It’s nearly expected these days for upstart news publications to declare, in some form, that news is “broken.” That was the pitch Axios made in 2015, as C.E.O. Jim VandeHei memorably lamented the “crap trap” of lightweight, inconsequential “content” produced as sacrifices to the algorithmic gods. A version of this has been deployed more recently, including by Justin Smith to describe the impetus for starting a new global news operation. Similarly, Grid identified an audience that “wants a deeper, clearer understanding of the world around them, regardless of their political orientation.”
Consider other signs that news is out of favor:
