I'd be happy for Facebook to implode, but too many people (old people especially) depend on it for social groups. There'll always be another platform, or search engine to replace them because there isn't enough competition.
Other digital-era victims have just died quietly (travel agents, video stores) or reached some accommodation in lessened straits (hotels, taxis).
It's a mind-bender; if every journal had really effective paywalls, you'd think they'd have to deal: pay for a link that lets you through the paywall. Maybe they'll gradually be driven down to only emailing stories to those with the right individualized crypto token when they click to request it.
The newsletter economy seems to be growing -- and Substacks, too. Some great indy outlets in Canada doing really well, also. I wonder if newer generations are more keen to support people they like over legacy media companies.
Substacks are a great hope for me, I'm up to five - before that, it was Patreon, still paying for Canadaland that way.
But I'm still paying 10X as much for the Vancouver Sun (paper, no less) because they're doing the grind of watching city hall, school board, and legislatures. The Sun still has 137,000 paying subscribers.
Paul Wells is pointing out today that there's an analogy to Gutenberg, opening up the clerisy to discussion. Here's another: James Burke's "Day the Universe Changed" pointed out that Gutenberg reduced the cost of a book of text to 1/400th of the previous hand-copied price (which was a farm). And the Internet probably reduced the cost of delivering a newspaper to your house by the same amount. Paul noted in his last post that the price the reader pays for the newspaper was barely the cost of printing and delivery. Creating it had to come from the ads.
So, my $520/year for the Sun comes to about $2 for every issue printed and delivered, which sounds about right: paperback books cost $12 these days. If the whole 137,000 of us subscribed to a hypothetical $50/year "Vancouver Sun Substack", then Substack would get about $685,000/year, a fair sum for delivering a few million web pages per day (1 cent per web page delivered is extravagant, actually). Payment processor "Stripe" picks up $130K, or a buck per transaction, and Vancouver journos, and the comics people and features people they hire or buy stuff from, get six million dollars.
What am I missing? The crazy thing about all this, is that a DRAMATIC reduction in "printing" costs should have expanded the industry. Our current mess is an artifact of people not wanting to pay on the Internet, what they were happy to pay for, as paper. If they'd just pay the old paper cost - the ads, the links, everything, just goes away.
There is a big issue with exactly that -- people not wanting to pay. There's some data on this (Reuters does a roundup) and a lot Canadians, as you suggest, just don't want to pay for news. And no one is buying physical copies. But, again, like I mentioned and you note, some people will pay for publications they like (especially smaller, indy operations) and journalists they like. But that still shakes out to a fairly small number (though for me a significant one, it matters a lot to me).
The death of the classifieds was a big deal alongside traditional ads. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and even dating apps, I suspect, really hit the old newspaper bottom line alongside the loss of commercial advertising.
Good for you for paying for the Vancouver Sun. I don’t. And I also don’t read it often. I do support a number of independent organizations that are doing great work. Canadaland, National Observer, The Tyee (on and off). I also support a few local podcasts like the Cambie Report and Politicoast are great.
Thanks. Even the digital-only subscription to the Sun is over $150/year, like getting 3 substacks.
I'm just not scared for *analysis*, because professors and others who analyse for a living can all be induced to the part-time job of writing an analysis column once a week or so, just with the income from a few hundred paying substackers paying for their vacation.
It's the research work that worries me, those school-board and council meetings. That pretty much takes a salaried journalist.
This is absolutely key -- the court reporters, the council meetings, the school boards, the local stuff that really matters. Ditto reporters in Toronto or Victoria or Edmonton or Ottawa in committee and in the legislature.
I support Canadaland. I think they're a great indy outlet. They may represent what the news landscape will look like once legacy media has finished petering out.
So I'm not worried about national news. Local news is a much bigger concern. Local papers are disappearing, and so far there's not much to replace them.
Perhaps they would have a business case for the government to fund them if they did. Problem of course is that half the country thinks they are in the bag for the Liberals and NDP
Newsletters--and Substack--are on the measured mile...with a limited lifespan until some entrepreneurial journalists discover the inate benefits of the internet. Then, kiss the newsletters good bye.
"it also makes sense to fund media to keep it from dying"...It seldom--if ever--makes sense to subsidize anyone/thing. It's habit forming, productivity-reducing and poor financial use for those already going out of business.
I'd love to see us reduce subsidies across industries -- but there are public good to consider when it comes to journalism. But subsidies vary, cf. the labour tax credit and the idea of compelling cash from other corporations, eg.
Will Canada extend this to TikTok? They just introduced text posts. What about links from Google's Bard or a ChatGPT with references that they're building? The issue with this legislation is that it's narrowly tailored at a few companies that the Canadian legislative bodies don't like.
As you said, it's a drop in the bucket for Facebook and Google as well. Subsidies and grants these companies get in Ads, and esp Google w/r/t data centers, far outstrips the amount they'd be forced to give to news agencies. If taxpayers are funding it already by way of subsidies, it makes more sense for Canada (& AUS) to actually fund local news if it's a true national value/goal. Attempts like this smack of punishing innovation because it disrupts a comfortable model, rather than dealing with the problem itself.
There'll never be sufficient policy to regulate tech giants given the plethora of ways AI can be harnessed for exploitation and predation. We have to stop catering to them and be more proactive to satisfy people's needs and desires. If ever there was a time for economic transformation, it's now. Starting with nationalized telecoms.
Will I miss Meta not referencing Canadian news, nope, not on Facebook.
Google, while I use it I seldom use to find news and there are many other search engines. So I won't miss them either
The free market in the end will always do it's thing.
I'd be happy for Facebook to implode, but too many people (old people especially) depend on it for social groups. There'll always be another platform, or search engine to replace them because there isn't enough competition.
