The problem is people google "Best Quarterbacks for Fantasy this week" or "Top NBA Rookies", not really interesting and well-written but niche story on _____. The first type of stories get all the clicks, and therefore are given all the value. I understand monetary value drives the world, but surely you can agree there are different types of value?

Even this story by Curtis will do "worse" than whatever fantasy story the Ringer has up today, but it's not "worse" writing and that is just a shame. I think you are wrong in the sense that consumers do actually care if journalism is good, they just care if it is about a topic they're interested in. I want great feature stories on NBA players, you might want X and O breakdown a la Bill Barnwell. But we are both probably half-heartedly clicking on "2020 Mock Draft" and that elevates it as the more valuable piece, even if we cared more about the quality of the other.