Mainstream news publications in Canada operate on very tight, near-zero profit margins, as total industry revenues have contracted sharply over the past two decades.
But, unlike the tenuous profitability of mainstream media, social media platforms are highly profitable. As I write this, my concern is that social media content while ‘democratized’, has no perceptible link to ‘truth’ – whatever that is.
When I open Edge, I am treated to content that has clearly been selected for me based on my own biases.
In my view, there are two information ecosystems. The mainstream media have concentrated ownership and are subject to the biases of ownership. While there are journalistic standards at play, the underlying biases shine through.
Social media is fundamentally different. It is marketing driven. It tries to tell me what I want to hear in order to build an audience. There isn’t even an attempt to align content with something like objective reality.
Both information ecosystems bend reality to the biases of the publishers. But, in the case of social media, the biases (and often the publishers) are unclear.
The erection of paywalls to protect the content of mainstream media has the unintended effect of pushing increasing numbers of consumers to the empty echo chambers that social media have become.
Content aggregators—including the Microsoft Start/MSN feed built into Microsoft Edge have succumbed to the same clickbait economics that more nefarious actors exploit.
