Journoprenuers took a licking last week from two heavies in the media landscape: the federal government and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Both made comments that would invest journalism’s future in its past, that is, institutional mainstream media that for years hasn’t been able to find its own ass with both hands and a flashlight.
First, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unleashed its draft policy recommendation “to support the reinvention of journalism.” While the document suggests the IRS recognize novel small-business structures for nonprofit tax breaks, it also pitches ideas that would keep small media outlets from doing their thang.
A tax on large broadcasters would relieve them of obligations to provide “public-interest programming,” like the kind a hyperlocalist would produce. A 2-percent tax on advertising sales would add a layer of meshugas to a small content producer’s books, as well as add an extra charge on local advertisers. Increased postal subsidies and a tax on accessing the mobile web would favor large print publications over hyperlocal newspapers and websites.
These proposed taxes would go towards establishing a national local-news fund, doling out university grants for investigative journalism, and tax breaks for hiring salaried journalists. Personally, I oppose government money in the media piggybank, and while a tax credit for hiring journalists is nice, hyperlocalists generally rely on freelance or volunteer contributors. The FTC document doesn’t do enough for small media.
And then there’s what Apple CEO Steve Jobs had to say at The Wall Street Journal’s D8 conference. The appointed messiah of media told conference participants, “I don’t want to see us descend to a nation of bloggers myself. I think we need editorial more than ever right now,” PaidContent.org reported Wednesday.
One might quip that Jobs’ disdain for blogs stems from the Gizmodo iPhone fiasco, but I think there’s another reason. While bloggers (and the online hyperlocalists who have that title hanging over their heads) create oodles of content, they probably don’t have the financial resources or tech savvy to distribute that content through an iPhone or iPad app. That’s money out of Jobs’ pocket and control out of his hands.
According to PaidContent, Jobs followed his swipe at bloggers with: “Anything that we can do to help The New York Times, The Washington Post and other news-gathering organizations find new ways of expression so they can afford to get paid so they can keep their news gathering and editorial operations intact, I’m all for it.”
Sadly, Jobs doesn’t recognize the original news gathering that hyperlocalists and bloggers do, and how some of those large media outlets base their “reporting” on a smaller outlet’s original stories. Again, I suspect this elitism stems from the lost potential of app sales: The iTunes store sells iPhone apps for The Times and The Post, as well as a Times app for the iPad.
Where is the love for hyperlocalists? When did innovation and imagination (the kind that Apple touts in its advertising) fall victim to monopolies? Instead of encouraging new voices and new investment, the FTC stifled them to preserve the industry’s collapsing status quo. And instead of lending Apple’s devices to new experiences with content, Jobs whittled them down to technological troughs for whatever iTunes’ gatekeepers deem worthy of consumption.
My advice to the FTC and Jobs: Beware of false profits.
Images courtesy of Flickr users 1Happysnapper (photography) and reelsinmotion.
As a new web 2.0 company, which focuses on hyperlocal communication, the issues that you’ve outline have been at the forefront of our thoughts since day one.
In regards to Apple, they are very vague with what they allow and don’t allow into their apps store – truly a black hole. When folks try to understand the rhyme and reasons for approval or disapproval, they, Apple, always fall back on the preserving the user experience spin. In many aspects, Apples controlling ways often seem very anti entrepreneurship and journalism if examined closely. This is why it’s so important that Google’s Android remains a viable platform as a counter balance to Apple. In reality, instead of worry about a user’s content experience, Apple should only worry about ensuring the user’s technical experience as it relates to the device. People should have the freedom to use devices anyway they see fit and if that means they want to access porn apps, rightly or wrongly, it’s their right. If interested, the following link provides interesting insight into Jobs thinking during a recent argument with Ryan Tate of Gawkers. http://gawker.com/5539717/
Understanding the technical and financial challenges that bloggers face in developing and maintaining apps, my startup decided to deliver an open platform which allows bloggers to drop their content into any geographic location on earth for the local population to digest and engage. Essentially, we are creating an unrestricted and single doorway for people to acquire information, through their internet connected mobile devices and computers, about their local surroundings without app restrictions and having to access multiple sources. We hope that our tool releases hyperlocalist from the current burdens that restrict them from effectively broadcasting their voice to the community.
In conclusion, we believe that hyperlocal content, generated by the community and for the community, is a critical need because it’s the only way for individuals to touch the true pulse of the communities they live or travel in. A giant news organization in New York or Washington cannot give anyone an accurate picture of the sprite of a city or town in Middle America. This is why it’s so important and American that the local voice is given an even playing field and a place to flourish without being constricted. Keep up the good work and fight for the hyperlocalist!
I meant “Spirit: not “Sprite.” LOL
Right on.
In our state, we learned fairly recently, we already have one hand tied financially behind our back, by the fact that the state business tax treats news organizations differently. If we used dead trees, we would pay a vastly lower rate than we’re paying now.
Thanks for your comments.
Incidentally, the FTC is holding another workshop on “how journalism will survive the internet age” in DC on Jun 15. The gig will be streamed live.
But the FTC’s premise — that journalism must “survive” the internet — is a bad rub. Good journalism does not conflict with internet technology, just as it didn’t conflict with the printing press and (arguably) television.
The only conflict here is the one between mainstream media and journopreneurs.
I hope the IRS explores the recognition of hybrid business models. But new taxes would be obstructionist and unlikely to pass, in my opinion.