James

My name is James Whitaker, I’m 37 years old, and I believe that in a world flooded with noise, clarity is an act of resistance. By profession, I’m a digital news curator and media analyst. I work freelance, tracking news flows across platforms, identifying patterns in how stories emerge, shift, and disappear. My daily grind is not to chase the latest headline but to understand how the news is built, how narratives are shaped, and how attention is won—or stolen. My blog, Signal/Noise, was born out of frustration and fascination. Frustration with a media landscape obsessed with speed over depth. Fascination with how stories evolve when no one’s really watching. Here, I don’t break news—I deconstruct it. I write about media manipulation, virality, forgotten conflicts, algorithmic bias, and what it means to stay informed when the feeds never stop scrolling. But what makes me a little different? I’m also a mechanical watch restorer. I collect vintage watches, repair them, study their internal logic. There’s something deeply grounding about listening to a ticking balance wheel after a day of data, screens, and rapid-fire updates. It reminds me that precision takes time, and that real value often lies in the hidden gears. 📌 What you’ll find on Signal/Noise: – In-depth breakdowns of how specific news stories gained traction (or didn’t) – Critical looks at digital platforms and how they influence public perception – Essays on attention, information fatigue, and the ethics of curation – Occasional analogies between mechanical design and news architecture – Quiet reflections on slowness, truth, and the beauty of a well-tuned mechanism—whether it's a watch or a sentence I don’t write to tell you what to think. I write so you’ll pause long enough to think for yourself. If that sounds like the kind of silence you’ve been missing, welcome in.