalist’s Rant
We deserve to be paid, too
It’s frustrating to see folks on social media bemoaning the fact that not every story they see can be read for free. The next time you want to complain about it, remember — that story you want to read was written by a human being, as well as being edited, and hopefully fact-checked, by other human beings.
Real news isn’t being produced by AI, because AI cannot write. It cannot create. It cannot analyze complex human behavior and produce coherent commentary on that behavior. Only human beings can do that.
If you’re being asked to pay to read news on the internet, that likely means it’s worth paying for, whether it’s Scientific American or The Washington Post or The Atlantic or Sports Illustrated or The Wall Street Journal. Always keep in mind that “free” news on the internet is being paid for by someone, even if it isn’t you. Cable channels like CNN can afford to put out written news as well as television news, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the television side of the business that pays the writers’ salaries for CNN’s websites.
Truly “free” news is far more likely to be watered down, shallow crap that’s non-fact-checked and makes its money with clickbait headlines and suspect advertising. This is the actual “fake news” that’s spreading dangerous misinformation and causing division…
