On journalism. 1/n Yesterday I wrote a column on homelessness.
I’ve been writing about stuff like this since 1982 when I got my first real journalism job as cadet at my beloved @smh
It’s important to write about homelessness because it happens to thousands and thousands of people a year. Thousands.
Anyhow. Just about no one read it.
How do I know this? I have my sources. Also just a handful of shares and tweets. Tiny tiny handful.
And I’m only complaining because every single day people write to me to complain that journalists don’t write about the things that matter. We are apparently far too nice to politicians. We crawl. We suck up.
Every day. Yet when I write about sex or cricket or how Barnaby Joyce is a terrible hypocrite, those stories get thousands of readers.
So it’s difficult. Journalism requires readers to survive. Readers say journalists are doing a bad job. But readers won’t read - or don’t read - stories which are profoundly serious.
Was my story bad or boring? Maybe. But it had a scoop. I tried to write tightly. I had facts which people needed to know. I think I explained why the government’s decision was wrong and put homelessness services at risk.
So I was upset no one read it because I want people to care as much about homelessness as they do about cricket. I texted my editor to say sadly that no one read this story.
And @JLewisnthenews said: journalism. Constant heartbreak.
And i didn’t say this to her - or text her back - but I started to cry. Which is unimportant in the big scheme of things. People cry. Shit gets done. And people die on the streets so my tears are absolutely irrelevant.
But I know if more people read those stories and lobbied politicians and acted on injustice life would change. Not my life. I’m so lucky. So so lucky. But the people on the street don’t have my good fortune. The only thing I can do for them is to write to try to make people care.
So. Read the boring stories about policy. About the people who aren’t you. About people who aren’t politicians. Because we don’t get to write those stories unless readers read. And I love cricket but not every fucking week.
