News Divides Us By Design

The entire news industry is now driven by clicks. Whatever we click on, news sites — and their TV and print accessories — will serve us more. And it turns out that what we click is what inflames us.

It didn’t used to be this way.

Before clicks fed the beast, news was a public service, expected to lose money in the name of keeping us informed. Now that’s all over. News is big business, on both sides. And what’s driving it is what’s making us all miserable: highlight the most blood-boiling content and then make it sound like the worst thing ever and just a symptom of a big bilious pool of misery.

OK, so here are two things to counter all that.

First, here are some good things that get fewer clicks, courtesy of a kind and decent work colleague of mine. Just to remind us that much of what the news doesn’t report is still good.

Second, here’s a website for a new kind of online news site. Rather than throwing red meat at you, Freespoke aims to give you a look at how any given story looks from the left, the right, and the middle. So you have a chance to make up your own mind, rather than having your opinion chosen for you.

I’m working on Freespoke. The idea is to create a space for free speech, where we’re not being pushed further and further from people who happen to have a different opinion.

Hope you like it. If you have a minute, let me know.