In this intriguing discussion, media critic Matt Pearce delves into the dramatic shifts in the journalism landscape driven by tech giants like Google and Facebook. He emphasizes the urgent need for sustainable models in journalism, proposing that audience engagement is key. Pearce also highlights the stark economic disparities affecting local news compared to digital platforms. With insightful critiques, he explores how opinion-driven content and media ownership dynamics influence public perception and democratic discourse in our rapidly evolving information economy.
Major tech platforms heavily influence the journalism landscape by prioritizing quantity over quality, favoring creators over traditional reporters.
Matt Pearce advocates for legislative reforms to redistribute advertising revenue from tech platforms, aiming to support struggling newsrooms financially.
The current economic disparity driven by Baumol's cost disease pressures journalism to rely on dwindling revenues, risking the funding of original reporting.
Deep dives
The Impact of Platform Dominance on Journalism
The discussion highlights the significant influence that major platforms like Facebook, Google, and TikTok have on the journalism landscape. These platforms have changed the way information is disseminated, often prioritizing quantity over quality and allowing influencers to monetize content that typically stems from rigorous journalism. This shift has left traditional journalism grappling for visibility, as many consumers may not recognize the origins of the news they consume. As a result, the media ecosystem has become increasingly imbalanced, with creators and aggregators benefitting while original journalists struggle to maintain their financial sustainability.
The Ineffectiveness of Current Media Policies
Matt Pierce critiques current media policies and legislative attempts to support journalism, noting that they often fail to address the core issues affecting the industry. His advocacy for legislative changes aimed at redistributing advertising revenues from platforms to newsrooms underscores the need for a more equitable system. Despite numerous efforts, journalism continues to decline as many publications lose their ability to reach audiences effectively, largely due to algorithmic challenges. Furthermore, there's a bleak realization that without substantial reform, the journalism landscape may deteriorate further, sacrificing quality and accountability.
Distribution Control and Its Consequences
The conversation points to the stark difference in distribution control experienced in the modern era compared to previous decades. Historically, newspaper entities had ownership over physical distribution channels, allowing them to connect directly with readers. In contrast, today’s journalism relies on algorithms from tech giants, resulting in unpredictability regarding audience reach. This lack of control has ultimately diminished the ability of quality journalism to compete in an environment where sensationalized content often dominates.
Challenges of Modern Journalism Economics
A significant challenge facing journalism today is derived from the economic paradigm known as Baumol's cost disease, which describes how sectors with low productivity growth, like journalism, struggle financially in comparison to tech-driven fields. As original reporting remains labor-intensive and costly, news organizations are forced to rely on dwindling advertising revenue while facing competition from lower-cost aggregators. This disparity in economic models puts pressure on traditional media outlets, risking their ability to fund investigative journalism and original reporting, which are crucial for a healthy democracy. Consequently, journalism remains at risk of further financial instability as it jumps through increasingly difficult hoops to stay afloat.
Billionaires, Media, and Consumer Perception
The conversation delves into the perplexing relationship between billionaire ownership of media outlets and the public's trust in journalism. Media moguls like Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong have their own interpretations of how to restore credibility, often resorting to retroactive approaches aimed at objectivity. However, the disconnect between these strategies and consumer behavior indicates that traditional credibility and neutrality are failing to resonate in an era that increasingly favors connection and passionate engagement. This presents a broader challenge for journalism, as the institutional trust continues to erode, urging a reevaluation of how news is produced and consumed.
We’ve been talking a lot this year about the changing internet, and what it’s doing to the media ecosystem — particularly journalism, which has taken a backseat to creators and influencers. But the tech platforms themselves have a lot of influence over what those creators and influencers make, too. If you’re a Decoder listener, you’ll recognize this as one of my common themes — the idea that the way we distribute media directly influences the media we make.
To break this all down, I invited media critic and labor union president Matt Pearce on the show to discuss a great blog he wrote titled “Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history.” We get into what mechanisms can be used to fund journalism, and how building a direct audience and exercising control over distribution is more pivotal than ever.
Links:
Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history | Matt Pearce
Journalism's fight for survival in a postliterate democracy | Matt Pearce
A deep dive into Google's shady (and shoddy) California journalism deal | Matt Pearce
