This October, The New York Times announced it was adding a new tab called “Watch” to its mobile app. There, users can access short-form content from across the Times’ coverage, including chopped-up segments from News, Lifestyle, Opinion, and podcasts. With this new feature, The New York Times joins a growing list of media apps whose primary function isn’t short-form content, but have added it anyway, including LinkedIn, YouTube, and Snapchat.
There is certainly a debate to be had about whether short-form content on these apps is beneficial, or even necessary. For many of them, this style of scroll-able content is so far removed from the actual function of the app that it is hard to see its addition as anything other than a cheap trick to increase engagement. On the mobile front page of The New York Times — one of the most respected names in American journalism — this format is especially out of place. The Times should remove this feature and focus on the tried-and-true content that informs and stimulates its readership: articles, podcasts, and long-form video essays.
No matter how well implemented this new section is, “Watch” won’t be as informative as the rest of the Times’ content. The videos are already shorter than podcasts or articles — which themselves have become shorter as well — and the user interface works against them: Even the smallest amount of boredom entices users to scroll to the next video rather than finish the current one. This is not conducive to disseminating information.
To be clear, “Watch” has a few redeeming qualities that distinguish it from traditional short-form content on social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok. Viewers can’t leave likes or comments, and the content is hand-selected by an editorial team composed of real human beings rather than the covert computer algorithms on most other platforms. But it is not the content or the structure of “Watch” that is the problem; I take issue with the very existence of the feature.
This infection of short-form content will have radiating social effects. This new feature takes the Times’ legendary status and uses it to encourage short-form content as a component of a healthy news diet. Now, two strangers comparing their feeds — one who gets their news from TikTok and one who gets their news from the Times — may find that their screens appear quite similar despite the totally asymmetric legitimacy of their respective sources. The erasure of this distinction is significant and disappointing.
The New York Times is a news company, not a social media platform. As the line separating information from entertainment fades deeper into oblivion, it is the responsibility of institutions like the Times to preserve this distinction, not erode it.
The Times should seek to increase its readership by doubling down on focused, long-form journalism, not appealing to the short attention spans and fried dopamine receptors of an increasingly online audience. Although it occupies a relatively inconspicuous section of the app, there is simply no need for a “Watch” tab in The New York Times app. With this new feature, the Times is contributing to a world where we scroll more and read less.
