Facebook and Google have been brutal to the news business. But this primarily reflects a failure of imagination. The tech giants are the world’s best distribution platforms and could be an answer for journalism instead of a grave threat.
Today, House Antitrust Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) once again underscored the need to preserve critical access to trusted, high-quality news, as he committed to re-introducing the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.”
Yesterday, News Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern joined Simon Owens of The Business of Content on a podcast, “Should publishers be allowed to collectively bargain with Facebook and Google?”
Looking forward to 2019, I think it is pretty easy to see that it is shaping up to be an absolutely pivotal year that may well determine the strategic landscape for news publishing for many years to come.
At a time when the First Amendment is being tested and questioned – perhaps more than ever before – it is important that we reflect on where we are and where we are going in the face of the vast technological changes that are impacting our press and our democratic systems, especially the rise of the big tech platforms and their role in making editorial decisions previously delegated to newspaper publishers.
We rely on a healthy news media to keep us informed and to ensure transparency from our leaders. But as news has moved online and brought audiences that are larger than ever, it has become clear that the digital deck is stacked against quality journalism.
On May 25, 2018, the European Union (EU) took an important step toward protecting news publishers’ right to reproduce and make available their products online. Currently, while European copyright laws generally protect the individual products of writers, journalists, and photographers, the publisher’s end-product – whether that is a printed newspaper or an online article – is often not protected.
For centuries, consumers got their news solely via printed newspapers. In the past 30 years, however, the media landscape has changed. To keep up, local news outlets must innovate and offer their readers new products that meet their unique needs. That’s where Open Matter comes in.
The News Media Alliance is partnering with Google News Initiative and Matter to teach local newsrooms a new way of innovating to help them find new ways to increase their audience and revenue shares. Here’s what other newsrooms can expect when they attend future bootcamps.
News Media Alliance President and CEO David Chavern today called on the major technology platforms, namely Facebook and Google, to take responsibility for the role they play in deciding, via their “secret algorithms,” how and to whom news is distributed, and the subsequent impact of those decisions on civil society.
