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“reporting to you”


How journalism got to this point is less important than what will help it survive in the future. One vision of the future says there must be a necessary separation of journalism from a compromised and opaque system of power that often works as part of the surveillance state, and which has commercial priorities that can clash with the public interest. Whatever the outcome, a larger question remains about the right relationship between journalism and the most powerful companies in the world. This is a long-term issue, which is unlikely to be settled by one group or cartel gaining regulatory concessions but, rather, by a more profound change in the regulatory and commercial environment
in "Legacy media diverge from digital natives in fight against Facebook, Google" 11 jul 2017 

Sabes que é importante quando é o WSJ a queixar-se de concentração de capital, e ridículo quando se queixa de gatekeeping.  

[The] greater threat to America’s news industry: Google and Facebook ’s duopolistic dominance of online advertising. The unique role news media continue to play in American politics and history makes it crucial to ensure a fairer fight for revenue between news publishers and these massive information gateways.

The problem is that today’s internet distribution systems distort the flow of economic value derived from good reporting. The two digital giants don’t employ reporters: They don’t dig through public records to uncover corruption, send correspondents into war zones, or attend last night’s game to get the highlights. They expect an economically squeezed news industry to do that costly work for them. The only way publishers can address this inexorable threat is by banding together.

But antitrust laws make such coordination perilous. These laws, intended to prevent monopolies, are having the unintended effect of preserving and protecting Google and Facebook’s dominant position. The digital giants benefit from legal precedent against collective action that has a chilling effect on publishers.
in "How Antitrust Undermines Press Freedom" 9 julho 2017   

Recorda o  Amazon amazed...?

In seeking the right to negotiate together, the news providers are trying to avoid the trouble that major book publishing houses got into when they worked with Apple to develop an online book rival to Amazon. Without any government clearance, they ran afoul of antitrust laws. Its bid requires legislation giving them specific clearance to negotiate as a group, which is not commonly granted. It’s an especially big ask from a Congress that hasn’t had a great legislative batting average and whose controlling party, the Republicans, is not in a very press-friendly mood these days.
in "News Outlets to Seek Bargaining Rights Against Google and Facebook" 9 jul 2017

Recorda. Mas com uma diferença:

Then again, News Corporation’s founder and executive chairman is Rupert Murdoch, whose sway with the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress is without parallel in the media world.
in "News Outlets to Seek Bargaining Rights Against Google and Facebook" 9 jul 2017

Pormenor importante. Continuando, das intenções:

The News Media Alliance is proposing a solution: a new law granting a limited safe harbor under antitrust for publishers to negotiate collectively with dominant online platforms. A unified front to negotiate:

  • Stronger intellectual-property protections
  • Better support for subscription models
  • Fair share of revenue and data
in "How Antitrust Undermines Press Freedom" 9 julho 2017

In the cookin' há já algum tempo. Exemplo NYT a plantar sugestões, como o fez na sua senda anti-Amazon na guerra anterior: "Is it time to break up Google?" 22 abril 2017

Google’s route to dominance is different from the Bell System’s. Nevertheless it still has all of the characteristics of a public utility. We are going to have to decide fairly soon whether Google, Facebook and Amazon are the kinds of natural monopolies that need to be regulated, or whether we allow the status quo to continue, pretending that unfettered monoliths don’t inflict damage on our privacy and democracy.
in "Is it time to break up Google?" 22 abril 2017 

In the presence of these giant firms, it has become increasingly advantageous to be an incumbent, and less advantageous to be a new entrant.
Monopoly is made by acquisition, at a minimum, these companies should not be allowed to acquire other major firms. The second alternative is to regulate a company like Google as a public utility, requiring it to license out patents, for a nominal fee, for its search algorithms, advertising exchanges and other key innovations. The third alternative is to remove the "safe harbor" clause in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which allows companies like Facebook and Google’s YouTube to free ride on the content produced by others. Removing the safe harbor provision would also force social networks to pay for the content posted on their sites.
in "Is it time to break up Google?" 22 abril 2017 

Onde estamos portanto? Num mundo muito complicado. Mashup:

The news media is fractured and weak in the face of Google’s and Facebook’s strength, and journalism, particularly at the local level, has been drained as a result of changes in the market. The news business is looking for a regulatory lifesaver: News Media Alliance is calling on Congress for permission to hold collective negotiations with the large platform companies [and] seeking an exemption to antitrust legislation that would allow publishers to negotiate en bloc to be able to collectively negotiate with the digital platforms that effectively control distribution and audience access in the digital age."
in "Legacy media diverge from digital natives in fight against Facebook, Google" 11 jul 2017   

Antes de complicar, rir/chorar. A tal ironia anterior.

