I'm not sold on the direct compensation from platforms to journalists just because as a mechanism it seems murky but the underlying rationale is I think correct

I'm not sold on the direct compensation from platforms to journalists just because as a mechanism it seems murky but the underlying rationale is I think correct. I'd prefer tech companies just get taxed much more aggressively and local news can draw and apply for public funds in some transparent way. But journalistic institutions have important functions. To pick a fairly modern example look at John Carreyrou at the WSJ blowing wide open the Theranos scandal despite the fact that Rupert Murdoch had significant financial stake in the company and owns the newspaper. There is a level of investment into investigative journalism and integrity and firewalls there that you do not have at social media companies. Most of them don't care at all, and if they pretend to you get the 'Twitter Files'.