Songfacts®:

• "The News" is a tense rock track in which frontwoman Hayley Williams rages against the news cycle that keeps people glued to their screens.
• Williams opens the song by referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  
  War, a war, a war on the far side
  On the other side of the planet
  And I've got war, a war, a war right behind my eyes
  Right behind them just like a headache
  
  The relentless coverage of the atrocities leaves the empathetic Williams feeling helpless, heartbroken, and exhausted. She questions how much space the news can take up in her mind, so she takes a rest from the ceaseless reports of fighting and suffering.
  
  So I turn on the news
  Turn off the news
  
  But there are many significant global events: climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, political and social movements. Williams is caught in an internal conflict. She wants to know what's going on in the world, but all this bad news leaves her feeling depressed and fearful. "The 24-hour news cycle is just impossible to comprehend," she said. "And I feel a pang of guilt when I unplug to protect my head space. The common reaction, or non-reaction, seems to be dissociation. Not one of us is innocent of that and who could blame us?"
• During the bridge, Williams seethes over how the media doesn't tell both sides of the story.
  
  Exploitative, performative
  Informative and we don't know the half of it
  Rhetorical, deplorable
  Historical and, all along, we called it normal
  
  She feels that rather than producing objective and informative coverage, the news outlets manipulate their reports to build a specific public opinion. Many are blind to this fabrication, which is designed to generate views and ratings.
• The song addresses the importance of battling compassion fatigue. "Some days I feel so over it, almost to the point of apathy," said Williams to The Guardian, "but that's the struggle – that you have to fight."
• Hayley Williams wrote "The News" with her bandmates, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. "'The News' is one of those songs that came together pretty quickly and felt exciting from the start," said the singer. "It feels like a happy medium between classic Paramore angst and bringing in some influences we've always had but never exploited. Watching Zac track drums for this one was one of my favorite memories from the studio."
• Paramore released "The News" as the second single from This Is Why. Carlos de la Garza produced the track along with the rest of the album. He served as engineer on the band's previous two records: 2013's Paramore and 2017's After Laughter.
• The creepy Mike Kluge and Matthew DeLisi-directed video shows Williams with white zombie eyes and bloody teeth. Shot in Paramore's hometown of Nashville, it was inspired by the band's favorite horror films and thrillers. Neither Taylor York or Zac Farro are in it.
• Paramore gave the song its live debut at an album release concert at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on February 6, 2023, before they released This Is Why.