All signs point to big tech beginning to get its comeuppance in the U.S. in 2021, perhaps with news publishers benefiting from the smackdown.
The U.S. seems more ready than ever before to bring the gauntlet down on Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Facebook’s impending lawsuit brought by the FTC and 48 state attorneys general is a win, and should be celebrated as such — regardless of what happens, especially given all the dark money and technical campaign support Facebook lavishes on lawmakers.
July’s House hearings with tech CEOs featured a far-more informed bipartisan grilling than past rounds, taking the big four to task for their monopoly power. Congressional Democrats released a massive 449-page study examining big tech’s monopoly power ahead of October’s Section 230 hearings.
So why sing the blues for the news?
Well, breaking up big tech isn’t about saving legacy journalism — at least not in this country, unlike the fights brewing in France and Australia. In the U.S., news organizations, especially newspapers and digital publishers, are unlikely to see their circumstances change from the current round of antitrust cases.
The U.S. case against Facebook is based on its practice of buying up its competitors — namely Instagram and WhatsApp — with online advertising just one of many complaints. The harms lawmakers and attorneys general are concerned about are those to the “everyday user” — not news publishers.
Ordinary “mainstream” American for-profit news publishers are certainly not top of mind for powerful voices like Elizabeth Warren, an advocate for breaking up big tech. Here’s a typical Warren takeaway: “Today’s big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy. They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation.”
Newspaper chains are not small businesses. And their main strategy seems to be getting bigger, with waves of consolidation aimed at increasing scale and cutting costs. It may well be that newspaper chains themselves someday face antitrust questions of their own; the Gannett/GateHouse merger brought more one-sixth of the nation’s daily newspapers under one company.
Big digital-first publishers like BuzzFeed and HuffPost are also playing the same consolidation games. Many of the tech-darling news startups have been bought by legacy media or had their talent lured away.
Gutted local newspapers that are part of giant chains aren’t providing much of the public service that could make a case for supporting news outlets against big tech. Consider the hullabaloo when news broke that the Ithaca Journal, a Gannett newspaper, was down to just one reporter.
We need to admit news publishers are not sympathetic victims losing an unfair fight against anti-competitive practices — at least not now. Indeed, the big-tech battle most related to media has thus far has been more about content moderation, censorship, and fake news. This summer, in more than five hours of testimony, roughly seven and a half minutes focused specifically on the economic fate of news publishers.
Past precedent from the EU has shown that, unless the entire news industry joins the fight, together — legacy print, digital, television, and public media — big tech will not be brought to its knees. Some outlets will get bought off by Facebook and Google; PR campaigns and lush cash will squash discontent; the biggest news publishers will cut their own private and preferential deals. U.S. law also prohibits this kind of pan-industry collusion, though it’s possible Congress or a friendly FTC could grant safe harbor provisions.
We can win this fight, but all news organizations need to be in it together, sharing a unified commitment and a unified ask — likely focused on digital advertising. The king is in check, but checkmate will require a full-frontal, carefully planned, and unified assault by all the pieces.
Nikki Usher is an academic fellow with the Open Markets Institute’s Center for Journalism and Liberty.
All signs point to big tech beginning to get its comeuppance in the U.S. in 2021, perhaps with news publishers benefiting from the smackdown.
The U.S. seems more ready than ever before to bring the gauntlet down on Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. Facebook’s impending lawsuit brought by the FTC and 48 state attorneys general is a win, and should be celebrated as such — regardless of what happens, especially given all the dark money and technical campaign support Facebook lavishes on lawmakers.
July’s House hearings with tech CEOs featured a far-more informed bipartisan grilling than past rounds, taking the big four to task for their monopoly power. Congressional Democrats released a massive 449-page study examining big tech’s monopoly power ahead of October’s Section 230 hearings.
So why sing the blues for the news?
Well, breaking up big tech isn’t about saving legacy journalism — at least not in this country, unlike the fights brewing in France and Australia. In the U.S., news organizations, especially newspapers and digital publishers, are unlikely to see their circumstances change from the current round of antitrust cases.
The U.S. case against Facebook is based on its practice of buying up its competitors — namely Instagram and WhatsApp — with online advertising just one of many complaints. The harms lawmakers and attorneys general are concerned about are those to the “everyday user” — not news publishers.
Ordinary “mainstream” American for-profit news publishers are certainly not top of mind for powerful voices like Elizabeth Warren, an advocate for breaking up big tech. Here’s a typical Warren takeaway: “Today’s big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy. They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation.”
Newspaper chains are not small businesses. And their main strategy seems to be getting bigger, with waves of consolidation aimed at increasing scale and cutting costs. It may well be that newspaper chains themselves someday face antitrust questions of their own; the Gannett/GateHouse merger brought more one-sixth of the nation’s daily newspapers under one company.
Big digital-first publishers like BuzzFeed and HuffPost are also playing the same consolidation games. Many of the tech-darling news startups have been bought by legacy media or had their talent lured away.
