Writer and media personality Waleed Aly has called for the media to stop pursuing short-term victories at long-term cost to its authority as he delivered the Andrew Olle media lecture.

The co-host of current affairs program The Project and writer for Fairfax Media himself confessed to struggling with thoughts of whether he did his work with integrity.

"I'm constantly wrestling with my work, trying to figure out if I'm doing it with integrity, or if I'm succumbing indefensibly to compromise all the time," he said.

He criticised the media for succumbing to "received ideas" and failing to take the time to spark a real debate.

"We're all familiar, for instance, with the way experts will be overlooked for certain stories in favour of personalities or commentators that are, as we say in the industry, 'better talent'," he said.

"We've all seen the way television and radio shows will gather punchy, diametrically opposed voices to discuss an issue because the ensuing fireworks will be entertaining, even though the two guests might be talking past each other.

"We've all seen examples where some kind of performed, heated disagreement stands in for an actual debate where people engage each other's ideas rather than simply roll out their pre-determined talking points.

"What we're witnessing there is a spectacle of duelling 'received ideas'. And it's hard to dream up an alternative because, to put it simply, a real debate just takes too much time."

He said, in a midst of a speedy news cycle, people with challenging opinions could not think of anything to say before short-spanned media lost interest.

"What I see is a news cycle that's only getting quicker, and whose attention span is only getting shorter," he said.

"That's been a growing trend in broadcast media anyway, but the growing integration with online platforms clearly isn't helping changing this.

"…Articles get dropped quickly now if they don't gain traction within a couple of hours.

"Stories become old quicker than ever, meaning commentary on those stories becomes uninteresting at the same speed.

Choosing Abbott gaffe over super concessions

Studies of what sort of content receives the most media attention have made it easy to predict what merits "virality".

However, the most fruitful content is often controversial and provocative rather than inspiring.

"Quizzes and lists do well. So do images, videos and charts. Health tips and love advice are reliably strong, as is anything about a topic that is already trending. And beyond that, emotion and controversy are very effective," Aly said.

"We can't really be surprised, then, when we find that the most successful content will be strident, provocative and polarising; that it will infuriate more than it inspires; that above all it will evoke a reaction.

"And we can't be surprised if it becomes less important — less valued — to provoke thought and reflection, than it is simply to provoke.

"…And I'm not saying there's no place in journalism for content that is emotional, accessible and even provocative. But I am saying we have a problem if that becomes journalism's centre of gravity.

"We have a problem if, for instance, press gallery journalists are being asked to provide content that will do well online, rather than that which will offer citizens a nuanced understanding of what happens in Canberra."

Aly said that if he had "the choice between reporting a story on, say, how superannuation tax concessions work and another story about, say, a gaffe from Tony Abbott, I'll choose the gaffe story every time".

He said it was easy to write as well as read, and would earn him more kudos — so, why wouldn't he?