Other digital-era victims have just died quietly (travel agents, video stores) or reached some accommodation in lessened straits (hotels, taxis).
It's a mind-bender; if every journal had really effective paywalls, you'd think they'd have to deal: pay for a link that lets you through the paywall. Maybe they'll gradually be driven down to only emailing stories to those with the right individualized crypto token when they click to request it.
The newsletter economy seems to be growing -- and Substacks, too. Some great indy outlets in Canada doing really well, also. I wonder if newer generations are more keen to support people they like over legacy media companies.
Substacks are a great hope for me, I'm up to five - before that, it was Patreon, still paying for Canadaland that way.
But I'm still paying 10X as much for the Vancouver Sun (paper, no less) because they're doing the grind of watching city hall, school board, and legislatures. The Sun still has 137,000 paying subscribers.
Paul Wells is pointing out today that there's an analogy to Gutenberg, opening up the clerisy to discussion. Here's another: James Burke's "Day the Universe Changed" pointed out that Gutenberg reduced the cost of a book of text to 1/400th of the previous hand-copied price (which was a farm). And the Internet probably reduced the cost of delivering a newspaper to your house by the same amount. Paul noted in his last post that the price the reader pays for the newspaper was barely the cost of printing and delivery. Creating it had to come from the ads.
So, my $520/year for the Sun comes to about $2 for every issue printed and delivered, which sounds about right: paperback books cost $12 these days. If the whole 137,000 of us subscribed to a hypothetical $50/year "Vancouver Sun Substack", then Substack would get about $685,000/year, a fair sum for delivering a few million web pages per day (1 cent per web page delivered is extravagant, actually). Payment processor "Stripe" picks up $130K, or a buck per transaction, and Vancouver journos, and the comics people and features people they hire or buy stuff from, get six million dollars.
What am I missing? The crazy thing about all this, is that a DRAMATIC reduction in "printing" costs should have expanded the industry. Our current mess is an artifact of people not wanting to pay on the Internet, what they were happy to pay for, as paper. If they'd just pay the old paper cost - the ads, the links, everything, just goes away.
There is a big issue with exactly that -- people not wanting to pay. There's some data on this (Reuters does a roundup) and a lot Canadians, as you suggest, just don't want to pay for news. And no one is buying physical copies. But, again, like I mentioned and you note, some people will pay for publications they like (especially smaller, indy operations) and journalists they like. But that still shakes out to a fairly small number (though for me a significant one, it matters a lot to me).
The death of the classifieds was a big deal alongside traditional ads. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and even dating apps, I suspect, really hit the old newspaper bottom line alongside the loss of commercial advertising.
Got me there. My condo has 14 occupied units, nearly everybody over 40, most over 60. Mine is the only paper delivered.
People DID pay, until they could get a free alternative. I'm fear the free alternative has to go, or journalism becomes a boutique service and hobby.
Good for you for paying for the Vancouver Sun. I don’t. And I also don’t read it often. I do support a number of independent organizations that are doing great work. Canadaland, National Observer, The Tyee (on and off). I also support a few local podcasts like the Cambie Report and Politicoast are great.
Thanks. Even the digital-only subscription to the Sun is over $150/year, like getting 3 substacks.
I'm just not scared for *analysis*, because professors and others who analyse for a living can all be induced to the part-time job of writing an analysis column once a week or so, just with the income from a few hundred paying substackers paying for their vacation.
It's the research work that worries me, those school-board and council meetings. That pretty much takes a salaried journalist.
This is absolutely key -- the court reporters, the council meetings, the school boards, the local stuff that really matters. Ditto reporters in Toronto or Victoria or Edmonton or Ottawa in committee and in the legislature.
I support Canadaland. I think they're a great indy outlet. They may represent what the news landscape will look like once legacy media has finished petering out.
So I'm not worried about national news. Local news is a much bigger concern. Local papers are disappearing, and so far there's not much to replace them.
The CBC ought to be doing way more on this.
If they were funded properly, maybe they would? Although a shortage of funding does not appear to be their only problem.
Perhaps they would have a business case for the government to fund them if they did. Problem of course is that half the country thinks they are in the bag for the Liberals and NDP
The Only Fans jokes write themselves here....
Trust that more than a lot of news sources...
Newsletters--and Substack--are on the measured mile...with a limited lifespan until some entrepreneurial journalists discover the inate benefits of the internet. Then, kiss the newsletters good bye.
"it also makes sense to fund media to keep it from dying"...It seldom--if ever--makes sense to subsidize anyone/thing. It's habit forming, productivity-reducing and poor financial use for those already going out of business.
I'd love to see us reduce subsidies across industries -- but there are public good to consider when it comes to journalism. But subsidies vary, cf. the labour tax credit and the idea of compelling cash from other corporations, eg.
Will Canada extend this to TikTok? They just introduced text posts. What about links from Google's Bard or a ChatGPT with references that they're building? The issue with this legislation is that it's narrowly tailored at a few companies that the Canadian legislative bodies don't like.
As you said, it's a drop in the bucket for Facebook and Google as well. Subsidies and grants these companies get in Ads, and esp Google w/r/t data centers, far outstrips the amount they'd be forced to give to news agencies. If taxpayers are funding it already by way of subsidies, it makes more sense for Canada (& AUS) to actually fund local news if it's a true national value/goal. Attempts like this smack of punishing innovation because it disrupts a comfortable model, rather than dealing with the problem itself.
There'll never be sufficient policy to regulate tech giants given the plethora of ways AI can be harnessed for exploitation and predation. We have to stop catering to them and be more proactive to satisfy people's needs and desires. If ever there was a time for economic transformation, it's now. Starting with nationalized telecoms.