> The model was, the financial journalist Felix Salmon wrote, in 2010, “looking increasingly like a race to the bottom, where publishers desperately try every t

> The model was, the financial journalist Felix Salmon wrote, in 2010, “looking increasingly like a race to the bottom, where publishers desperately try every trick in the book to boost their pageviews and ad impressions, just to compensate for the fact that their revenues per page are very small. The results—sensationalism, salaciousness, and slideshows—only serve to further erode the value of the sites in the eyes of advertisers.” Journalism will still be relevant in the world, but the vast majority of these outlets have been forced into a race to the bottom for sure. For corners of this industry to survive, they will likely need to form a symbiotic relationship with a more lucrative adjacent industry. Meanwhile the outlets pushing meaningless, clickbait-first content will hopefully wither away.