Gutted local newspapers that are part of giant chains aren’t providing much of the public service that could make a case for supporting news outlets against big tech. Consider the hullabaloo when news broke that the Ithaca Journal, a Gannett newspaper, was down to just one reporter.
We need to admit news publishers are not sympathetic victims losing an unfair fight against anti-competitive practices — at least not now. Indeed, the big-tech battle most related to media has thus far has been more about content moderation, censorship, and fake news. This summer, in more than five hours of testimony, roughly seven and a half minutes focused specifically on the economic fate of news publishers.
Past precedent from the EU has shown that, unless the entire news industry joins the fight, together — legacy print, digital, television, and public media — big tech will not be brought to its knees. Some outlets will get bought off by Facebook and Google; PR campaigns and lush cash will squash discontent; the biggest news publishers will cut their own private and preferential deals. U.S. law also prohibits this kind of pan-industry collusion, though it’s possible Congress or a friendly FTC could grant safe harbor provisions.
We can win this fight, but all news organizations need to be in it together, sharing a unified commitment and a unified ask — likely focused on digital advertising. The king is in check, but checkmate will require a full-frontal, carefully planned, and unified assault by all the pieces.
Nikki Usher is an academic fellow with the Open Markets Institute’s Center for Journalism and Liberty.
John Saroff Covid sparks the growth of independent local news sites
Mariano Blejman It’s time to challenge autocompleted journalism
Janet Haven and Sam Hinds Is this an AI newsroom?
Astead W. Herndon The Trump-sized window of the media caring about race closes again
Gonzalo del Peon Collaborations expand from newsrooms to the business side
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen Stop pretending publishers are a united front
Taylor Lorenz Journalists will learn influencing isn’t easy
Catalina Albeanu Publish less, listen more
Celeste Headlee The rise of radical newsroom transparency
Matt Skibinski Misinformation won’t stop unless we stop it
Candis Callison Calling it a crisis isn’t enough (if it ever was)
Francesca Tripodi Don’t expect breaking up Google and Facebook to solve our information woes
Zainab Khan From understanding to feeling
Don Day Business first, journalism second
Jennifer Brandel A sneak peak at power mapping, 2073’s top innovation
Shaydanay Urbani and Nancy Watzman Local collaboration is key to slowing misinformation
Tamar Charney Public radio has a midlife crisis
Colleen Shalby The definition of good journalism shifts
Christoph Mergerson Black Americans will demand more from journalism
Jennifer Choi What have we done for you lately?
Kate Myers My son will join every Zoom call in our industry
Stefanie Murray and Anthony Advincula Expect to see more translations and non-English content
Kerri Hoffman Protecting podcasting’s open ecosystem
Nonny de la Pena News reaches the third dimension
Richard Tofel Less on politics, more on how government works (or doesn’t)
Benjamin Toff Beltway reporting gets normal again, for better and for worse
Marcus Mabry News orgs adapt to a post-Trump world (with Trump still in it)
Linda Solomon Wood Canada steps up for journalism
Sue Cross A global consensus around the kind of news we need to save
Mandy Jenkins You build trust by helping your readers
Cherian George Enter the lamb warriors
Ashton Lattimore Remote work helps level the playing field in an insular industry
Ariane Bernard Going solo is still only a path for the few
Jonas Kaiser Toward a wehrhafte journalism
Masuma Ahuja We’ll remember how interconnected our world is
Sam Ford We’ll find better ways to archive our work
Rachel Schallom The rise of nonprofit journalism continues
J. Siguru Wahutu Journalists still wrongly think the U.S. is different
Zizi Papacharissi The year we rebuild the infrastructure of truth
Logan Jaffe History as a reporting tool
Heidi Tworek A year of news mocktails
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists will be kinder to each other — and to themselves
Garance Franke-Ruta Rebundling content, rebuilding connections
Anna Nirmala Local news orgs grasp the urgency of community roots
Gabe Schneider Another year of empty promises on diversity
Joni Deutsch Local arts and music make journalism more joyous
Tim Carmody Spotify will make big waves in video
Sonali Prasad Making disaster journalism that cuts through the noise
Whitney Phillips Facts are an insufficient response to falsehoods
Sarah Stonbely Videoconferencing brings more geographic diversity
Tonya Mosley True equity means ownership
Andrew Ramsammy Stop being polite and start getting real
Francesco Zaffarano The year we ask the audience what it needs
Renée Kaplan Falling in love with your subscription
Robert Hernandez Data and shame
Marissa Evans Putting community trauma into context
Bo Hee Kim Newsrooms create an intentional and collaborative culture
Kristen Muller Engaged journalism scales
