Cartelizing the News

News organizations are so terrified you'll click away that they no longer furnish outside links to documents or rival publications that they cite. That stinks.

Scene from original Broadway production of The Front Page, 1928.

I've noticed that most news organizations now decline to furnish links to original documents or articles from rival publications that they cite, presumably fearing to tempt readers to click away from their own website. Often the URLs they withhold are to government research, or bill texts, or court decisions, that you, dear reader, paid for with your tax dollars. In effect, these news sites are saying: Fuck you, go find it yourself.

Most readers won’t be interested enough to “drill down” in this manner, so publishers really don’t have much to fear about lost eyeballs. But the readers who are interested enough to do so really cherish this improvement to news coverage that the internet makes possible. Even those who don’t click away are probably glad to see that they can. I consider outside links the single best innovation that the World Wide Web brought to print journalism.

Being stingy with URLs deprives the news industry of valuable transparency in an age when people, let’s face it, don’t trust the press. I’ve always tried to be generous with links to original sources, because as a reader I crave them myself. I don't intend to stop. The news organizations that choose not be are neglecting their most basic responsibility, which is to provide readers with necessary information. It's infuriating and deplorable, and I hope readers will raise a serious stink about it.