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Comment by raidicy | Hacker News Reader

This event and the NY Post shaming a sex worker are painting a funny picture of news outlets in my head. Where once it seemed drama and other random internet bs wouldn't even interest a paper, now I see tweets and viral oddities more regularly. Is this purely a result of click-bait/shock news pulling in more readers?

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Quoting random tweets from the public as opinion in news articles (from arson to zebra rearing) has crept in to all news outlets. "Over the garden fence" reporting.

Fear is winning.

All social media and news these days are machines designed to manufacture outrage.

I would argue that paid news organizations that still maintain a paying subscribership, still do have high-quality reporting.

The Wall Street Journal and The Economist are two I use regularly.

it's the natural progression of "someone's wrong on the internet" syndrome (https://xkcd.com/386/) as more and more people use and care about what happens on the internet.

I'd also guess the ratio of effort to page views is especially high with these sorts of stories. the outrage is already happening on twitter/fb/whatever. all you have to do is take some screenshots, summarize them, and maybe add a generic blurb about the greater context. you already know there's an audience, so there's very little risk involved.

News compete for attention in a free marketplace.

Reason and NY Post are both right leaning newspapers. Reason doesn't like racial equity free speech and NYP doesn't think sex work is work. Both are actually practicing cancel culture for those articles.. the irony is delicious

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