JOURNALISM HAS A FUNCTION

In the age of clickbait and advertorials, community service still matters more than numbers and sales

Morgan McCarraher

The Advocate

Writing—especially in the age of constant content—can begin to feel like output for the sake of output. Articles are produced, posted, shared, scrolled past, replaced. The speed creates an illusion of importance. Movement becomes mistaken for meaning. But journalism was never meant to be performance. 

We don’t write to write. We write to inform and to move. We write to give someone a voice. We write so the reader has someone willing to help them think and feel about the world they live in. That distinction matters. 

Performance aims for reaction. Responsibility aims for understanding. Performance measures success by volume—clicks, comments, shares. Responsibility measures success by clarity: Did the reader leave more informed than when they arrived? Did the reporting illuminate something that was previously obscured? 

The difference may seem subtle, but it reshapes the entire purpose of the work. 

When journalism drifts toward performance, it begins to favor immediacy over accuracy and certainty over nuance. Complex issues are flattened into digestible arguments. Headlines are sharpened not for precision but for impact. The result may generate attention, but attention alone does not build informed communities. 

Responsibility, by contrast, is slower. It requires verification. It requires context. It requires the uncomfortable discipline of asking not just “Is this interesting?” but “Is this fair?” and “Is this true?” Journalism grounded in responsibility does not avoid emotion, but it does not manufacture it either. It recognizes that facts and feeling are not enemies; they are partners. Information without humanity becomes sterile. Humanity without information becomes chaos. 

To write responsibly is to accept that words have consequences. Reporting shapes perception. Perception shapes conversation. Conversation shapes decision-making. In local contexts especially, those decisions are not abstract—they affect classrooms, budgets, safety and opportunity. The work carries weight whether we acknowledge it or not. 

Giving someone a voice is not the same as amplifying the loudest opinion. It means paying attention to perspectives that might otherwise be overlooked. It means asking questions that allow complexity to surface rather than collapse. It means understanding that silence can be just as telling as outrage. 

There is also a responsibility to the reader. Journalism is not meant to dictate conclusions; it is meant to equip people with enough clarity to form their own. That requires trust. Trust grows when reporting is consistent, transparent and accountable. It weakens when information feels selective or sensationalized. 

This does not mean journalism must be dry or detached. To inform and to move are not opposing goals. A story can be rigorously reported and still resonate emotionally. In fact, the most powerful journalism often does both. It tells the truth carefully and lets that truth do the work. 

In an environment saturated with commentary, opinion and instant reaction, responsible journalism may not always be the loudest voice in the room. But volume is not the same as value. The role of a paper—especially a local one—is not to compete in noise. It is to provide clarity. 

Writing, then, becomes more than expression. It becomes stewardship. Each article contributes to how a community understands itself. Each story either strengthens or weakens the shared foundation of information that civic life depends on. 

Journalism is not a stage. It is a public trust. And trust, once lost, is difficult to rebuild. The work, at its core, is simple and demanding at the same time: tell the truth carefully, give voice responsibly and leave the reader better equipped to understand the world around them. That is not performance. That is duty. 

If writing becomes performance, it may win attention. If it remains responsibility, it earns trust. Only one of those sustains a community.