✳️ dcposch
@dcposch.eth
Still can't believe Bezos bought the Washington Post for 0.005 twitters (less than one of his boats) A big underlying reason why journalists are so mad at everything, and at tech especially, is that the economics of news are terrible
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✳️ dcposch
@dcposch.eth
Pre-internet, most of college-educated America subscribed to a newspaper. If you didn't, you'd be last to know important things. Trouble is, information is a non-excludable good. Post internet, no matter who gets the scoop, we all see it ~immediately. The rails are efficient. Subscribing is strictly optional now:
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✳️ dcposch
@dcposch.eth
What happens? Darwinism. Most outlets that make it adapt to an ad-based model, changing from a recurring revenue business (sticky, trust based) to an entertainment business (bursty, hit based; a single viral story pays more clicks than a year of good-but-boring local journalism).
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✳️ dcposch
@dcposch.eth
One side effect is Bad Vibes in journalism land. Trust fund NYU kids doing unpaid internships; postgrads writing for $35k/year, cancelling each other. Crabs in a bucket.
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✳️ dcposch
@dcposch.eth
Another is the new reliance on the Current Thing. Something you can keep milking for clicks for months. Far more valuable than a one-off story! Trump was the ultimate repeat-star Current Thing. First his campaign, russiagate, muller report, second campaign, etc. Saved a bunch of news outlets from bankruptcy.
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✳️ dcposch
@dcposch.eth
Not optimistic about trad news until they find a new funding model. All current ones seem bad. - Subscribers. ⬇️ - Ads. See above. - Donors. For local papers, this means local honchos... which the paper will then have a hard time criticizing objectively. - Get bought by an individual. I guess it depends who...
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