Facebook & Google Are Killing Newspapers

The first newspapers were printed in the 17th century, and the methods of both their creation (movable type) and their distribution (on paper) remained broadly unchanged for three centuries.

When Marxism Today’s published its New Times issue in 1988, that system was unravelling. Computers had arrived and the print unions’ insistence on sharply delineated workplace roles was under threat.

This had already led to the Wapping dispute of 1986, in which Rupert Murdoch moved his newspapers to new headquarters to break the collective power of the printers. It took 13 months and 1,262 arrests, but it ended with thousands of men in effect accepting that their skills were obsolete.

That trend has merely continued.

Today’s journalism students are encouraged to become jacks of all trades, they learn how to make videos, record podcasts and use databases, they master Photoshop, they understand social media and, yes, they even write and edit stories.

On one level, the world of news now seems gloriously open: anyone can start a blog, anyone can publish on the Huffington Post (if you don’t mind not being paid) or Medium, and anyone can build a following on Twitter or Facebook. But there are new barriers to entry.

Local newspapers, once the training ground for young reporters, are dying out: there has been a net loss of 198 since 2005, according to the Press Gazette. Their classified adverts have gone online or gone altogether, and some of those titles that remain are consolidated into remote industrial parks, far from the communities they serve. So there is less reporting of court cases and of the petty corruption of councillors (Private Eye’s Rotten Boroughs, which still covers that ground, is never short of material).

In place of independent papers are glossy PR puffs produced by councils. In December, the editor of the Hackney Citizen complained that the local authority was producing its own fortnightly freesheet, Hackney Today. The latter sells advertising space, making it a direct competitor to independent newspapers, and the council pays for 108,000 copies to be printed by Trinity Mirror and distributed to households every fortnight. It is produced by a press office.

National newspapers are also struggling. Print circulations are falling and the returns on display advertising online can be pitiful.

Most online adverts are “programmatic”: sold in real-time auctions on a CPM (cost per mille, or thousand clicks) basis. Users hate them for slowing page loads or interrupting their reading. Unsurprisingly, the use of ad-blocking software has risen steadily.

The industry has tried to fight back by expanding the types of adverts it sells. That is why everyone became so excited about video a few years ago: publishers could place an un-skippable advert before a video clip and charge pounds, not pennies, using CPM.

The Internet-only news organisation BuzzFeed had another strategy: from the start, it didn’t sell display advertising, only “native ads”: what used to be called advertorial.

The theory was that users might be irritated by display ads but they wouldn’t object to a pet-food brand sponsoring a heart-warming video about life with a pet. In at least one case, this paid off handsomely, BuzzFeed’s 2015 collaboration with Purina led to a video called Puppyhood, which racked up four million views in two weeks. The challenge is to repeat that winning formula again and again.

Other publishers tried the start-up mantra: build it, scale it fast, hope the revenues turn up at some point. Medium, a cleanly designed blogging platform, was launched by the Twitter co-founder Ev Williams in 2012 and attracted big-name publications and writers.

But on 4 January Williams announced that he was “renewing Medium’s focus” by cutting a third of its staff, because it was not financially sustainable. “It’s clear that the broken system is ad-driven media on the Internet,” he wrote.

“The vast majority of articles, video and other ‘content’ we all consume on a daily basis is paid for, directly or indirectly, by corporations who are funding it in order to advance their goals. And it is measured, amplified and rewarded based on its ability to do that.”

If journalism is to survive, it needs either to cut costs (read: sack journalists), or build revenues. Hence the proliferation of sidelines: conferences, round-tables, business-to-business operations, events, sponsored supplements and the rest. Some companies are trying a more direct approach. The heavily loss-making Guardian is investing in a membership scheme, and the radical US magazine Mother Jones has a pledge to fund in-depth reporting. (Individual journalists are trying this, too: The Patreon website offers readers a chance to fund writers directly, at a set cost per month or per piece.)