Rishad Patel From direct-to-consumer to direct-to-believers
Ariel Zirulnick Local newsrooms question their paywalls
Charo Henríquez A new path to leadership
Jeremy Gilbert Human-centered journalism
Amara Aguilar Journalism schools emphasize listening
Rodney Gibbs Zooming beyond talking heads
Aaron Foley Diversity gains haven’t shown up in local news
Nisha Chittal The year we stop pivoting
Chase Davis The year we look beyond The Story
Sumi Aggarwal News literacy programs aren’t child’s play
Chicas Poderosas More voices mean better information
Rick Berke Virtual events are here to stay
Annie Rudd Newsrooms grow less comfortable with the “view from above”
John Ketchum More journalists of color become newsroom founders
Parker Molloy The press will risk elevating a Shadow President Trump
Imaeyen Ibanga Journalism gets unmasked
Tanya Cordrey Declining trust forces publishers to claim (or disclaim) values
M. Scott Havens Traditional pay TV will embrace the disruption
Nabiha Syed Newsrooms quit their toxic relationships
Alfred Hermida and Oscar Westlund The virus ups data journalism’s game
Danielle C. Belton A decimated media rededicates itself to truth
Raney Aronson-Rath To get past information divides, we need to understand them first
Brandy Zadrozny Misinformation fatigue sets in
Marie Shanahan Journalism schools stop perpetuating the status quo
Pia Frey Building growth through tastemakers and their communities
Ryan Kellett The bundle gets bundled
Mark Stenberg The rise of the journalist-influencer
Ben Werdmuller The web blooms again
Kevin D. Grant Parachute journalism goes away for good
Matt DeRienzo Citizen truth brigades steer us back toward reality
Sarah Marshall The year audiences need extra cheer
Meredith D. Clark The year journalism starts paying reparations
Laura E. Davis The focus turns to newsroom leaders for lasting change
Anthony Nadler Journalism struggles to find a new model of legitimacy
Beena Raghavendran Journalism gets fused with art
Michael W. Wagner Fractured democracy, fractured journalism
John Garrett A surprisingly good year
Victor Pickard The commercial era for local journalism is over
Ernie Smith Entrepreneurship on rails
Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Cassie Haynes A shift from conversation to action
A.J. Bauer The year of MAGAcal thinking
Talmon Joseph Smith The media rejects deficit hawkery
Jacqué Palmer The rise of the plain-text email newsletter
Jessica Clark News becomes plural
Alyssa Zeisler Holistic medicine for journalism
Tauhid Chappell and Mike Rispoli Defund the crime beat
Hadjar Benmiloud Get representative, or die trying
María Sánchez Díez Traffic will plummet — and it’ll be ok
Kawandeep Virdee Goodbye, doomscroll
Cory Bergman The year after a thousand earthquakes
Jer Thorp Fewer pixels, more cardboard
Natalie Meade Journalism enters rehab
Nikki Usher Don’t expect an antitrust dividend for the media
Hossein Derakhshan Mass personalization of truth
David Skok A pandemic-prompted wave of consolidation
Mark S. Luckie Newsrooms and streaming services get cozy
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, a push for pluralism
Eric Nuzum Podcasting dodged a bullet in 2020, but 2021 will be harder
Delia Cai Subscriptions start working for the middle
Steve Henn Has independent podcasting peaked?
Ståle Grut Network analysis enters the journalism toolbox
Juleyka Lantigua The download, podcasting’s metric king, gets dethroned
David Chavern Local video finally gets momentum
Mike Ananny Toward better tech journalism
Doris Truong Indigenous issues get long-overdue mainstream coverage
John Davidow Reflect and repent
Errin Haines Let’s normalize women’s leadership
Cindy Royal J-school grads maintain their optimism and adaptability
Pablo Boczkowski Audiences have revolted. Will newsrooms adapt?
Bill Adair The future of fact-checking is all about structured data
Nico Gendron Ask your readers to help build your products
Patrick Butler Covid-19 reporting has prepared us for cross-border collaboration
Burt Herman Journalists build post-Facebook digital communities
Ray Soto The news gets spatial
Brian Moritz The year sports journalism changes for good
Julia B. Chan and Kim Bui Millennials are ready to run things
Jody Brannon People won’t renew
Joshua P. Darr Legislatures will tackle the local news crisis
Joanne McNeil Newsrooms push back against Ivy League cronyism
Mike Caulfield 2021’s misinformation will look a lot like 2020’s (and 2019’s, and…)
Gordon Crovitz Common law will finally apply to the Internet
Julia Angwin Show your (computational) work
José Zamora Walking the talk on diversity
Loretta Chao Open up the profession
Jesse Holcomb Genre erosion in nonprofit journalism
Samantha Ragland The year of journalists taking initiative
Andrew Donohue The rise of the democracy beat
Jim Friedlich A newspaper renaissance reached by stopping the presses
Ben Collins We need to learn how to talk to (and about) accidental conspiracists
Sara M. Watson Return of the RSS reader
Megan McCarthy Readers embrace a low-information diet
Nicholas Jackson Blogging is back, but better
AX Mina 2020 isn’t a black swan — it’s a yellow canary
C.W. Anderson Journalism changed under Trump — will it keep changing under Biden?