Journalism Quote by Doree Shafrir
““Every so often she’d see a reporter complaining on Twitter about how far the quality of journalism had tumbled, thanks to the internet, and that journalists with real skills and experience who knew how to write original stories were getting shoved aside in favor of young people who leeched off the hard work of these allegedly hardworking journalists, and it was all because their greedy overlords were obsessed with clicks and traffic—again, at the expense of “real” journalists. Aggregation had become a dirty word, and the people who suffered were the readers, who were now faced with piles of online news dreck, according to this line of thinking, and every story was the same, and no one checked sources, and eventually everyone was just going to die under a pile of clickbait, which was the dirtiest word of all.””
About This Quote
Source Article: The Atlantic, “The Trouble With Clickbait” by Doree Shafrir, 2018
The quote laments that the internet’s focus on clicks devalues skilled journalism, leading to homogenized, low‑quality content that harms readers and undermines truth.
In simple terms: Click‑driven media cheapens journalism and misleads audiences.
Key Takeaway
Demand higher standards and support skilled journalists.
Themes
media criticism
journalism
digital culture
information overload
Mood
frustrated
concerned
critical
Type
analytical
reflective
critical
When to use this quote
- newsrooms
- social media platforms
- advertising agencies
- reader habits
Key Concepts
clickbait economics
media ethics
quality vs quantity
authorial integrity
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we balance speed with accuracy?
- What incentives could reward depth over clicks?
A Different Perspective
The internet also democratizes voices and can amplify under‑represented stories, which the quote overlooks.
