Advertising, Algorithms, and Distrust: The Free Press is Getting Fired
There is no debate: Facebook has completely transformed the way citizens consume, interact and share news with one another. Those pesky computer algorithms are notorious for creating echo chambers of our own consciousness. Sifting through misinformation by Russian trolls and all of the Facebook scandals is getting exhausting, and journalism is trying to escape its snares.
We all thought companies like Buzzfeed figured out a way to make online publishing a viable business. They are best known for making shareable news content viral across Facebook. At a time when print journalism is being upended, a recent round of layoffs is a surprising look at how digital media isn’t able to keep up with the complex economics of online publishing.
This revelation proves confusing and scary to those in the industry because this means no one has truly figured it out yet. There are also consequences for those of us in the reading public.
Kate Knibbs with The Ringer says, “Facebook and Google’s emergence as publisher-platforms with near-unfettered power has cratered the advertiser-supported model. As the big social networks grew in prominence, many publishers relied heavily on the traffic their platforms generated, becoming beholden to fickle and secret algorithms.” In other words, Facebook and Google control the game.
When Buzzfeed started in 2006, the intention was to provide free online news and entertainment sources for anyone who had access to the internet. The empires of Facebook and Google as advertising giants have proven this once-revered model is no longer profitable. Big players like The New York Times, The New Yorker and The Washington Post have barely survived the storm by hanging onto the antics of the current administration and generating revenue by pay-walls and promising subscriber-only content.
This has us all scratching our heads in an attempt to look through the ever-darkening cloud that is the future of journalism. In The Atlantic, Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner say “the deep cuts to newsrooms in print and electronic media have resulted in far fewer reporters waking up each morning deciding what story they will chase. There is less investigative reporting and international coverage.” Later in the piece, the pair notes the decline of regional and local newspapers and the true source of deterioration of traditional journalism.
The Dismantling of Digital Media News
If you were anywhere near the Twittersphere last week you would have seen a swarm of journalists and staffers lamenting their layoffs through long threads. The tweets included emotional sentiments of growth, appreciation for the work, love for their coworkers and the precarity they now face.
CNN reports over 1,000 jobs were lost from digital media outlets like Buzzfeed, HuffPost and Gannet — a company who owns local print newspapers across the country. Buzzfeed announced the firing of at least 15% of its workforce, many of those laid off finding out over email, over the phone, and one reporter, Talal Ansari, finding out while on vacation.
This turn of events also comes at an extremely uncertain time in American life — the longest government shutdown ever recorded recently ended, and not by a peaceful collaborative effort by our legislature, but by the strike-but-not-a-strike led by air traffic controllers. The American people deserve to be informed about the showdown happening in Washington, but this is difficult to do when the free press is continuously attacked.
From the start of his campaign, President Donald Trump has attacked and called for the dismantling of journalists and the press. Coupled by the proven meddling in our 2016 election by Russian trolls and talks of collusion, this has led to a breeding ground for the spread of misinformation. The general public grows increasingly weary and distrustful of the very institution we rely on to maintain the health of our democracy.
The Unexpected Rise of Local, Citizen-Led Journalism
One local, or self-described hyperlocal, Austin-based newspaper is seemingly beating the odds. Community Impact Newspaper was founded in 2005 and sends print newspapers to neighborhoods across the Austin, and now Dallas, metro landscape. The newspaper boasts printing 2 million monthly publications and placing each one directly into the mailboxes of their readers. CI relies heavily on their on-the-ground reporting style and gaining stories from local voices. The answer to the darkening cloud for CI is promising quality content next to visually engaging ads in exchange for advertisers paying the bills.
No two models, local or national, look the same, and there’s an interesting one emerging from across the pond. In mid-2019, the Dutch will officially launch The Correspondent: an ad-free and member-funded online source for “unbreaking” news. According to its website, The Correspondent wants to provide its subscribers with “smart coverage of structural, long term developments that shape the world around us.” The idea is to bring its readers into the process to find out what matters most to them, and then write about it. The Correspondent is breaking away from flashy, sporadic breaking news and making it a point to fully involve their readers into the journalistic process. The readers control the bills and the game. If you want to know more, their website includes an extensive FAQ page answering just about everything you can think of.
Whether it’s clickbait, advertiser-driven, reliant upon paywalls, or a subscriber list keeping the lights on, it’s safe to say journalism is still trying to figure it out. We don’t quite know what works, what will last long-term or what will give the Buzzfeed journalists their jobs back, but what’s clear is the need for meaningful journalism in our society. Or, the more important questions: What’s the role of the citizen in all of this? How do citizens navigate this uncertainty, determine the standards held for news, and what are we to expect from the highest offices of our government?
Before clicking the “share” button on the next Facebook article, it’s time for us to think about what it means to be an informed and engaged citizen. Community Impact Newspaper, The Correspondent and even The New York Times all provide the same, but slightly tweaked answers to these questions. Either way, the American people will light the way through the dark.
