The Flipside. Revisited.

The end is the beginning.

The conclusion of my previous newsletter reminded readers that you, and you alone, control the dial on the media consumption meter.

After reading a few seemingly unrelated reader comments from the original Flipside post, a roadmap for navigating the many branches of "the news" was hiding in plain sight. I've interwoven three reader comments that might help eclipse partisan divides harbored in group identities associated with news dogma.

One: Personalize.

"Be Your Own Editor" is the key takeaway of Rick Surkamer's comment. His entire comment can be found at the bottom of my previous newsletter.

Two: Customize.

"The Weekend FT is a must for me, although I first turn to Jancis Robinson, Janan Ganesh, then Gillian Tett, then Simon Kuper," Ross McPherson said in an email in response to my first reads which I identified as Lunch with the FT and Simon Kuper.

Three: Amplify.

"This needs to be amplified!" said Paul Danison. His full comment also can be found at the bottom of the original Flipside newsletter.

In a nutshell, here's the reading map: Pick your preferred news brand. Find the writers and features that satisfy your personal interests. And, share the information that resonates with you along with a short note that triggers a conversation. Most news sites have audio versions of the stories you select if that is your preferred consumption method.

A warning: You are likely to face a psychological tug-of-war between "belonging" and "control." Aaron Zitner reports in the August 26-27, 2023 WSJ Weekend edition that decades of social science research shows that our need for collective belonging is forceful enough to affect how we view facts and how we vote. The headline to the Page 1 story: Group Identity Eclipses Policy As A Driver of Partisan Divides.

Becoming your own editor is an act of thinking independently and an exercise in developing a personal point of view by personalizing your news consumption. Customizing who and what you read is the fun part. When Ross McPherson said he first turned to Jancis Robinson, it told me something I didn't know about Ross. He is a serious wine aficionado. I prefer tequila and bourbon so I wouldn't naturally turn to Jancis' highly acclaimed wine coverage. Amplifying your reaction to news coverage puts you in control of giving your stamp of approval - or not.

I suffer from FOMO if I don't use the same three-step method I'm encouraging you to consider. The transition acronym is intentional. It brings us to the next topic.

Bartleby says acronyms and slang can help build cultures and improve efficiency.

In a world that uses every available impetus, human and artificial, to increase speed and efficiency, acronyms are the perfect compliment. They express a mood and a thought without ever saying a word.

It's too bad humans can transform into acronyms.

In the original Flipside newsletter, I stopped short of sharing what I like about The Economist. These are the three things that I like most about the venerable newsmagazine:

• It was founded in 1834 as a weekly newspaper. It is still referred to as a newspaper in its newsroom nearly 190 years later.
• It has no bylines, which blunts are charges of journalistic bias against a reporter or a columnist. While ALL writers at The Economist are anonymous, its columnists are distinguishable by pseudonyms.
• Bartleby is my favorite. The Economist introduced Bartleby in 2018 as its new columnist on management and work. How prescient was that given the generational friction today between RTO and WFH? The column takes its name from a character in a Herman Melville short story. Bartleby was a scrivener, a dying art nowadays. When he was hired, he worked extremely hard at his job. But one day, when asked to perform a task, Bartleby replied: "I prefer not to." Sound familiar?

Bartleby's premise that acronyms and slang help build cultures addresses the communication gap that exists within the generation gap. In Praise of Jargon, which appeared in The Economist's June 17, 2023 issue, concludes with "...the fact that jargon emerges spontaneously and repeatedly suggests it has merits. If you think all jargon is worthless, it may be time to circle back."

I assume everyone is familiar with "OK, Boomer" jargon. Most readers are likely familiar with "Funemployment."

You might not be as familiar with often used acronyms by Gen Y and Gen Z. My current favorite is IYKYK.

Or, with the acronyms Deion Sanders is using as he revolutionizes college football at the University of Colorado. Instead of C for Captain and A for Alternative Captain, Coach Prime has inserted L and D for Leader and Dawg.

Or, with the acronyms Elon Musk is using as personal proxies, the names of two of his businesses and the first names of two of his children. X and Y.

If you want to change the world, start by becoming independently well-informed.

After all, If You Know You Know.

I want to clean up an impression I may have left in the original Flipside newsletter. I made an overarching characterization that all media is biased based on Pew Research and Gallup surveys that reflect all-time lows in trust in media. I believe that is true. But I've come to the conclusion that the lack of trust is in media institutions, not in journalists.