What Happens When Silicon Valley and Journalism Collide?

Never before has access to trusted journalism been so important, because “fake news” — while nothing new — has never been so ubiquitous. If we learn anything from the current political climate, it’s that stories from questionable outlets can reach and influence large numbers of readers. It’s a big problem, and it underscores the importance of supporting trustworthy sources.
Social media and technology’s reach empowers readers to stay informed at all times. Writers from all backgrounds and viewpoints have been able to reach millions of readers through content distribution systems like those employed at Facebook. Likewise, readers have enjoyed the convenience of having articles from various sources aggregated in one place, such as their Facebook feed. While this change has given the average person unprecedented access to new ideas and differing points of view, it has also put publishers in a tough spot, with their content being offered for free.
Print media was the longstanding source for monetization; for decades it thrived within the subscription space and access to premium advertising dollars. However, with the transition to digital and advancements in social media, the average reader has been trained to expect access to content — real or fake, good or bad — at no cost.
This shift has led journalism to a monetization structure that relies on pay-per-view and pay-per-click advertisements. It has made headlines even more important, with an article’s success dependant on the number of readers who actually clicked through to read it (which is why “clickbait” has become such an infamous term in journalism’s modern lexicon). Many journalists are tasked with focusing on clicks and views instead of quality, informative reporting.
But it’s not all bad news. Recently, Facebook announced a new subscription-based product that will work alongside Facebook’s Instant Articles. The product will push readers to purchase digital subscriptions from select publishing partners. At the same time, Facebook will create a paywall that will require users to become subscribers of the product once they’ve read their first 10 articles from a given outlet. We’ve reached a tipping point where the tech industry can now be a true partner in helping news organizations thrive.
It’s great to see platforms like Facebook take responsibility for maintaining the integrity of journalism. However, while this product announcement is great news for publishers, it will push consumers to manage multiple subscriptions at once, which is not realistic or sustainable. Users don’t want to sign up for multiple subscriptions to access news. After all, the success of Facebook’s news distribution platform was built on it’s all-in-one-place convenience.
Digital platforms with large audiences should do all they can to encourage users to pay for journalism, so that journalists are empowered to do their job well. At the same time, we have to make sure that it’s a seamless, convenient process for the consumer, otherwise we’ll create a new system that is ultimately unsustainable. When Scribd first offered news and articles, we did so with the intent to create a system that would benefit journalists just as much as it would the consumer. If you want to stay informed on what’s going on in the world, especially with that information coming from trusted sources, all you have to do is open one app — and pay one flat fee.
As technology continues to impact industries in new and unprecedented ways, we must work to apply our seemingly ‘old world’ values of payment for quality work to today’s new world audience. The solution also has to work with the shift in consumer behavior instead of against it. It’s our best defense against fake news, and our best hope for the future of journalism.
