4 ms·
They are peculiar as they are owned by a trust, not a corporation so not profit driven
by ptah 7y ago
They are peculiar as they are owned by a trust, not a corporation so not profit driven
- coldtea 7y agoAre the journalists working there "profit driven"? Do they work for a salary, often lucrative, or do they write for free?
- mcv 7y agoAnd do they put in actual work and need to pay for food and rent?
- coldtea 7y agoWhat's "actual work"? How is writing more "actual" than shooting videos and doing photo shoots (which can be lots of hard work out in the field every day)? Influencers have built an audience, and are paid for ads and promotional deals. This sounds like professional work to me, especially since some are making 6+ figures. And of course they also need to pay for "food and rent". If it was about "actual" work, then those journalists in need of "support" could go do a job that actually pays, in a non declining industry.
- throwaway8879 7y agoI like your question about actual work. I suppose anything that helps pay the bills should count. So I definitely agree that bring a social media influencer should count as real or actual work. It's just that there's a "bad taste" element to the profession, similar to how people may react to selling MLM beauty products or Herbalife. I suppose Herbalife should count as actual work too, at least to the people who get sucked into selling the products. But I also see why restaurants/hotels and food vendors might react negatively to influencers who try to get free service in exchange for exposure that may or may not exist.
- mcv 7y agoI find this rather sad, as good journalism is vital for a healthy, free democracy. And yet we don't seem to have a good way to pay for it. In a capitalist system, entertainment is more profitable than news.
- coldtea 7y agoOn the other hand journalism has also been a weapon for controlling mass opinion, propaganda, and promoting particular interests, from the days of Hearst at least, to the WMD and all kinds of more subtle manipulation. I'd rather have a vibrant scene like the blogging of yore, with good voices rising to the top (or not), than large press interests and gatekeepers.
- t0astbread 7y agoBut blogs and entertainment can also be used as propaganda?
- coldtea 7y agoSure. But tv/press had an unfair advantage of being a gatekeeper, not offering a way for the public to respond (except for "letters to the editor" and such), having unique access to power figures, and so on. Blogs did away with most of that.
- mcv 7y agoIf someone is telling the news service what to write, then you've got your business model right there: the person who decides what content to promote gets to pay for it. I'm talking about real independent news. That is the kind of news that is absolutely vital for a democracy, and it's the one kind for which there is no easy business model. Ideally the readers would care about independent news, but it turns out a lot of people love getting lied to.
- pjc50 7y agoHow do you know the bloggers aren't "controlling mass opinion, propaganda, and promoting particular interests"; how do you know who funds them? There's no transparency at all. I do miss the old blogosphere, but it could only exist as long as it had no influence. Once it became large enough to move politics, a takeover could not be prevented. As the old question goes, who influences the influencers?
- jpmoral 7y agoYou're conflating profit motive and working for money.
- C1sc0cat 7y agoMost Journalists salaries are a pittance.
- coldtea 7y agoCompared to programmers, maybe. Still much better than most available middle class gigs, and the "sky is the limit" once they have connections to power and influence.
- C1sc0cat 7y agoNot as much as you would think - I recall an ex Journalist who went into PR telling me that the deputy editor of the Scotsman was receiving income support (the benefit that toped up your income if you had a low family income)
- C1sc0cat 7y agoThe Guardian Might Not be but GMG is and the new editor is trying improved the Guardians Finances so it breaks even.