Vicious Cycles: Theses on a philosophy of news

The essay explores the circular logic of modern news, arguing that journalism has created a self-perpetuating cycle where "importance" is determined by what gets covered, which is itself determined by what editors think is important. Drawing on Daniel Boorstin's concept of pseudo-events—staged occurrences like press conferences and political announcements that exist solely to be reported—the piece contends that news has shifted from documenting naturally occurring consequential events to manufacturing narratives to fill the constant demand for content.