Well, That Hurt

The older you get, the more things hurt. Or maybe, we're just more aware of the pain? Aware, present, some people even say woke; all can mean the same thing especially when it comes to today's news and/or political environment.

A few days ago I was listening to a podcast interview with Katie Couric discussing the origins of CNN. I didn't know it, but she was actually working there in one of her first news jobs as they launched the new cable news channel. She recalled her and the staff's shock when they realized Ted Turner's vision of what he said as "blasting the sh*t" out of the news to everyone all the time. A good portion of us remember those days of three networks and three nightly news casts, and that was it for our news consumption. Before you email me to correct that statement, yes, there was the local news and morning network news shows. And don't forget PBS. They had some news programming as well. That clarification aside, the rest of the adult working day was taken up by reading the paper, going to work, probably smoking during meetings and then going home to watch the news.

As a kid, news to me only came into my conscience when big events happened: Lying on the couch recovering from tonsillitis watching the 1976 Republican National Convention and watching President Ford accept the nomination (I was eating rainbow sherbet), that same year watching the NBC Nightly News report about Bruce Jenner winning the Olympic decathlon, and hearing the breaking news report on the radio in 1977 that Elvis Presley had died. My brother and I sat in his room after hearing the news and I specifically remember us both talking about it and realizing that we liked the Bee Gees way better and proceeded to play our shared Saturday Night Fever double-album.

My parents and I recall that, while we watched and were somewhat aware of the news, we weren't consumed by it. Some days I miss that feeling.

As you know, we are pounded with news and information every moment we are awake and I'm finding that the amount of shock, outrage and interest in so much news is numbing.

This isn't a Trump-era issue, although the volume has just been turned up. This went on during previous presidential administrations too. I think the difference is in our constant beer-bong ingestion of news and information.

For instance, I find myself working with David Baumann on exclusive stories that are huge news items and have potentially enormous implications for the credit union space. And then acting director of the CFPB, Mick Mulvaney, blatantly admits to a full house of members of the American Bankers Association to a pay-to-play way of legislating. He is quoted saying, "If you're a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn't talk to you. If you're a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you."

I quite literally had to ask myself out loud, "Do I have time to be ticked off about this?"

Is this a mistake to be so informed all the time about every little single tiny and big item? Melania Trump's hat – scandal! Meek Mill out of prison – scandal! LendEDU's fake researcher – OK, that I'm physically upset about. More on that.

We all live in our separate communities with our own local news. But, our shared space is here inside the credit union industry. We care about new lending programs. We care about new regulations and/or the possible elimination about credit union tax exemption. We care a lot about it all and are absorbed and aware of it every day and night.

And maybe that's why things hurt more as you get older – because we live harder and love louder and are deeply invested in credit unions.

I believe in the news and professional journalism. What I fear is the influx of so much noise and absolute lies that are spread in the name of professional journalism, but are in fact more in the name of professional branding.

Journalism isn't a sport or a hobby. Unfortunately, some people see it that way and it's become mixed together with blogs, podcasts, company websites and people who we just can't tell whether they are real or not, spreading information that is becoming more difficult to prove as fact, and therefore, news.

I'm not whining to complain about doing my job. I'm just calling out places like LendEDU as now a questionable information resource for us. We've used student loan research from LendEDU for the past two years and have run Op-Eds from their student lending expert, Drew Cloud. I have email exchanges with Mr. Cloud. We have his bio and even a photo. We've learned now that Drew Cloud is not a real person.

The Chronicle of Higher Education had been investigating LendEDU and trying to figure out who Drew Cloud really was. After they uncovered the story, LendEDU's CEO, Nate Matherson, admitted that Drew Cloud was fake, stating, "We never disclosed that 'Drew Cloud' was a pen name that represented a group up us writing these posts. I really regret that."

Yeah, thanks Nate. What Matherson didn't apologize for are the emails, the fake bio and that fake photo of Drew Cloud that we, and several national media organizations, have used.

This is what I'm talking about when it comes to things hurting more or just being aware of the pain. We care about journalism. We care about credit unions. That's our job. That's why we're all here and it's our common connection. When we get scammed or are duped, it hurts and it's embarrassing.

The staff at CU Times is genuinely outraged at this breach of trust and we are currently reexamining our editorial process. While the information we reported appears to be factually correct, the way the information was presented to us was a lie. And we have to take that into account. We've cut ties with LendEDU until we can have further discussions as a team and with the leaders of that organization.

Correct information is crucial. And if that is called into question, it hurts us and misinforms you.

Michael Ogden is executive editor for CU Times. He can be reached at [email protected].

NOT FOR REPRINT

Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.