We live in a time of media fragmentation and hyperpolarization. This year’s presidential election raised further questions about traditional media’s relevance. And it seems increasingly clear that people are gravitating to extremes in the types of content they consume — whether scrolling short-form posts or listening to hours-long podcasts. We must meet them there.

When news organizations try to do everything, they think they’re showing strength, but they’re inadvertently contributing to their own vulnerability. The result is a flood of mediocre content that becomes easier to dismiss, easier to replace with less-credible sources, easier to lose in the noise.

It’s time to abandon middling stories and go very short or very long.

The traditional story format faces pressure from multiple directions: social media and multi-format approaches (Vine walked so TikTok could run) and now, AI’s efficient and information-dense delivery. Text-based storytelling that is neither immediate nor deep or compelling enough to serve readers’ needs is becoming structurally obsolete, as noted by commenters like Rafat Ali.

In finance, the “barbell strategy” balances reward and risk by focusing on the extremes while avoiding middle-of-the-road choices. Media needs its own “barbell strategy.”

Focusing on the extremes can be uncomfortable. After all, most of life takes place in the gray zones. But extremes can provide clarity.

At one end is immediate information — efficiently and quickly helping people understand why something matters, delivered through the ambient formats people actually use, from memes to vertical video. It’s why Pop Base and Pop Crave are now breaking news providers.

At the other end is deep, authoritative reporting that uncovers new information and reveals patterns or challenges conventional wisdom, building the shared understanding necessary for democracy to function and society to thrive. Think of the agenda-setting #MeToo coverage. This end can also include definitive explainers on complex foreign policy issues and thoughtful serialized newsletters.

By focusing resources on excellence at both ends of the barbell, news organizations can rebuild trust through consistent delivery of clear value: either immediate understanding or lasting insight.

This strategy isn’t just about better serving audiences — it’s also about journalism’s survival. The stakes are high. News organizations, like all democratic institutions, can fall unless defended. And for journalism to defend itself, we must first fight to maintain our relevance.

In the words of András Pethő of the investigative reporting nonprofit Direkt36 in Hungary, where news media has been effectively dismantled: “If there has been one lesson during this journey, it is that nothing really matters other than the audience…Our only source of power is our audience. The bigger and more diverse it is, the bigger our defense against any autocrat who wants to crush us.”