> My experience with 404 Media is that they treat every article like they've just released the Pentagon Papers
replyI think you’ve perfectly phrased exactly what it is that annoys me when I see a 404 Media headline. When it was a new shop, I stomached it more, but this is every single headline I ever see from them.
Contrasting the tone of innocence the larger publications use around these institutions feels perfectly within a journalistic mandate.
replyNobody is disputing that it is a legitimate choice. It is also legitimately off-putting.
replyIf their audience is into it though, good for them.
Honestly, I was surprised to see this take.
replyTheir tone just makes me miss the original The Intercept and other used-to-be-heavy-hitters.
Were they also too punchy for you? (I sound possibly sarcastic, but am genuinely curious)
For new and under-reported (or otherwise downplayed) stories, I think it's understandable and maybe even good. But when every single story has a breathless, scandalized headline, it gets exhausting fast, and it's hard for me to know what to pay attention to.
replyI remember last year 404 put out a clickbait-y story about the shitty "covert" websites that the CIA used to communicate with spies they'd recruited in Iran, even though it was old news at that point. If you only read the headline (as many people do...) you'd think it was a startling new development.