From news editor Daniel Silliman: This past weekend I found myself thinking about a movie that isn’t going to come out until 2026. The poster for director Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming film Odyssey triggered an online brouhaha. I managed to avoid getting into any online debates but still ended up mulling it over. To be honest, that felt like a dumb use of my time. But such are the times we live in. 

This is a challenge we all seem to face these days. How seriously do we want to take internet controversies? Journalists, additionally, have to weigh the newsworthiness of online conflict. Do readers need to know that someone is mad on the internet? Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes, no. It’s a judgment call every time. 

At CT, we go back to the basic question “What makes something news?” News has to be new, obviously, but that’s not all. Professional journalists are also taught to consider impact, relevance, prominence, and novelty. We ask ourselves, Will this debate matter? Is it going to make a difference in people’s lives? Does this conflict help us understand something about the world we’re living in and the way things are changing?

Answering those questions is difficult. I’m rarely 100 percent confident I got it right. But that’s part of the job, asking again and again, “What do CT readers need to know?”