Frustration From My Media Consumption
Looking at my media consumption log, I feel shame. I’m a journalism major, but the record clearly shows that I was a passive receiver of news within that 24-hour cycle. Unless I am having a news quiz for any of my journalism class, this media consumption log actually is an accurate reflection.
About half of my media consumption within that 24-hour period came from push alerts from various news apps on my phone. One-third of my media consumption log is recorded as “Google to XXX”. It could be that I saw a news from my push alerts but I googled it on my laptop to read more because laptop sometimes is more convenient; especially, during class periods, I don’t want to use my phone. It also could be that I heard people were talking about stories or topics that I was interested but not familiar with, so then I googled them to learn more.
Passive news consumption, in my view, is a phenomenon that is common among young people. Facebook and Twitter have trending topics and stories. Some of my friends told me that is enough news for them to consume a daily basis. They look at trending stories and click some topics they are interested to read more on social media. A couple of years ago, people followed media account or pages on social media to get news. Now, social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, tailor contents for the audience based on their interests from mass data and deliver them to viewers. Instagram, based on my experience, was a master in this area. Because I mainly use Instagram to get sports news and food reviews. Thus, my Explore section on Instagram is full of suggestions of various posts from sports media and foodie blogger.
After looking through my consumption log, I feel I have become a lazier and spoiled newsreader. But I am not alone. According to New York Times Innovation Report, The New York Times values three elements: discovery, promotion, and connection. The innovation report said nowadays news media should not only produce news but also distribute their work. It seems passive readers like me are the norms. I think news media is not different from any other content provider business and also not different from any other service business. I now believe that journalism is a matter of business while we are holding our ethics and standards. As a journalist, I got disappointed when my detailed and deliberate summaries of Professor Stacy Smith’s Inclusion Report got much fewer views, engagements, and new followers for our Annenberg Media WeChat account than the passing of our mascot Traveler VII got. I read the whole report and broke it down for my audience. I was afraid they don’t like long articles, so I used fewer words and visual formats to tell my summaries. It still doesn’t work. It’s not the only case. This feeling happened several times.
I would be frustrated a year ago, now I wouldn’t because I clearly understood the gap of passion for news between journalists and consumers. It’s same thing as moms trying to mix vegetables and candies. I would like say that instead of thinking my readers need to read my news, we should think our readers will want to read my news. I am managing my own USC knowledge WeChat and a food review blogger. They both are not news media. For WeChat one, I tried hard to think about how to make my readers to share my posts to get more views. For Instagram, I have been experimenting with different ways to let other people find my posts. I think many journalists need to be humble and materialistic a little bit more.
Furthermore, my media consumption log seriously frustrated me because the high-quality journalism doesn’t always live with profitable journalism. There was one New York Times push alert that about a former CIA agent arrested for sharing classified information with the Chinese government. That push alert was a long sentence without any punctuation, involving multiple parties, like FBI, CIA and the Chinese government. I had difficulties understanding this push alert, but I thought it would be an interesting story. I tapped into The New York Times app to read more. Honestly, I felt guilty. I just contributed my audience engagement to New York Times app because its push alert is bad. However, for those straightforward and clear push alerts, I often get the information and move on. It’s the same kind of problem during the Web age that those articles with bombastic titles tend to get high clicks and views. Readers and viewers are not stupid, but they are not smart neither. They understand that they should not consume content with awful quality or extremely low ethics, but not many distinguish the business models of media.
Some public accounts on WeChat, for example, tend to purposefully write sensational and controversial articles. They will use biased and sensational words. Those agree with the article share it, but those who feel angry about the article also share it on their home page (moment page) to criticize the article. It increases the exposure of the article in either way. People who like or hate the article both contribute to increase the views of the article, which is tied to the advertising revenue. Thus, when I am bashing a bad article on WeChat, I like to screenshot the articles and post on my WeChat page. Thus, my friends who want to participate in the discussion will generate less engagement for the post.
The funniest thing is even many people criticize an account’s content so much, but they never unsubscribe the account. An American example? Looking at NowThis facebook page, you will see many conservative bashing every single video they produced.
Honestly, I am a little bit helpless with the issue. It’s a market-driven business. The root of this business is a consumer. Readers, listeners, and readers need to be educated and aware of how their actions are meaningful to the money of the publisher. Consumers changed their habits, then the advertisers will change it, and the publishers will change the quality of media products, in my view.