Of course, someone is making money out of the great flowering of content on the web. Facebook has 1.86 billion monthly users, and in the third quarter of 2016 its net income was $2.38bn, up from $896m a year earlier. Along with Google, it controls two-thirds of the online advertising market.

“Facebook is the new town hall,” Mark Zuckerberg told investors. Unfortunately for him, that role in public life is what made Facebook the focus of the row about “fake news” after the US election. For millions of people, Facebook is where they get their news; its editorial decisions and inbuilt biases shape our common understanding of reality.

You might not have to get your words past the print unions any more, but you do have to pander to what Facebook’s and Google’s guiding algorithms deem important. Zuckerberg has more power than anyone who bought ink by the barrel ever did.

New Statesman

Hidden In Plain Site: Paedophiles Use Facebook Groups:

Facebook To Introduce Fake News Tools:

 

« Malvertising Targets Your Online Users
Google To Break Pirates Over Music Searches »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

IT Governance

IT Governance

IT Governance is a leading global provider of information security solutions. Download our free guide and find out how ISO 27001 can help protect your organisation's information.

Authentic8

Authentic8

Authentic8 transforms how organizations secure and control the use of the web with Silo, its patented cloud browser.

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC - the first, easy-to-use, enterprise-grade information security solution for compliance and risk management - offers businesses efficient control tracking, testing, and enforcement.

The PC Support Group

The PC Support Group

A partnership with The PC Support Group delivers improved productivity, reduced costs and protects your business through exceptional IT, telecoms and cybersecurity services.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

CloudInsure

CloudInsure

CloudInsure is a Cloud Insurance platform designed to specifically address emerging liabilities within the Cloud environment.

Howden Broking Group

Howden Broking Group

Howden provides a range of specialist insurance solutions to clients around the world including Cyber Liability insurance.

HID Global

HID Global

HID Global is a trusted leader in products, services and solutions related to the creation, management, and use of secure identities.

Latvian Information & Communications Technology Association (LIKTA)

Latvian Information & Communications Technology Association (LIKTA)

LIKTA brings together leading Latvian companies, organizations and professionals in the field of Information & Communications Technology

Ivanti

Ivanti

Ivanti provide user-centered IT solutions designed to increase user productivity while reducing IT security risk.

Assured Enterprises

Assured Enterprises

Assured Enterprises provides comprehensive cyber risk identification, management and mitigation across all platforms.

Khipu Networks

Khipu Networks

Khipu Networks is an award winning Cyber Security Company delivering a wide range of network, wireless and security solutions, technologies and services across multiple sectors.

Irdeto

Irdeto

Irdeto is the world leader in digital platform security, protecting platforms and applications for media & entertainment, gaming, connected transport and IoT connected industries.

Chronicle

Chronicle

Chronicle products combine intelligence about global threats in the wild, threats inside your network, and unique signals about both.

Zymbit

Zymbit

Zymbit provides hardware security modules (HSM) for IoT devices, including Raspberry Pi and other single board computers.

Sectra Communications

Sectra Communications

Sectra successfully develops and sells cutting-edge solutions in the expanding niche segments of medical IT and cybersecurity.

Emagined Security

Emagined Security

Emagined Security is a leading provider of professional services for Information Security and Compliance solutions.

ITTAS

ITTAS

ITTAS is a multidisciplinary company specializing in information security and software and hardware protection software.

Shearwater Group

Shearwater Group

Shearwater Group is an award-winning organisational resilience group that provides cyber security, advisory and managed security services to help secure businesses in a connected global economy.

Purple Team

Purple Team

Purple Team is an expert cybersecurity and managed security service provider focused on arming your IT infrastructure with both red team and blue team services.

SPYROS Information & Technology Consulting

SPYROS Information & Technology Consulting

SPYROS specializes in providing highly qualified professionals in Computer Network Operations, Signals Intelligence, Technical Training and Certifications, Network Administration and Security.