Why newsrooms should not imitate social media

In 1941, Orson Welles premiered the film Citizen Kane. It tells the story of Charles Foster Kane, a powerful newspaper owner who builds a media empire on sensation, bold headlines, and emotionally charged stories. For Kane, the central question was not whether the news was true, but whether it engaged. The newspaper was meant to be fast, simple, and entertaining.

News in the attention economy

Although today’s media landscape is technologically far more advanced, the underlying logic is strikingly familiar. News no longer competes only with other news, but with the entire attention economy: social media, streaming services, games, entertainment, and the limited mental capacity of human beings. 

The competition is no longer about who provides the best information, but about who can hold our attention the longest.

Competing on the wrong field

Faced with this competition, many news organizations have chosen to imitate social media: faster publishing, shorter formats, sharper angles, and an increasingly intrusive visual expression. The problem is that news media then compete in a field where they are bound to lose. Social media will always be faster, more emotionally charged, and better adapted to the logic of the attention economy. 

The strength of journalism lies elsewhere: in depth, coherence and more time for consumption. In the ability to explain rather than escalate, to place events in context, and to create space for reflection. In a time when all screens are shouting, it is not necessarily those who shout the loudest people need—but those who speak in a quieter voice.

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu warned against this development as early as the 1990s. He argued that journalism risks becoming more concerned with speed, conflict, and dramaturgy than with analysis and understanding. When news adapts to the logic of entertainment, what is slow and complex is pushed aside. What cannot be communicated quickly disappears.

The psychological cost of constant news

This is not only a democratic problem. It is also a mental health problem.

Many people today experience the news stream as invasive. Push notifications ? interrupt everyday life, crises are presented without pauses, and serious events are packaged using the same mechanisms designed to keep us engaged. The result is a mix of anxiety, helplessness, and overstimulation. We know more than before, but do not necessarily feel wiser.

Editorial responsibility for pace and volume

Journalism will always involve interpretation. A journalist selects, sorts, emphasizes, and communicates. Precisely for that reason, newsrooms must also take responsibility for the rhythm of the news cycle. What happens to people when news becomes something we consume continuously, rather than something we orient ourselves by?

Perhaps it is time to ask whether news can be designed with a goal other than maximum attention. With fewer alerts, clearer context, and greater room for explanation rather than escalation. News that provides insight without demanding constant presence. That informs us, but also allows us to put it down.

Citizen Kane reminds us that this is not a new dilemma. What was once a powerful newspaper empire in the film has today become a continuous stream of news in every individual’s pocket.