3 ms·

I'm curious what percent of advertising revenue has moved from journalistic corporations over to Google and Facebook. I think the places that used to employ jo

I'm curious what percent of advertising revenue has moved from journalistic corporations over to Google and Facebook. I think the places that used to employ journalists to gather news served a role in our society that Facebook and Google have not stepped into. It COULD make sense for a government that saw value in that industry to prop it up. The same way it makes sense for the USA to keep at least one or two foundries operational.

BobbyJo 6y ago
Couldn't agree more. I like capitalism as much as the next guy, but I recognize that incentives for individuals and corporations can easily get misaligned from the public good. I think the wealth transfer from journalists to ad providers is a perfect example. Nobody can argue that the journalistic reliance on ad revenue as a result of having to compete with cheap, free, garbage-information-factories hasn't completely ruined the news industry, which is a vital component of a functioning democracy.
tomcam 6y ago
Don’t forget Craigslist, which essentially wiped out the very lucrative classifieds market.
paxys 6y ago
Framing the conversation as Google and Facebook directly taking revenue from newspapers isn't at all accurate, and just fuels public anger and laws like the one we are discussing. The core problem is that people aren't buying newspapers and magazines anymore, instead getting their news online. Since there is no barrier to entry for online journalism, the space is dominated by low-effort clickbait and fake/sensationalist news. People prefer to consume all this for free instead of paying a reputable source. Now, completely independent of all this, Facebook and Google have set up massive communities of users online and have perfected the art of monetizing them via ads. Regulating both these companies or removing them from the equation entirely (as they are planning to do themselves) does nothing to solve the news problem above.
mdifrgechd 6y ago
It's really odd to me that the above was down-moderated. I don't agree with it either but it seems a very valid perspective. What am I missing?

BobbyJo 6y ago

Couldn't agree more. I like capitalism as much as the next guy, but I recognize that incentives for individuals and corporations can easily get misaligned from the public good. I think the wealth transfer from journalists to ad providers is a perfect example. Nobody can argue that the journalistic reliance on ad revenue as a result of having to compete with cheap, free, garbage-information-factories hasn't completely ruined the news industry, which is a vital component of a functioning democracy.

tomcam 6y ago

Don’t forget Craigslist, which essentially wiped out the very lucrative classifieds market.

paxys 6y ago

Framing the conversation as Google and Facebook directly taking revenue from newspapers isn't at all accurate, and just fuels public anger and laws like the one we are discussing. The core problem is that people aren't buying newspapers and magazines anymore, instead getting their news online. Since there is no barrier to entry for online journalism, the space is dominated by low-effort clickbait and fake/sensationalist news. People prefer to consume all this for free instead of paying a reputable source. Now, completely independent of all this, Facebook and Google have set up massive communities of users online and have perfected the art of monetizing them via ads. Regulating both these companies or removing them from the equation entirely (as they are planning to do themselves) does nothing to solve the news problem above.

mdifrgechd 6y ago

It's really odd to me that the above was down-moderated. I don't agree with it either but it seems a very valid perspective. What am I missing?