Slow news is good news Traditional media is past its prime. Lucy Sarret explores the slow and steady alternative to the 24-hour news cycle

The fast-paced world of news reporting has become not only unsustainable for audiences, but also for journalists.

According to Jennifer Rauch, author of Slow News: Why Slow is Satisfying, Sustainable, and Smart, it has become increasingly diffcult to cope with.

“For a lot of journalists, the fast pace of newsrooms leads to burnout. And a lot of journalists who turn to slow news just can’t keep up with that pace, and so more and more of them are looking to do less quantity, but more quality.”

Audiences are also overwhelmed with the constant news cycle. Reuters Institute 2022’s Digital News Report found that 46 per cent of people often or sometimes avoided the news, almost twice as many as seen in 2016, with many citing the reason behind this choice was that the news lowered their mood.

In light of this news fatigue, exacerbated by the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, more people are turning to slow news alternatives.

But how has consumer behaviour shifted in favour of this model? And how relevant can the traditional media cycle claim to be nowadays?

Lynn Anderson Clarke, CEO and cofounder of The Know, a slow journalism newsletter, sees this play out with her own audience: “We often hear from our readers that people had turned off from the news, which was very surprising. After the pandemic, people needed time to refect on how it’s changed our world, and a lot of us felt the need to slow down the way in which we interacted with the media.”

“Every day, we looked at the death reports and the growing numbers, which is not good for anyone’s mental health. I understand why people are doing this, it makes total sense. I think we can be the solution.”

Traditional news cycles have created systemic issues. Having worked for American media giant NBC for almost 10 years, Clarke admits that the problems become apparent when you are a cog in a big machine.

“The news and media industry’s business model is based on clicks. And you get clicks by telling people what they want to hear. I think the news model is broken, because it’s an economy of attention,” she says.

Since covid, news coverage and its reception has evolved greatly. While people are still tied to this ‘economy of attention’, with content offered on every screen they look at, they are also tired of constant reporting and speculating what might happen next in world events.

Robert Orchard, co-founder and editor

of Delayed Gratifcation, a quarterly slow journalism magazine which defnes itself as “proud to be the last on breaking news”, says: “We’re obsessed with getting everything immediately, because we’ve been conditioned by social media, our phone, traditional media, etc. But there’s space for something else; [our magazine] doesn’t tell you what’s happening right now, we wait and take our time and look back to analyse.”

The rise of social media has made audiences more likely to use these platforms as their main source of news. According to WaveMaker Global, 39 per cent of 18-24 year-olds admit that they already choose these sites over traditional media outlets.

This is a key shift in consumer behaviour, as platforms like TikTok and Instagram shape the way in which individuals consider news to be specifcally curated to their interests.

The success of Tortoise Media, launched by British journalist and former Director of BBC News, James Harding, demonstrates this shift in news consumption. Branding itself as a solution to news fatigue by giving people a few key stories to focus on, and investigating them more in-depth, the company has created a membership community of over 110,000 consumers, and a monthly social reach of 12 million.

Tortoise Media’s crowdfunding venture also speaks to the demand for slowly produced, curated journalistic content. In 2018, the company managed to quadruple its initial Kickstarter target and raise over half a million pounds to focus on organised listening and deep reporting.

Imy Harper (MA Broadcast, 2018), who works at Tortoise Media, has noticed the team grow from seven people when she joined in 2018 to over 50 employees today.

Andrew Butler, Head of Social and PR at the company, says nearly 80 per cent of their audience listen through their various podcasts and that it has attracted a younger audience, whose average age is 29.

Data sourced by Nielson Norman Group shows that web pages have about 30 seconds to grab the attention of their viewers before they decide to click away. In half a minute, viewers will assess the quality of the content they see, and choose to click away or stay on the page.

In a world of endless clickbait articles, the number of poor-quality pieces has skyrocketed, making viewers even more hypercritical of any web page they visit. According to Inc Magazine, about a quarter of online headlines are clickbait (25.27 per cent). However, a 2022 study has shown that a clickbait headline is, on average, shared almost 50 times less than nonclickbait headlines.

As Rob Orchard of Delayed Gratifcation explains: “Instead of being an immediate reaction to the news, people want more of an informed and analytical piece that gives you more information than regular news.”

Jennifer Rauch speaks to the relevance of Delayed Gratifcation: “A lot of other places will forget something that happened 3-6 months ago. [This magazine] does what not many are able to do, it captures the lasting consequences that we’ve forgotten about.”

Audiences look for more researched, detailed pieces that will give them the information they need in one place.

This approach evidently appeals to audiences. Since its launch in 2011, Delayed Gratifcation has grown from an “experimental” project between fve journalists about a relatively unexplored concept to a successful magazine which will celebrate the anniversary of their 50th issue in May this year.

In a world of increasing digitisation, producing a print-only quarterly publication, which aimed to be predominantly funded by readers, could seem, at frst glance, ill-advised. But Delayed Gratifcation has managed to reach this goal, despite the frst years being “tricky”.

A print-only publication is also not necessarily the perilous move it might seem. Indeed, a lot of individuals seem to be shifting to very curated content.

Clarke of The Know, says: “How we contribute to slow journalism is by collecting and curating content. Our journalists will read 10 sources on one topic, and produce a piece with all the facts with the aim of limiting any bias. The world is complex, and getting more complex every day. We want to simplify for our audience with well-researched, good information.”

With slow news organisations booming, the rational future for the traditional media cycle seems bleak, as slow journalism may be inching ever-closer to its irrelevance.

Rauch summarises: “Moving forward, we need to work smarter, not harder. As much for the wellbeing of audiences as for journalists, who suffer from burnout due to extenuating deadlines and draining hours, we have a duty to push for broader changes because slowing down is a luxury.”