The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money. — A. J. Liebling

The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money.

Author: A. J. Liebling

Insight: We live in an age where this tension has become almost impossible to ignore. Every news site you visit is drowning in ads, paywalls, or sponsored content dressed up as reporting. The gap between what journalism should do and what it has to do to survive keeps widening, and most of us feel it without quite being able to name it. The tricky part is that these two things genuinely pull in opposite directions. Informing people thoroughly—investigating a complicated story, fact-checking carefully, covering unglamorous local issues—takes time and resources that don't always attract the biggest audience. Making money, though, rewards sensationalism, outrage, and whatever gets clicks. A news organization can't survive on pure mission alone, but neither can it serve its real purpose if profit is the only metric that matters. What makes Liebling's observation so useful is that it strips away the pretense. Once you see this clearly, you can read news with better eyes. You start asking different questions: Who profits from this angle? What story isn't being told because it's not lucrative? It's not about dismissing journalism entirely—it's about recognizing the actual incentives shaping what you're being shown, and adjusting your media diet accordingly.