"Journalism constructs momentarily arrested equilibriums and gives disorder an implied order. That is already two steps from reality"
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Griffith’s line lands like an editor’s confession: the job isn’t to mirror reality so much as to freeze it long enough to print. “Momentarily arrested equilibriums” is a deliberately fussy phrase for a blunt truth: news is a snapshot that pretends the world holds still. Deadlines demand a pose. A protest becomes “a clash,” a policy fight becomes “a swing voter story,” a messy year becomes “a turning point.” The camera angle is the product.
The subtext is less anti-journalism than anti-innocence. Griffith isn’t accusing reporters of lying; he’s pointing at the structural sleight of hand baked into the form. Disorder is not merely described, it’s arranged. The lede becomes a thesis, the nut graf becomes a meaning-making engine, the quote selection becomes character development. Even honest coverage turns chaos into narrative because narrative is how institutions process time. “Implied order” names the quiet authoritarianism of coherence: the reader is offered a world that makes sense, complete with causality and arcs, when the lived experience is often simultaneous, contradictory, and unfinished.
“Two steps from reality” is the kicker because it refuses the comforting idea that journalism is one step away: translation with minimal loss. Step one is stabilization (freeze the flux), step two is patterning (make it legible). That’s not a moral failure; it’s a warning label. In an era of live feeds, explainers, and constant updates, Griffith feels newly relevant: the more incessantly journalism narrates the present, the more it risks mistaking its imposed equilibrium for the thing itself.
The subtext is less anti-journalism than anti-innocence. Griffith isn’t accusing reporters of lying; he’s pointing at the structural sleight of hand baked into the form. Disorder is not merely described, it’s arranged. The lede becomes a thesis, the nut graf becomes a meaning-making engine, the quote selection becomes character development. Even honest coverage turns chaos into narrative because narrative is how institutions process time. “Implied order” names the quiet authoritarianism of coherence: the reader is offered a world that makes sense, complete with causality and arcs, when the lived experience is often simultaneous, contradictory, and unfinished.
“Two steps from reality” is the kicker because it refuses the comforting idea that journalism is one step away: translation with minimal loss. Step one is stabilization (freeze the flux), step two is patterning (make it legible). That’s not a moral failure; it’s a warning label. In an era of live feeds, explainers, and constant updates, Griffith feels newly relevant: the more incessantly journalism narrates the present, the more it risks mistaking its imposed equilibrium for the thing itself.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
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