In defense of hot takes

I’ll admit that my position on this issue stems at least in part from self-interest. I write about politics and policy every day, and while I sometimes do pieces that require lengthier reporting and are weeks in the making, the overwhelming majority of my takes are hot, in that they are published quickly and comment on events soon after they happen. I only have a career as long as there’s a demand for takes.

But competition and the need for hotness can actually spur one to produce better takes. If I’m not just passing on new information every time I produce a take, I have to ask what it might add to people’s understanding. Do I have some particular insight that I haven’t seen elsewhere? Is there a perspective that’s missing? Can I link disparate ideas and facts together in a unique way? Will my readers finish my take and say, “I think I understand this issue a little better than I did before”?

Once you find a few writers who offer you those things, you can ignore all the other takes, unless someone you trust vouches for their merit. And the truly inane takes will probably communicate their stupidity right in the headline (“What Justin Bieber’s nude photos tell us about the Iran nuclear deal!”).

So yes, there are a lot of bad takes out there. But it isn’t actually that hard to find the good ones — and there are so many good ones that there’s no excuse for remaining uninformed.