If Google is the god of information in the internet age, the closest thing we had in the old economy, with maybe the exception of the evening news, is the New York Times. Its longtime motto—“All the News That’s Fit to Print”—says what the paper aspires to. Every day it renders judgment on what’s important, on what we should know. Of course, the Times has its prejudices—every human institution does. But Times journalists pride themselves on keeping these judgments (somewhat) in check. They see themselves upholding progressive Western values—and steer us away from the news that’s not fit to
If Google is the god of information in the internet age, the closest thing we had in the old economy, with maybe the exception of the evening news, is the New York Times. Its longtime motto—“All the News That’s Fit to Print”—says what the paper aspires to. Every day it renders judgment on what’s important, on what we should know. Of course, the Times has its prejudices—every human institution does. But Times journalists pride themselves on keeping these judgments (somewhat) in check. They see themselves upholding progressive Western values—and steer us away from the news that’s not fit to print, whether porno or propaganda or advertising disguising itself as news. The editors at the Times curate our view of the world we inhabit. When Times editors choose the stories for their front page, they set the agenda for TV and radio news, for the whole mainstream view of the world. The stories circulate across the Old World (40 percent of the leaders of nations receive some version of the New York Times each morning) and the New (Facebook and Twitter). Journalism is hard, sometimes dangerous, work that pursues truth vs. just the commercial. The New York Times does it better than any media firm in the world. However, increasingly, the paper is not good at extracting value from the skills and risk taking demonstrated in the newsroom. In fact, Google and Facebook do a better job extracting value from Times journalists than the management of the Times. I believe if the Times had refuse...
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