“The fall of this wall was once a dream of advertisers; now newsrooms offer it” … this appears true but is not. Publications do offer advertisers new forms of content (ad products like native ads, that were invented by VC investors in social platforms fwiw, or affiliate links) that have closer proximity to editorial content. But there are separate teams that work on ad products. As an advertiser, I would get laughed at if I asked the NYT to assign a staff writer to work on my paid campaign. Further, this doesn’t get at the more fundamental problem journalism faces: its mission is not profit and it competes in an information environment that values profit over truth.
NYT is rich enough not to make the newsroom do this. They kept news content free from native ads. But even they at some point in the mid 2010s moved significantly in this direction. Search: “The New York Times embraces ‘organic’ ad strategy”; T-Brand Studio, and so on. Lately, they have found a new focus (bundles), so this pressure has weakened.
But beyond the major houses, the trend was strong and even lost its "moral" dimension long ago. News content is open to native ads in various forms or to varying degrees, and newsrooms are involved to accommodate advertisers to various degrees. Each day, I hear leading presenters on radio in Toronto voice commercials as journalists personally vouching for this or that business. Impossible 20 years ago. And they even seem kind of proud of it, simulating the personal approach of influencers, I guess. But it’s systemic, not anecdotal.
I would be interested in how you see Murdoch’s media structured influences. Particularly upon both the political Intelligentsia and their voting bases. Is he a Wizard of Oz selling flying monkeys to politicians to control the societal narratives ? Or is he a mass media High Priest figure creating faithful ideological political fanatics through his daily sermons ? Is his media Empire of Lies responsible for civilisation erasure or is it just an expression of informational enshittification ? Just musing 🐈⬛
This goes back to early television shows that were brought to you, in total, by brands.
“The fall of this wall was once a dream of advertisers; now newsrooms offer it” … this appears true but is not. Publications do offer advertisers new forms of content (ad products like native ads, that were invented by VC investors in social platforms fwiw, or affiliate links) that have closer proximity to editorial content. But there are separate teams that work on ad products. As an advertiser, I would get laughed at if I asked the NYT to assign a staff writer to work on my paid campaign. Further, this doesn’t get at the more fundamental problem journalism faces: its mission is not profit and it competes in an information environment that values profit over truth.
NYT is rich enough not to make the newsroom do this. They kept news content free from native ads. But even they at some point in the mid 2010s moved significantly in this direction. Search: “The New York Times embraces ‘organic’ ad strategy”; T-Brand Studio, and so on. Lately, they have found a new focus (bundles), so this pressure has weakened.
But beyond the major houses, the trend was strong and even lost its "moral" dimension long ago. News content is open to native ads in various forms or to varying degrees, and newsrooms are involved to accommodate advertisers to various degrees. Each day, I hear leading presenters on radio in Toronto voice commercials as journalists personally vouching for this or that business. Impossible 20 years ago. And they even seem kind of proud of it, simulating the personal approach of influencers, I guess. But it’s systemic, not anecdotal.
I would be interested in how you see Murdoch’s media structured influences. Particularly upon both the political Intelligentsia and their voting bases. Is he a Wizard of Oz selling flying monkeys to politicians to control the societal narratives ? Or is he a mass media High Priest figure creating faithful ideological political fanatics through his daily sermons ? Is his media Empire of Lies responsible for civilisation erasure or is it just an expression of informational enshittification ? Just musing 🐈⬛