1 year ago
52
Here’s another holiday open thread for fun, but first I want to kick off with a rant about Twitter and just how hamstrung we—and most of the media—are by what Elon Musk has done and continues to do.
As a news source, Twitter was invaluable—the quickest way to get and share breaking news, and the best place to get primary source quotes from lawmakers and other newsmakers. It’s replaced RSS feeds as the best place for news. It’s a one-stop shop for access to the reporters and sources in various beats. That’s particularly true for international news—ask Mark Sumner or Markos if they would be able to continue their remarkably in-depth coverage of the war in Ukraine without it.
It’s also great place to share and develop ideas with peers, and a great place to connect with friends that isn’t Facebook, which is objectively the worst social network in the world. I’ve seen complaints in the comments about our reliance on Twitter in staff stories and I hear that and share the frustration. It’s awful and doing anything that promotes anything of Elon Musk’s makes me want to vomit. As of right now, though, there isn’t a viable alternative for the work we’re doing. So please bear with us while we try to figure this out.
Now to the fun stuff.
