Cover Me

Taylor Lorenz in WaPo (Gift Article): Who won the Depp-Heard trial? Content creators that went all-in. “The trial offered a potential glimpse into our future media ecosystem, where content creators serve as the personalities breaking news to an increasing number of viewers — and, in turn, define the online narrative around major events. Those creators can also bring in major personal profit in the process. In this new landscape, every big news event becomes an opportunity to amass followers, money and clout. And the Depp-Heard trial showed how the creator-driven news ecosystem can influence public opinion based on platform incentives.” A couple quick takes: First, the Heard-Depp trial is no ordinary news story. Trust me, covering hard news is not a good way to amass “an increasing number of viewers.” Second, the bigger issue is that journalists are part of the social media ecosystem and too often have their coverage (including deciding what to cover in the first place) dictated or skewed by what the masses are obsessed with.