The most extreme cases of writing for digital journalism are the scripting of vertical, short-form videos for TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts, and whatever other videos concepts social media platforms have decided to create. These videos and their descriptions must be engaging and entertaining. Where traditional journalism garners truth and the complete story through the inverted pyramid style, these short-form videos tend to have an inverted pyramid style on entertainment steroids. From clickbait to obnoxious YouTube thumbnails, online journalism has a tendency to compete within its own field for the currency of the platform: consumer attention.

The attention spans of consumers is terrible to be frank, and journalists are left to try and find something whole from the pieces. If I use this quote in the headline maybe people won’t click off; If I start the video with crying then maybe people will watch to see why; If I do this then maybe I will get attention and then maybe that will mean I am a good journalist; If; If; If.