Reset your relationship with the news

The news is often so dispiriting these days that it can feel like you need to adopt the brace position before reading the headlines. And the biggest story in the quarter covered by this issue of Delayed Gratification was particularly bleak – a deadly terror attack followed by a devastating ground offensive.

People sometimes tell us that they have begun actively avoiding the news, that they can’t hear about Israel and Gaza – or climate change, or other worrying topics – without feeling helpless and gloomy. We understand the urge to turn away, but disengagement isn’t the solution, and we hope that through Slow Journalism we can help readers to reset their relationship with the news.

We can provide the perspective to make sense of why things are happening. We can give you all sides of the story. And while negativity may drive news consumption online, our magazine doesn’t need to lean on sensationalism and outrage to get clicks.

This issue’s stories on Israel (p12) and Gaza (p44), as well as climate change (p110) and the riots in Ireland (p62), won’t put a smile on your face. But we hope that by choosing context, nuance and accuracy over hyperbole and outrage and by talking about solutions as well as problems, our coverage will leave you feeling engaged and informed not miserable and angry.

We also hope to make you grin, too – see our story on an anarchic adventurer (p40), the infographics on 2023’s cultural hits (p98) or our ‘Butterfly effect’ on the unlikely historical origins of the Beatles’ comeback single (p54) for starters. We hope you enjoy the issue.

Rob and Marcus, Editors

Posted on Friday, June 21st, 2024 - Categories: #53 - Oct-Dec 2023, App Issues.