Cheap Content

We're drowning in content yet starving for substance. The constant spotlight on figures like Donald Trump epitomizes this problem. He can say anything—literally anything—and it's treated like headline news. Imagine him declaring he hasn't farted in two years, and watch how the media machine would spin into overdrive, questioning the plausibility and debating the implications.

This spectacle points to a more significant issue: the race to the bottom in public discourse. We've long ago sacrificed thoughtful discourse for clicks.

The attention economy is fueled by cheap content because there is zero discipline in consumer media consumption. The formula is simple: a journalist wakes up, finds the latest spectacle, slaps it in quotes, and boom—there's a week's worth of content. Media companies have found a golden goose in Trump, exploiting the public's undisciplined attention span for profit.

"Cheap" content doesn't refer to production costs or quality of journalism but rather the intellectual laziness it perpetuates. When the media dedicates resources to meaningless narratives, it becomes much cheaper in terms of intellectual and moral investment. It's easy and addictive. Donald Trump isn't a singular villain in this scenario; he's simply taking advantage of the situation. He's a spectacle because it's what the media wants and, by extension, what the public consumes.

It's dangerous when attention has no guardrails.

I often say, "Show me the incentives, and I'll show you the outcome." The current incentive structure rewards media for prioritizing drama over depth, creating a self-sustaining feedback loop. Trump plays into the media's appetite for controversy because it's cheap and guarantees engagement. It doesn't cost him much to say something outlandish, and covering it for the media is even cheaper. Plus, it's been clear for years that his behavior has no real consequences.

The outcome is an intellectual wasteland where discourse is driven by the cheapest inputs, resulting in the most superficial outputs. While Trump may embody this model, he's far from the only player in this game.

When we settle for cheap content, we cheapen our discourse. And that is a tragedy we can no longer afford.

Steve Berry
Principal, Thought Merchants