4 ms·

Unlike the music industry, journalism has been decimated, especially on the local level. Even success stories with world-wide audiences often barely break even.

Unlike the music industry, journalism has been decimated, especially on the local level. Even success stories with world-wide audiences often barely break even. And unlike music, professional journalism is a necessity for a function democracy. So I don’t quite see the hook for your Schadenfreude here.

tareqak 7y ago
I think calling 'peteretep’s emotion Schadenfreude is possibly incorrect [0]. I think all that 'peteretep is wishing for is a similar sort of evolution/enlightenment in journalism to that of the music industry. We can all agree that professional and ethical journalism is a necessary part of a well-functioning democracy as you point out. We can also agree that journalism has been decimated, especially at the local level, as you also pointed out. The observation that 'peteretep made about music piracy and its effect upon how music is monetized today is a fact: today, we have multiple streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, among others) and music stores (Apple Music, Beatport, Bandcamp(?) among others. The situation in the music industry remains imperfect, but 'peteretep’s claim that music piracy combined with new technology acted in concert as a forcing function to move the music marketplace closer to where producers and consumers want it to be seems sound. I for one consume the vast majority of my US political news from Hasan Piker knowing full well that he is a leftist [1]. He’s a full-time political commentator that streams on Twitch. Ever since I learned about him a few years ago, other political streamers have started streaming on Twitch and other platforms like YouTube. I bemoan the death of the local newspaper, but only because of the lack of coverage. Why can’t people with cellphone cameras stream a townhall or a city-planning meeting and let viewers decide the value of the livestream and any associated commentary? The long-celebrated journalistic institutions today have all in some way, shape, or form been “captured” by the political forces of the day. Did your organization report too much controversial news concerning the political sacred cows? Well then, you lose access, which is a death knell for such burgeoning organizations with high headcount and fixed costs. One last question: who hands out these press passes anyway because it’s not like you need a license in journalism to report the news? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude [1] http://twitch.tv/hasanabi http://twitch.tv/hasanabi
rndgermandude 7y ago
It has been decimated but not so much by pirates, but more so by the publishers themselves creating unbearable experiences, starting to give away everything creating a certain expectation (and now trying to reverse but running into the expectations they created), by the publishers being complacent and reactionary, by social media, by social media companies abusing their network effects, by "free" 24/7 news channels eating the newspaper's cake while at the same time discrediting the entire profession with their more-often-than-not sensationalist low quality reporting, by entrepreneurs backing news site "ventures" which then blasted and keep blasting everybody with low quality "free" clickbait, by publishers starting to imitate those low quality channels and sites (and their "free as in data hoarding" unsustainable models), predatory/hostile takeovers of local newspapers by "big media" and the associated "consolidating" of writers staff with adverse effects on quality, by "stakeholders" shifting from a "I am OK with only a so-so profit; this stuff is important" attitude to a full blown "we need to maximize profits at all costs", and the list goes on. I used to read the German Spiegel weekly, first the issues my dad bought, then later as I grew older buying their magazine. I stopped buying it years back, as it stopped being worth it, as the quality of the articles and investigative work plummeted, and article research turned into op-ed pieces.

tareqak 7y ago

I think calling 'peteretep’s emotion Schadenfreude is possibly incorrect [0]. I think all that 'peteretep is wishing for is a similar sort of evolution/enlightenment in journalism to that of the music industry. We can all agree that professional and ethical journalism is a necessary part of a well-functioning democracy as you point out. We can also agree that journalism has been decimated, especially at the local level, as you also pointed out. The observation that 'peteretep made about music piracy and its effect upon how music is monetized today is a fact: today, we have multiple streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, among others) and music stores (Apple Music, Beatport, Bandcamp(?) among others. The situation in the music industry remains imperfect, but 'peteretep’s claim that music piracy combined with new technology acted in concert as a forcing function to move the music marketplace closer to where producers and consumers want it to be seems sound. I for one consume the vast majority of my US political news from Hasan Piker knowing full well that he is a leftist [1]. He’s a full-time political commentator that streams on Twitch. Ever since I learned about him a few years ago, other political streamers have started streaming on Twitch and other platforms like YouTube. I bemoan the death of the local newspaper, but only because of the lack of coverage. Why can’t people with cellphone cameras stream a townhall or a city-planning meeting and let viewers decide the value of the livestream and any associated commentary? The long-celebrated journalistic institutions today have all in some way, shape, or form been “captured” by the political forces of the day. Did your organization report too much controversial news concerning the political sacred cows? Well then, you lose access, which is a death knell for such burgeoning organizations with high headcount and fixed costs. One last question: who hands out these press passes anyway because it’s not like you need a license in journalism to report the news? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude [1] http://twitch.tv/hasanabi http://twitch.tv/hasanabi

rndgermandude 7y ago

It has been decimated but not so much by pirates, but more so by the publishers themselves creating unbearable experiences, starting to give away everything creating a certain expectation (and now trying to reverse but running into the expectations they created), by the publishers being complacent and reactionary, by social media, by social media companies abusing their network effects, by "free" 24/7 news channels eating the newspaper's cake while at the same time discrediting the entire profession with their more-often-than-not sensationalist low quality reporting, by entrepreneurs backing news site "ventures" which then blasted and keep blasting everybody with low quality "free" clickbait, by publishers starting to imitate those low quality channels and sites (and their "free as in data hoarding" unsustainable models), predatory/hostile takeovers of local newspapers by "big media" and the associated "consolidating" of writers staff with adverse effects on quality, by "stakeholders" shifting from a "I am OK with only a so-so profit; this stuff is important" attitude to a full blown "we need to maximize profits at all costs", and the list goes on. I used to read the German Spiegel weekly, first the issues my dad bought, then later as I grew older buying their magazine. I stopped buying it years back, as it stopped being worth it, as the quality of the articles and investigative work plummeted, and article research turned into op-ed pieces.