Turning Gatekeepers into Goalkeepers

Historically, news organizations (the mainstream media) served as gatekeepers. Major media institutions set the nation’s agenda—first through newspapers, then radio echoing the public discourse, and finally television. In the era of three major networks, television provided what amounted to a national consensus on the nightly news.

All of that has changed. The concept of news has been transformed into a kind of “choose your own adventure” story through the proliferation of angertainment media. It produces vast quantities of news-like content. Angertainment, Inc. operates in an entirely different way from journalists.

Real journalism now plays two critical roles. It still functions in a gatekeeper mode, identifying important news and calling to the public’s attention. It separates the wheat from the chaff. But now, it’s also the only reliable fact checker. It’s an angertainment barrier of a sort; it reports what the angertainers are saying and usually does a fairly good job of separating truth from lies.

How Traditional Journalism Worked

News organizations have traditionally been organized around “beats.” Going back to the early days of newspapers in the US, reporters were assigned to cover City Hall, the statehouse, or the local baseball team—the reporter was sent to develop expertise. As a result, they developed deep knowledge. They got to know the people involved and developed expertise in the issues. When a reporter caught a lead on a story, they could call up someone they already knew, find out more, find other contacts, and generally dive into the who, what, where, when—and maybe most importantly—why of what was going on.

When a reporter filed a story, editors would frequently call them in and grill them on the facts. They might ask them to do additional reporting. Editors would develop a broad understanding of the story before weighing in on the editorial pages. In real news organizations, good reporting drives every aspect of the business.

Good news coverage also encourages editors to see what other news organizations are doing. One day you may see a story in the Wall Street Journal. Two days later, reporters from the Times and NPR may be filing reports on the same topic. Is this a flaw? Herd mentality? No. It is the competitive makeup of the news business, where every top-flight news editor wants to be first with a story—or if not first, then the best. And all of that is directed in service to the readers, listeners, and viewers.

The news business in the United States is, at its heart and soul, a public service. Reporters, editors, publishers—everyone involved in the news business wants to get the facts and get them right.

The Angertainment Model

Angertainment pays a lot of attention to real journalism. Angertainment producers and creators view and read what news organizations are reporting. In the early days of Fox News, they might have actually sent reporters out to cover a story. Today, their actual news-gathering efforts have dwindled. Instead, they rely on news services along with a cadre of experts, contributors, and influencers. The angertainment media rely on real news reports as a starting point for content creation as well. Then they go to their sources—politicians, pundits, and talking heads—and generate content designed to appeal to their audiences.

In some instances, they’ll look for and find outrage and anger. At other times, they’ll find diversions, better experts, explanations. Overall, they will tailor this content to fit the preconceived ideas and sensibilities of their core audiences.

What they will not do is invest the time, reporting energy, and money required to verify the reports. Under the broad protection of the First Amendment, they will put together content that appeals to their audiences. Verification and accuracy are entirely optional.

In fact, truth is somewhat problematic in the angertainment industry. Libel law is very specific—it requires someone to know the truth and then, knowingly, say something that is false. If, within the newsroom, you really don’t have any idea what the truth is, you can’t be sued for libel.

When it’s time for expressing opinions, niceties such as reporting, verification, and truth are entirely nonessential. Angertainment “interprets” the news for its audience. It is designed to make them comfortable—to help them know that they are right, however they are feeling. Angertainment has a responsibility to “debunk” the truth being reported by real news organizations.

When angertainment engages in original reporting, it involves unearthing salacious and more tantalizing content. Reporters and producers on the angertainment beat are looking for embarrassing information. They are hoping for leaks. If there is a disgruntled employee with some negative information to offer, they can find very receptive people to listen to them. And for genuinely original reporting, angertainment operators try to go undercover to attempt to get recordings of the enemy saying or doing something wrong.