Column: News like water

Text: Yvonne Zonderop

I find myself checking the news on my phone quite often. You probably do the same. We know from research that several million Dutch people regularly visit various news apps and websites, such as NU.nl, RTL Nieuws, or NOS.nl. It’s so accessible, tempting, and easy: just a quick way to satisfy your curiosity; a moment of distraction.

The fact that so many of us can stay informed about the news is, of course, a luxury. We can choose from publicly and privately funded channels that compete with one another, each maintaining its own tone, but which also share important news sources. However, not everyone is aware of the latter.

News apps and websites all rely, to a greater or lesser extent, on the ANP, the news agency that provides the basic news coverage in the Netherlands and to which all news media are affiliated. This explains why reports from different news apps or websites still resemble one another: the source material is the same; the presentation differs. The editorial staff may have made an extra phone call or added their own headline to the story. Sometimes the ANP’s exact report is used—though this is rarely mentioned.

I think it’s a shame that news outlets aren’t more transparent about this. Why not? You’d think that mentioning where you get your news from would actually help build public trust. Do they perhaps want to give the impression that they’re doing all that newsgathering themselves? That their journalists are all out on the streets covering events, instead of sitting behind a computer, enriching a stream of posts with an interesting quote, an extra explanation, or a catchy intro? Because that’s the reality in which many online journalists work. They make phone calls, send emails, text, and tweet—all from behind their desks, not on the scene with their noses right in the facts.

Thanks to this method of production, news media can offer the public a constant stream of reports with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of news. We take advantage of this wealth of information every day. But it also subtly influences the way we view the world. Is the news still really news?

In my circle, many people view the news as if it were tap water. It’s always there, it’s free, and it’s taken for granted. News has become like wallpaper in the background; some people don’t even realize anymore that it’s produced by journalists. When people say they think journalism is important, they often mean investigative journalism, because they believe that at least exposes something. As if the constant stream of news we allow to pour over us doesn’t involve implicit choices about what’s worth our attention. Is every sensational statement by a politician truly newsworthy? Who actually decides that? The answer to that question becomes clouded when news apps present themselves as an “all-you-can-eat buffet” whose trays just keep getting refilled, as Volkskrant columnist Frank Heijnen aptly described it.

On top of that, apps often present a wide variety of news as if it were all equally important: Max Verstappen’s victory, a drone attack in Ukraine, controversy over a racist remark by Johan Derksen, famine in Sudan. As a consumer, you have to choose for yourself from this avalanche of news what appeals to you and what you consider important: there’s no hierarchy—you get to set your own priorities. You can also filter out certain topics if you wish. Thanks to personalization, we can decide for ourselves whether we want to stay informed about politics, culture, or sports. In this way, news becomes a personal choice for everyone, rather than a reflection of what we in the Netherlands consider important.

News apps and news websites compete for our attention, just like all providers of information and entertainment. If they don’t keep us engaged, we’ll be on Instagram or TikTok in no time. And so journalists keep it short. News stories contain a single message. There’s often no room for background information or explanation. If a journalist wants to shed light on the other side of the story, that requires a new article—which you, as a news consumer, would have to happen to come across. Counterarguments or opposing viewpoints get squeezed out as a result. This often leads to complaints about news apps. People aren’t angry about what journalists write, but about what they leave out due to lack of space. They then suspect journalists of partiality or bias. As a result, trust in the press continues to decline.

Journalists are aware of this effect. They call it “context collapse.” But what can they do about it as long as both we and they are caught in the grip of ever-shorter attention spans? Who needs to take the initiative to break this cycle?

So the people around me who treat the news like water from the tap are completely wrong. We should actually be talking about the news much more often. And not about what’s happening in the world, but about how it’s presented, how we consume it, and what the consequences are for all of us.

Yvonne Zonderop is chair of the supervisory board of the Democracy and Media Foundation. She is a former journalist and served, among other roles, as deputy editor-in-chief of *de Volkskrant*.