Jasraj (Jazz) Hothi - 📝 A slower (news) cycle?

“U-n-i-t-e-d, United are the team for me…”

A crowd chant that can be heard up in the terraces of many football stadiums here in the UK.

A couple of years ago, a friend invited me along to join her at an event at the London HQ for Tortoise Media.

Positioning themselves as an organisation in support of ‘slow journalism’, I was intrigued.

It actually took me 3 tried to successfully experience a Tortoise event; not the most exciting story in the world, but the short version is… the first event cancelled last minute, the second time I got lost (I was in one of my no-smartphone phases and, as has often been the case without the help of Googlemaps, I got lost going to the venue); at the third time of asking, I made it to a panel event in Manchester with Andy Burnham MP, Mayor of Great Manchester.

Tortoise was, at that time of that Manchester event, known to have been in talks re: a potential takeover/merger; it has now merged with The Observer newspaper.

At the time at which they were running as an independent entity (I have not been following them of late), they were a good example of a crowd-sourced project with high quality, long-form journalism at their core:

Do they carry a bias?

Of course.

Are they invested in certain outside interests?

Unfortunately, with The Observer deal, yes.

Still, I like what they stand for as it pertains to longer- and slower-form journalism.

We really, really need that 🐢

Somewhere between bookending by busy commute with free daily newspapers and realising that the “news” is quite negative / heavy, that many of CNN’s ‘key election alerts’ during the US election coverage really wasn’t that significant, and generally observing the emotional-levers-slash-click-tactics that news outlets are now resorting to… I realised that daily news is a LOT to consume — and that it’s difficult to discern what can be trusted and what is (or isn’t) to quote the US president, “fake news”.

Whether it’s the Pew Research ‘Political Typology Quiz’ or the UK’s newly-created Common Good one; btw, British folks who are reading this, I’d like to know which one you are. I’m a DD — and a couple of friends of mine are, too. You?

Left, right, centre?

Over the course of my lifetime, I have occupied several positions on the ‘political spectrum’ – indeed, this spectrum has morphed itself over time. In other words, I’ve been both “left of centre” and “right of centre”.

(A side note: my current thinking is that the terms “left” and “right” now serve more of a divisive purpose than one from which we can derive any usefulness when it comes to discourse and, indeed, understanding voter populations. They are too broad, too generic, and too divisive).

I find this not altogether surprising (the ‘echo chamber’ effect is real, let me tell you — I believe it goes a long way to explaining why friends and family members in the US have stopped speaking to one another over differences in political opinion — it still seems maddening to think about that…

Whilst my political identity may have changed (aka: taken time to form more fully), I find it interesting that my Myers-Briggs personality type hasn’t changed at all in the last 15 years. I am, apparently, a solid INFP / mediator personality type.

Whilst we must be careful with labels, in using them to divide us and separate (collectively) and diminish us (individually), the description still describes me pretty accurately.

My forthcoming second book, The INFP Writer Re-framing anxiety and neurodivergence, will talk more about that. I’ll share more with you over the coming weeks.

In other words I am a dreamer, an idealist, who is learning to balance that with a healthy dose of realism.

I am firm in my convictions, yet endlessly curious about the world around me — and the people in it. I am always learning.

At different times in my life, I’ve considered myself a Republican, a Democrat, a leftist, a conservative, a liberal, etc etc

As polarisation has ramped up, and my curiosity has remained, I’ve found myself sort of… middling. Yup, as boring as it sounds, sat on the fence. Or, probably, a little to the right of the fence, depending on who you ask (or the media you consume).

A few years ago, I might’ve been described as a “liberal with some conservative values”, and these days I’ve become somewhat… “conservative with some liberal values”. Quite the almighty leap, eh?

You see, the poles of ‘left’ and ‘right’ seem to have moved so far apart that, if I were to read some of what I read online, I might be considered “far right”. And, in previous years, “far left”.

These labels in and of themselves are as dangerous as they are divisive.

A divided nation, like a divided community, a divided school or a divided household, is an unstable and unhappy one — one that isn’t rooted in a sense of psychological safety in themselves, and connectedness with the parents, the siblings, the neighbours and the communities around us.

What on earth has happened to ‘love thy neighbour’?

In the parts of London I’ve spent time in in the last few weeks (central, west, southwest), I’ve seen people enjoying the sunshine. Being kind to one another on public transport and in public spaces. Being open, a communicative. Increasingly, I’m noticing, talking about feelings.

(This, reflected in the new Jurassic Park film I watched with my dad recently).

Community spirit is there.

It’s only when I open the papers, or switch on the news in the evening, that I am confronted with the sense of fear and dread, of “us” against “them”.

~

A lifelong conclusion

Following the many, many conversations I’ve had over the years with British folks (I’ve been here my whole life), and Americans too (I’ve spent more than 6 months in the US over various trips, across several states, cities & suburbs — from New York and San Francisco to rural parts of Wisconsin and Texas), the overwhelming conclusion I’ve come to having been in all of these places is this:

There is more we agree upon — more that we share in common — than that which separates us.

Let me tell you, being polarised and divided and emotive against one another, does NOT serve the 99% of us.

This brings me back to the title of this article. It is why I’m opting, instead, for a 7/52 news cycle at best… over the 24/7 one.

In other words, more thoughtful and slow consumption of daily and weekly news, rather than constantly trying to take it all in, all at once, interrupting my day.

I’ve realised that constant consumption of news actually skews my perception of reality, of humanity, of truth.

Rather than spend hours cooped up indoors, isolating ourselves from one another — literally — by being glued to the internet (the pandemic has contributed significantly to the sense of isolation, fear and divide in the world), I will continue to go out and BE IN the world.

Watch this space.

And here’s to creating more space in our lives. We don’t need any more stress. If anything, we need to lighten our cognitive loads rather than add to it.

A big, collective, mindful pause.

But not a “one and done”. If I know what’s good for me, this will be ‘integrating it into my daily life’ kind of collective pause.

Here’s to a slower future,

Jazz.

~

i’ve been writing on the internet for more than 10 years, i’m still figuring things out, but i’m choosing to create + consume things, slowly… 🐌

📷 May 2025: Attending a rodeo with my parents at the Cowtown Coliseum. This photo was taken shortly before the crowd stood, in unison, for the national anthem.