[inputvolch]

All solid points. And so then it makes you wonder why something like this:

1. Gets submitted to Hacker News

2. Gets voted to the front page by HN readers

It must fit with a narrative that people already are predisposed to believe. Maybe that's why the piece gets written to begin with.

[Ancapistani]

HN seems to require that an article be interesting, or spur interesting conversations - not that it be well-written or even correct.

[bloodyplonker22]

Indeed. It's really just the fact that most people don't think independently. On HN, there is a greater ratio of people who actually use their brain (vs reddit, for example), thus there will be comments calling out the article's correctness.

[onlyrealcuzzo]

Online "news" needs to get hits and thus make money. Being actual news is a far distant priority to that.

People are interested in and believe there is a "Great Resignation" even though it's not happening. Why? I don't know. But I think this is the actual story - and I wish someone would write it.

But "you believe X and it's wrong" stories generally don't do well.

[rsj_hn]

> Online "news" needs to get hits and thus make money. Being actual news is a far distant priority to that.

Yeah, I get why Time hires these kids. They fired the senior reporters to cut costs and pay peanuts to the replacements, many of whom are fresh out of college and are morally opposed to the concept of objectivity, when they see their role as advocating for some kind of justice.

Why would someone accept such a poor paying job? Because it gives them a platform. So part of their compensation is to air grievances - to "be heard". To push for justice. That sense of fulfillment on the part of the reporter is part of the compensation package.

These are the people that self-select into these jobs, as reporters who value "being heard" less will expect more cash payment. So on the labor supply side, business save money by hiring reporters who tilt more towards valuing "being heard" and "justice".

But on the demand side, facts have been commodified so much with the internet that merely the gathering of interesting data and presentation thereof is not highly valued. What is highly valued is opinion, especially outrage-inducing bias-confirming opinion. That is why you see the rise of Buzzfeed and outlets like Time are drawn into that orbit.

It's not good for our body politic, but it makes business sense.

> People are interested in and believe there is a "Great Resignation" even though it's not happening. Why?

Because the labor market is all screwed up now. Covid and the lockdowns have made it completely topsy turvy. So it's an area of intense interest, and then -- like the port situation -- people project their own bugbears onto that. So some will insist that this is some revolt of labor over capital, and they follow those stories. Others insist it's government mismanagement and follow those stories.

[im3w1l]

I think you are underestimating "these kids". Getting a low paid position position as a powerbroker is not as stupid as you think. A frightening thing to consider over halloween: If Time wont pay them, someone else might. It's a well known that powerful positions with low pay are a recipe for corruption disaster.