1/ As someone interested in the future of news, I'm frustrated by this arg, which doesn't give any agency to media. It doesn't help those trying to build what's next.

No one forced Vox to raise 100s of millions of $ on faulty assumptions. The @guardian chose not to use a paywall https://twitter.com/matthewstoller/status/1283753477404065792

2/ It's not 2014 anymore. No one's pitching millennial-focused clickbait sites that depend on FB and Google for growth.

Back then, publishers assumed they could capture the advertising spending that was shifting from TV to the internet. They were wrong. Google and FB did.

3/ In pursuit of the advertising mirage, too many publishers raised too much money and have had to lay off staff/shut down.

Yes, tech platforms like FB screwed pubs by changing algorithms (pivot-to-video) but media shouldn't have built biz on platforms outside their control.

4/ Anyone interested in the best case study of how this all played out should read this excellent profile of the downfall of Mic: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mic-layoffs-millennial-digital-news-site-warning_n_5c8c144fe4b03e83bdc0e0bc

5/ The question is "what's next?"

There's no world where digital advertising flows back to publishers. Even if FB/Google were regulated, there's no way pubs (especially local ones) would pick up the slack, especially after the COVID-19 ad crash.

6/ There are a lot of really interesting folks who're engaging w/ the future of the news industry w/out waiting for the gov deus ex machina.

A few recommended follows: @nbashaw, @jarroddicker, @JayCoDon, @sidharthajha, and @web who wrote this great memo: https://2pml.com/2020/07/13/type-house/

7/ There's lots of wide-open space. Via platforms like @SubstackInc, it's easier than ever to launch.

Maybe a writer covers the courthouse/city beat. Bundle it w/ statehouse coverage. Add COVID/health and you've got a pub.

The point's that pubs have (& always have had) agency