If the News Media Alliance is successful in securing a rarely granted right to negotiate as a group with Google and Facebook, publishers will owe their thanks to Rupert Murdoch. No other media owner has the same influence in Congress. Murdoch’s presence as a key player in what promises to be a defining moment for both technology platforms and publishers is a good metaphor for the many ironies innate in the current news environment.
in "Legacy media diverge from digital natives in fight against Facebook, Google" 11 jul 2017   

Ironia #2, hipocrisia all around:

The free press, which is inherently anti-regulation in the US, is going to need regulation to help it turn the business models of digital advertising back in its favor.
in "Legacy media diverge from digital natives in fight against Facebook, Google" 11 jul 2017   

Complicando então, dessa frente desunida:

But the news business is not the homogenous industry it once was, and any move to tackle the dominance of platform companies will highlight differences between legacy media and digital natives rather than unite them. The News Media Alliance does not represent the new generation of digital natives: the Huffington Posts, Breitbarts, BuzzFeeds, and Vox Medias. Nor does it represent other news organizations with vigorous Web presences but roots in broadcasting: CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC. A number of digitally native publishers contacted about participation in the Alliance had either never heard of it, or had not been asked to join and were not sure they would join if they could.
in "Legacy media diverge from digital natives in fight against Facebook, Google" 11 jul 2017   

Exemplo: BuzzFeed, mais uma vez.

BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti seemed to both anticipate and dismiss any future lobbying effort by media companies. He explicitly stated it was the fault of legacy publishers that they are subservient to platforms.
in "Legacy media diverge from digital natives in fight against Facebook, Google" 11 jul 2017   

BuzzFeed founder says that traditional news businesses are "opportunistically" attacking Facebook and Google only have themselves to blame for their demise after choosing not to invest more in digital despite "decades of massive cashflow".
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

Não nos vão ouvir a discordar. Mas quando olhamos mais de perto começam as preocupações - e nem nos vamos referir às denúncias de ex-empregados sobre a apropriação do seu trabalho pela entidade empregadora, essas damos por adquirido:

An increasing stream of former employees in recent months has been making charges that BuzzFeed operates a kind of old-Hollywood studio system for the digital-content age: Creators typically don’t own their work and are barred from engaging in any projects outside the company’s confines.
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

Aos cómicos, pensem Super-Homem e direitos de autor sobre as personagens. Voltando: familiar?

"The truth is that Facebook and Google have always taken a long term perspective – so has Netflix, so has Amazon – that the internet would win out in the end. A lot of the big media companies always took a quarter-to-quarter perspective"
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

While many publishers have come forward to accuse these Silicon Valley giants of foul play in their domination of advertising revenues, BuzzFeed talks of them as valuable partners. "A lot of the traditional media players are opportunistically attacking Facebook and Google because Facebook and Google have figured out a better model for delivering information and entertaining people which is real-time, personalised, shareable and global – all these things that you can't do in broadcast and print. These traditional media companies have had decades of massive cashflow and they decided to stockpile that instead of investing in digital. They just kept managing earnings on their traditional businesses even though we have known for 20-plus years that the internet was going to be a big thing and now all these things have unfolded".
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

Não? Mais descarado ainda?

His business philosophy is informed by data-driven study of user behaviour, underpinned by a long-term view and a certainty that the internet is the future. "The trend that is easy to forecast in broad terms is the internet – more things are going to be transformed by the Internet," You have to think, ‘What does that mean and how will that affect news and entertainment and product?’, and I tend to take a long term view of building towards that."
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

Mais?

Globally, BuzzFeed operates on more than 30 social platforms [&] Facebook is again a crucial ally.
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

"I think that our audience is digitally native people," he says. "That group is going to get bigger and bigger and in 20 years you will have people at retirement age who are digitally native."
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

K, aqui vai a dica então: especula-se se o BZ vai à bolsa ou não - está overdue e é dos poucos unicórnios que restam, de repente as start-ups começam a rarear - qq coisa sobre já não haver espaço para mais e aquilo dos monopólios que secam a concorrência e apenas o trambolhão do Snapchat deve estar a esfriar as ideias. Mas, tha goods:

A modern media company that used the technology and the platforms and the approach that made sense for today’s world, BuzzFeed registers 9bn monthly content views across all platforms, substantially more than any other publisher. It has 200 million unique monthly users of its website.
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

E, daz bads:

BuzzFeed, if it chooses, might be very well positioned because of the strength of the core business, where the digital content industry is going and where the traditional media industry is not going [but] the hype is tempered somewhat by financials that, by unicorn standards, are modest ['cuz] at the end of the day the market just perceives BuzzFeed as a media company with a new spin.
in "Sizing Up BuzzFeed: Could This Unicorn Ever Go Public?" 20 jun 2017

Media Company com problemas em bolsa? Já estivemos aqui antes.

