ie, people think of news/reporting as existing to serve and inform them. But the business model is about maximizing ad revenue via a viewer-eyeball count by any means necessary. Hence the need to fabricate sensational, immediate, or personal narratives that can feed on themselves. Good for cable talk shows, something of an ant lion trap for everyone else.

Obviously, I should correct myself to say this isn't new, and the business of news has always competed with the service it provided us. What Hearst knew was how to sell a paper; and I'm reminded too of Morrow's bosses in Good Night and Good Luck.