Press and media
View from briefing·center
in brief
Ms. Sweeney, we weren’t expecting you here
As we neared the launch of briefing.center, we prepared for as many variables as possible — the known unknowns, as it were.
We were not prepared for the arrival of Sydney Sweeney in our feed. But here we are.
The Sweeney kerfuffle is just that. But an attempt at thoughtful discussion of the implications of an advertising campaign is chum for the right-wing outrage industry.
Based on the stories we’ve read, the American Eagle campaign featuring Sweeney and her “good jeans” encountered some pushback on social media. That discussion was elevated by commentary on the MSNBC site critical of the ad campaign.
That might have prompted a thoughtful, good-faith discussion. But our news ecosystem, with financial goals that mirror those of a carnival barker, is not designed for that.
In the case of Sweeney’s jeans, Fox News scooped it up to use as fresh ammunition in their forever culture wars. According to Media Matters of America, the story consumed 85 minutes over four days at the end of July; Jeffrey Epstein warranted three minutes during that time.
Our information ecosystem is governed by market rules — not by the needs of our crumbling democracy. Those rules provided a stable foundation for political discourse for decades. But in the digital age of unlimited information, Fox and its brethren have found an audience for a steady diet of disdain and disinformation about their ideological foes: any person or institution that does not share their views — or can be characterized that way.
Their editorial mission follows the “I’m rubber, you’re glue” theory of information and governance. It is a business success and a cancer on public debate. Until we find a financially viable model whose mission — whose value system — is support of democracy, our attention may continue to be hijacked by nonsense, diverted from real community needs.