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Comment by Y_Y | Hacker News Reader

One solution would be journalistic outlets that don't discard news stories after a day or two. Imagine news stories had a "follow up after a month" button! But it seems like "Even Though X Promised To Do Y By Now, They Still Haven't" isn't the right kind of headline. I don't know how news websites choose what stories to write and feature, but it seems absurd and getting worse. BBC in particular seems to be picking content with a strategy that has vanishingly little to do with what's of geopolitical importance or cultural interest.

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Do you have any examples of news outlets doing this? I find it happens frequently with my local media (neighborhood blog) but gets less common at the city level. I would like to support any outlet that does this.

I keep a file of stories to check back in on every now and then. Mostly tech "breakthrough" stories to see if they ever resulted in anything. Most often I find no followup stories whatsoever. If it's something I'm really interested in, I'll sometimes do my own research down the line, but that's rare.

The main problem is there's barely a business model for superficial journalism. It's non-existent for in-depth followup work.

You might find this an interesting read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

It discusses the intersection of profit motive and story selection, from before the public internet was even a thing. The form changes, but the incentive structures remain the same, and if anything intensify.

Imagine if you could chip in a bit of money to pay for a follow-up article. This type of reporting isn't cheap.

A kickstarter type model? Indie-journo?

I mean more integral to the site itself, as in a portion of your subscription fee could go towards it somehow.

It may just encourage clickbait journalism of the worst form, encouraging paparazzi to get even more aggressive.

> I don't know how news websites choose what stories to write and feature, but it seems absurd and getting worse.

That’s what happens when your business model is contingent upon capturing maximum eyeballs per character. It seems like each story is a subtle plug for some product or service these days.

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