Ahead of the release of her new book, burn the bookJournalist Kara Swisher reflected on the technology industry's impact on digital news media. burn the bookThe book, which hits bookstores today (February 27), explores the former Wall Street Journal and Washington Post reporter's experience covering some of the biggest tech titans of our time and the legacy she has built over the past few decades. This is a record of the relationship with them.
In an interview with The Daily Beast published yesterday, Swisher suggested that both technology and systems should be to blame. digital news industry Due to the decline of digital news. Digital media companies that have built robust news brands like BuzzFeed and Vice Media seem unable to adapt to the changes in technology that they once thrived on.
“These companies have an economic system that doesn't match our costs,” Swisher told The Daily Beast. “One thing the media doesn't want to do is pretend that the costs are commensurate with the revenue. The average reporter doesn't think about that.”
about 130 newspapers will close or merge in 2023 And the United States is on track to lose one-third of its newspapers this year compared to 2005, according to a report from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. The media business in general is struggling, More than 20,000 layoffs That will happen in 2023, according to career services firm Challenger Gray.a horror novel like messenger shuts down Nine months worth of stories suddenly disappeared without notice, leaving writers and news consumers alike worried that important work will be lost forever.
Swisher expressed frustration with powerful technology executives who deprioritize news. Google (GOOGL) reportedly tested the removal of the News tab last week, with social media executives including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg planning to expand news posts on the platform. Outlined strategies to avoid this. She recalled a conversation she had with Google co-founder Larry Page, in which she argued that Google wasn't doing enough to differentiate between trusted and untrusted news sources.
“He was like, 'Well, that's for people to decide.' No, no, it's like putting contaminated meat next to good meat,” Swisher said. She adds that tech companies like Google would rather put all the information together, while providing a wide range of opinions and information, rather than thinking about how to prioritize accurate news. I did.It's like throwing a library book on the floor, leaving the task of deciphering it to the user.
She also spoke about the threat of artificial intelligence (AI), specifically artificial general intelligence (AGI), to digital news through the spread of misinformation. “Now, these are [AGI] “Bots churn out so much shit that it's hard to sort through the real stuff, and the platforms aren't doing anything about it,” Swisher said. “Because they are refusing to choose, it appears that they are not elevating trusted news sources, but I am not asking them to choose… that we know to be news organizations. Just put things on it.”