They’re going to say they’re ‘social,’ ‘digital,’ ‘video’ and ‘mobile’ because those are the buzzy words
All of these companies try to sprinkle tech pixie dust on themselves to make themselves more Facebook-ish or platform-ish because the multiples are higher for tech

At a time when an unusual number of media companies are considering IPOs — including Vice Media, Rovio, and STX Entertainment — they all may find that being in the content business is a knock against them on Wall Street. How BuzzFeed positions its corporate identity will be crucial to its IPO viability. Like a lot of next-generation media companies that are doing things differently from their traditional cohorts, BuzzFeed leans into technology in every aspect of its business, from data to distribution, and doesn’t really identify as a media company per se. Ultimately, revenue is what IPO candidates will be judged by most. Figuring out how to diversify the business beyond ad sales is smart and plays well with Wall Street. Facebook and Google have such a stranglehold on the advertising dollars flowing through the digital space that BuzzFeed is left fighting for scraps, as long as BUZZFEED stays dependent on ad sales, there’s a growth ceiling that isn’t going to reflect well in an IPO phase.
in "Sizing Up BuzzFeed: Could This Unicorn Ever Go Public?" 20 jun 2017

Quem poderá ter assim interesse nessa aquisição? Alguém que não precise da tech parte da coisa. Alguém que já tenha todos o $$$ de ads com que possa sonhar. Alguém que, mediante um cerco de produtores de conteúdos, precise de conteúdos. Pois: Facebook.

OS POSITIVOS: ouviram-no aqui primeiro. Sigam a lógica, o FB não gera contéudos e precisa destes para manter os utilizadores na plataforma, o Bzzzz gera os seus próprios conteúdos, é tech savvy, e não tem dúvidas sobre como reparte o engagement dos seus utilizadores:

"We do make content. But we give the content creators data and a connection with an audience that you don’t get in traditional media."
in "Sizing Up BuzzFeed: Could This Unicorn Ever Go Public?" 20 jun 2017

A big news story drives repeat visits in a way that entertainment doesn’t

Dollar $ign$ para o FB. E um big fuck you aos media tradicionais no processo. Mas não é só o FB que pode ganhar com a compra: os velhadas compreendem a importância destes outlets. Exemplo da NBC que tem feito um investimento massivo no BzZzZ:

NBCU [NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises] probably looks at BuzzFeed as more than a mere investment, as it does its $500 million piece of Snapchat or its stake in Vox. This trio of companies is known by NBCU insiders to represent CEO Steve Burke’s attempt to future-proof his company in case the traditional businesses that keep NBCU humming start to degrade more quickly than expected in the digital age.
in "Sizing Up BuzzFeed: Could This Unicorn Ever Go Public?" 20 jun 2017

Mas, faria o FB algo assim tão descarado? Recordando de exemplos passados:

Then, in March 2013, for an undisclosed sum, Goodreads was bought by Amazon.
in Real Nós

E, futurologia à parte, das consequências ao jornalismo e onde nos toca mais de perto às teses:

Peretti concedes that the broader pressures on funding journalism present "a real problem that everyone in the ecosystem needs to figure out"

As more news publishers choose to put up online paywalls and fund their journalism through subscriptions, so BuzzFeed News will grow in reach and importance. "It is an advantage for us because there will only be a few who will be able to do that. If more premium news sites put their content behind a paywall, it could be a good move for them from a business perspective but it makes it harder to be the paper of record and to reach the new generation and have as much impact. And so I think our model will actually be a great piece of the news ecosystem."
in "BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: news publishers only have themselves to blame for losing out to Google and Facebook" 29 jun 2017

Pagar ou não pagar: uma guerra de culturas. Segway óbvio, portanto:

The culture of European publishing and the vigor of its regulatory environment is totally different from the free-market roots of the US news industry. If Congress grants an exception to legacy news publishers to pressure Google and Facebook, it might lead to the kind of concessions publishers have won in Europe.
in "Legacy media diverge from digital natives in fight against Facebook, Google" 11 jul 2017   

The absence of regulation to curb the dominance of some of these tech giants has forever changed how people consume news AND ads, and the strong keep getting stronger.

In Europe, the tech titans don't have it so good: European regulators — whose countries have lost the game of tech, pipes and content — are getting aggressive in trying to constrain the behemoths. The Europeans don't share America's romantic view of Google, Facebook and other tech giants and are aggressively trying to highlight and restrain their market dominance. European countries have great access to broadband but they use much less social media.

  • June 14: UK and France announced potential legal liability for tech giants that host terrorist content on their platforms
  • May 18: The EU fined Facebook $122 million for providing faulty info about its acquisition of WhatsApp
  • May 17: Facebook sanctioned in Europe over data collection
  • Mar 7: Google faces antitrust EU complaint over imposing contractual restraints on Android manufacturers
  • Jan 30: WhatsApp was sued in Europe for sharing phone numbers with Facebook

European regulators also introduced General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) last year, a law that will put major restraints on how these companies can use consumer data to sell ads beginning in 2018.
in "Axios Media Trends" 27 jun 2017

E, por aquelas coincidências do destino, a acontecer sobre o reinado do Trumpas: sensível ao Murdoch, despreza os fake failed media. Mas quer desesperadamente o favor destes. E é pelo protecionismo. E sabe que o bastião de cultura tech USA é anti-Trump e já acusou a Amazon de não pagar os seus impostos. Em pulgas por desenvolvimentos. Terminamos como terminou o NYT de abril, a citar Woodrow Wilson, 1913:

"If monopoly persists, monopoly will always sit at the helm of the government."

Trumpas de novo, portanto.

gone baby gone