The Atlantic

Why News Organizations Can't Go It Alone

Journalists still expect people to turn to them first to make sense of the world. They shouldn’t.
Source: Yuri Gripas / Reuters

How I tire of journalists asking whether and how technology is bad for society, forever starting with what could go wrong, hunting for blame.

Is technology hurting democracy? No. Can technology help save democracy? No.

These are the wrong questions. We, the people—and we, the media—are hurting democracy. It is in

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop
The Atlantic5 min read
The Strangest Job in the World
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here. The role of first lady couldn’t be stranger. You attain the position almost by accident, simply by virtue of being married to the president

Related Books & Audiobooks