The coverage of Avengers and Game of Thrones is what’s wrong with the media

Dear readers,

This week’s letter is a little bit different.

As I browse Facebook in my downtime, I’m reminded of why I cut down on social media usage in the first place. I find the various hot takes on Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones infuriating.

Inane stories such as “Avengers: Endgame proves we needed more time with the actual Avengers” and “The Case Against Watching the Rest of Game of Thrones” devote thousands of words to empty content.

It’s as if the writers published whatever half-baked ideas came out of their minds.

I get it, though. Media outlets are pressured to get pageviews that fuel their ad revenues. And that involves publishing controversial but uninformed opinions.

Tech in Asia has certainly done that in the past, but launching a subscription has pushed us in a different direction. Of course, hot takes are fine if they’re nuanced and informed. These days, however, our team defaults to doing actual reporting.

With your support, we can stay that way.

Check out our premium content from the past week:

• Honestbee rejected an offer from Grab; new deal between them “unlikely”
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• Oyo’s China challenges
• Why it’s smart for Amazon to quit China
• Singapore-based “clean meat” maker raises $4.6m in seed funding. Here are the full details
• M17 says it’s now profitable and growing after aborted IPO
• The future of news is private and conversational: SCMP’s CEO Gary Liu
• Quantum computing, without quantum computers
• A new wave of quantum tech startups from Singapore hopes to make a mark

Cheers,

Terence
Chief editor